“Light” welfare states were perceived by some as one source of East Asian economicdynamism. Didier Jacobs has examined the strengths of several East Asian socialwelfare systems and the challenges they face after the financial crisis.Japan has a fully-fledged social welfare system. Yet her...

A striking and unexpected feature of the financial crisis has been the sharp appreciation of the US dollar against virtually all currencies globally. The paper finds that negative US-specific macroeconomic shocks during the crisis have triggered a significant strengthening of the US dollar,...