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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.
Hardly a day goes by without a reminder of the high youth unemployment rates in Greece, Spain, Italy, and other parts of the European periphery, which are in excess of 50 percent. Sometimes the reminders are in the form of rants by economists or pundits about the moral deficiency of euro area demands for austerity [...]
In recent weeks we have seen again that bond markets do respond negatively to projections of big government deficits. How difficult will it be for the world’s leading economies to confront plunging confidence in the bond markets by balancing their government budgets? A comparison of the challenges faced by different members of the Organization for [...]
On October 14, 2008, I wrote a piece “Making the World Safe for Sovereign Wealth Funds” on the release of the “Santiago Principles” (Generally Accepted Principles and Practices [GAPP]) by International Working Group (IWG) of Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) on October 11.
At the end of my piece, I expressed concern that the members of the OECD—the organization of the world’s leading democracies and market economies and, as such, the group representing the views of the recipients of many SWF investments—had not adopted sufficient reciprocal measures to support the openness of international investment. OECD officials subsequently sent me information about OECD guidance on SWF investments. Most of that information was previously available. However, the actions with respect to accountability for decisions and the decision-making process were agreed only on October 8 and had not been highlighted. The OECD communication is reproduced below, followed by my additional observations.