ECONOMIC POLICY
AP Photo
May 11, 2009
"Central banks need to avoid fighting the last war"
Op-Ed, Financial Times (London)
By Sir John Gieve, Former Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
No one favours bringing the full range of fiscal, monetary and regulatory functions back together under political control. I don't know of any major economy that manages with fewer than three institutions, and most have more. So we need a structure that gives each body a clear remit, but recognises their interdependence and ensures effective co-operation.
AP Photo
May 5, 2009
"Function, Not Form, Matters Most in Board's Nonexecutive"
Op-Ed, Harvard Business Review
By Ben Heineman, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"The fundamental question, raised but not answered by last week's ouster of Lewis, is what are the functions of a non-executive leader of the board, whether denominated board chair or presiding director?"
AP Photo
May 1, 2009
"U.S.-China Relations: Key Next Steps"
News
By Beth Maclin, Communications Assistant
With the United States and China expected to be the two dominant powers in the twenty-first century, it is essential that they actively manage their relationship to avoid military conflict, a group of distinguished Chinese and American scholars said at a major conference in Washington, D.C. The scholars—from Harvard Kennedy School, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and elsewhere—have worked together for more than two years to create a blueprint for a new relationship between the two countries.
AP Photo
April 28, 2009
"Deflation to erode business confidence"
Op-Ed, The Korea Herald
By Martin Feldstein, George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University
The most direct adverse impact of deflation is to increase the real value of debt. Just as inflation helps debtors by eroding the real value of their debts, deflation hurts them by increasing the real value of what they owe. While the very modest extent of current deflation does not create a significant problem, if it continues, the price level could conceivably fall by a cumulative 10 percent over the next few years.
AP Photo
April 19, 2009
"Inflation is looming on America’s horizon"
Op-Ed, Financial Times
By Martin Feldstein, George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University
"The potential inflationary danger is that the large US fiscal deficit will lead to an increase in the supply of money. This inevitably happens in developing countries that do not have the ability to issue interest-bearing debt and must therefore finance their deficits by printing money. In contrast, when deficits do not lead to an increased supply of money, the evidence shows that they do not cause sustained price increases."
AP Image
April 16, 2009
"Redefining the CEO Role"
Op-Ed, BusinessWeek
By Ben Heineman, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"Like the companies they run and oversee, CEOs and boards of directors in the financial sector have been battered by the credit meltdown. The witch's brew of high leverage, poor risk management, creation of toxic assets, and faulty business judgments-made more poisonous by excessive short-term executive pay-are seen as failures of an unprecedented magnitude. The result: Credibility has eroded, trust has dissolved, and financial re-regulation seems inevitable."
AP Photo
April 4, 2009
"China’s Recovery and Global Growth"
Op-Ed, The Korea Herald
By Martin Feldstein, George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University
China is likely to be the first of the major economies to recover from the current global downturn. Its pace of expansion may not reach the double-digit rates of recent years, but China in 2010 will probably grow more rapidly than any country in Europe or in the western hemisphere.
AP Photo
April 4, 2009
"Geithner's Bank Plan Is a Good Start"
Op-Ed, Wall Street Journal
By Martin Feldstein, George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University
The Treasury's primary plan is to induce private investors to buy pools of such high-risk mortgages from the banks. Individual banks will offer pools of mortgages for sale. Private investors -- including pension funds, insurance companies, hedge funds and sovereign wealth funds -- will bid for each mortgage pool in an auction. The total purchase price for each pool will be financed by a combination of the private investor's equity, an equal amount of Treasury equity, and private loans guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
AP Image
April 3, 2009
"G20 Fails to Take on Global Bribery"
Op-Ed, Harvard Business Review
By Ben Heineman, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"The irony of the G20s silence about erratic and incomplete enforcement of the OECD anti-bribery convention is that the summit made a big deal about "taking action against...tax havens," citing an OECD list of nations not conforming to international standards for exchange of tax information."
AP Image
March 30, 2009
"It's About Accountability, Stupid"
Op-Ed, On Leadership at washingtonpost.com
By Ben Heineman, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"One of the fundamental issues raised by the economic crisis, primarily in the financial sector but also in failing industries like the automobile industry, is: Where was the board of directors to set meaningful performance goals (not simply stock price) and hold business leaders accountable?"
