The consensus economic policy framework that evolved in the post-Bretton Woods era and the model of globalization to which it gave rise are in crisis due to political blowback. The framework has guided the system into a solution space that features stagnant growth and persistent deflationary...

The emerging data-driven economy (DDE) promises to intensify the distributional issues that have contributed to disruptive political change in recent years. This raises the question of whether there a solution space in this economy that allows markets to clear and societies to maintain...

Latin America's trade relationships have been severely strained by the series of uncoordinated currency depreciations within the region since the Asian Crisis spilled over into Brazil in 1999 and by large swings in G-3 exchange rates. Large depreciations, whether forced by capital markets or...

Mega-regional trade agreements represent an innovation in the governance of international commerce. Led by the major economies, they promulgate an economic framework that is tailored to the interests of the majors. Sorting out the differential impacts of the mega-regionals at the nation state...

This paper takes up the question of whether market concerns about global imbalances in general, and the US external deficit in particular, are well founded. It reviews four arguments bearing on how concerned we should be about the widening of the US current account deficit since the Asian...

For Japan, the 1990s was a lost decade. What caused Japan's star to fall so low, so fast? Most analyses of Japan's economic malaise since the 1990s emphasize domestic factors. The main arguments blame the non-performing loan problem in the banking sector and/or Japan having slipped into a...

The accelerated expansion of China’s trade and current account surpluses since 2004, and the associated expansion of China’s foreign exchange reserves in the context of very rapid investment-driven domestic economic growth and adverse movements in China’s terms of trade have led China’s...

The Asian Crisis was a bout of intense turbulence that swept East Asian emerging markets, starting in mid-1997 and running through most of 1998. During this episode, a group of previously rapidly industrializing economies that had compiled an impressive record of sustained growth, been lauded...

This study seeks to identify and estimate the relative importance of supply - versus demand - side constraints on Ethiopia's exports. Ethiopia has tried radically different trade strategies in the past, including a strategy of import replacement/protection for infant industries during the...

In the context of stalled multilateral trade negotiations, major trading economies are seeking free trade agreements (FTAs) to secure their market access objectives. Nowhere is this dynamic stronger than in East Asia, where a web of bilateral and plurilateral agreements is stitching together...