 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
In RealTime posts, PIIE senior staff and colleagues discuss the fast-moving economic news, financial developments, and public policy choices confronting the United States and the world.
Adam S. Posen, who will take over as president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in January, has delivered a few provocative parting calls to action as he exits his post as an external member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). His comments favoring more aggressive action by the central bank [...]
The Peterson Institute for International Economics mourns the passing of Michael L. Mussa, senior fellow at the Institute since 2001, former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and former member of President Ronald Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers. Mussa, who was 67, died of heart failure at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, [...]
The sense of despair enveloping American politics seems to be at an all-time high. But a lesson from the past, counseling that it really is possible to work together during a crisis, is being delivered this week, following the death of the most creative, resilient, and gutsy political leader I have ever known, former Governor [...]
The failure of Lehman Brothers over a fateful weekend in mid-September last year, and the chaotic aftermath as A. I. G., Merrill Lynch, and leading money markets funds tottered, “remain a source of widespread outrage and confusion,” writes James B. Stewart in the New Yorker. What an understatement. But like David Wessel of the Wall [...]
Ben Bernanke’s idea of an exciting evening—according to David Wessel’s new book, In Fed We Trust: How the Federal Reserve Became the Fourth Branch of Government—is to stay at home and do crossword puzzles with his wife. As it happens, a crossword puzzle that ran in the New York Sun in August 2007 provided a [...]
How did a children’s card game played in the 1800s become a central concern of economists in the 21st century? The phrase “Beggar-Thy-Neighbor” is everywhere these days in economic commentary, though many people may be unsure of its meaning. The phrase alludes to a country’s attempt to cure its own economic problems at the expense [...]
President-elect Obama’s thematic speech on his “recovery” package on January 8 served as a reminder of the mixed feelings harbored by Americans when it comes to government spending. On the one hand, the public wants action. On the other, Americans are skeptical about government’s ability to solve problems. Congress can’t politically afford to ignore either [...]
With a momentous election approaching, the American public has been buffeted by nerve-wracking volatility in the markets, blame mongering in the media, and debates among experts over the prospects of a financial meltdown. Surprisingly, however, Americans appear to be taking the crisis in stride. According to a new poll from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, most Americans believe we are in a recession, but they are not panicking and they expect it to be over next year, partly because they retain confidence in the government’s ability to fix the situation. Their attitudes may give leaders and policymakers some latitude to devise solutions—but not to overreach.