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Private consumption is 7% up on pre-crisis levels in the 10 largest Asian economies (excluding stagnant Japan) http://bit.ly/9hxgPW

Posted 18 Mar 2010 in Blog
By Philippe Legrain 1 COMMENT

In recent years, Western governments have voiced concerns about Asian governments’ vast sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) investing in Western companies. Some called this "investment protectionism" But as Western banks faced collapse, they were delighted to receive capital injections from Asian SWFs – and Western governments didn’t object. In a crisis, needs must. Now, though, Asia’s […]

Posted 05 Dec 2008 in Blog
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For years, the US has lectured China on how it should run its economy. Now, the tables are turned. US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson went to Beijing to urge the Chinese government not to let its currency weaken. The Chinese hit back in style. Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the Chinese central bank, urged the US […]

Posted 05 Dec 2008 in Blog
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Willem Buiter sums it up perfectly: The private financial sector has to deleverage massively, but would (with credit markets and wholesale financial markets closed for business) do so in an unnecessarily destructive way if left to its own devices. The household sectors in the US, the UK and a number of other European countries have […]

Posted 25 Nov 2008 in Blog
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Philip Stephens has written an excellent article in the FT about why the Doha breakdown matters. He concludes: The collapse of Doha, however, speaks to the failure of both sides to own up to the world as it is. On the side of the rich countries, particularly the US but no less many European nations, […]

Posted 31 Jul 2008 in Blog
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From the Commission on Growth and Development’s recent report, courtesy of Martin Wolf’s column in the FT:   1) The global economy is growing fast, and with it average living standards. 2) East Asia’s performance has been spectacular – living standards rose 10-fold between 1960 and 2004 – and even in Africa living standards doubled. […]

Posted 08 Jun 2008 in Blog
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The Center for International Relations has organised an International Affairs Forum on the future of world trade. They ask: In the wake of the failure of the Doha round, what does the future hold for world trade? What can, and should be done to get negotiations back on track? My reply follows. To read the […]

Posted 23 Nov 2006 in Blog
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Prospect, October 2006. Apple’s threat to sue companies that use the word “Pod” in product names is reminiscent of the bully-boy tactics that made Microsoft so unpopular in the 1990s

Posted 21 Sep 2006 in Published articles
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Prospect, September 2006. Disappointment at Doha, but it wasn’t all America’s fault. Is BP having too much bad luck? And Wolfowitz demands that the World Bank stops corruption

Posted 22 Aug 2006 in Published articles
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Prospect, August 2006. Higher energy prices are likely to mean rising inflation and slower growth. Plus the misguided populism of EU commissioners

Posted 26 Jul 2006 in Published articles
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As I explained in a recent post, the notion that the IMF can act as a global economic policeman is pure fantasy. But that won’t stop the Fund from trying. It is sending crack teams to the US, the eurozone, Japan, China and Saudi Arabia to examine how their economies contribute to the worrying global […]

Posted 09 Jun 2006 in Blog
By Philippe Legrain 7 COMMENTS

I don’t usually have a problem with foreign companies taking over British ones, or with sourcing supplies abroad. But the British government should block any move by Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned monopoly gas exporter, to buy Centrica, which owns British Gas and is the UK’s biggest gas distributor.

Posted 07 Jun 2006 in Blog
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Prospect, June 2006. David Cameron has joined in the Tesco-bashing, but the OFT should leave it alone. And the IMF is proving better at spin than at giving poorer countries votes

Posted 23 May 2006 in Published articles
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If you believe the hype in today’s Guardian and FT, leading governments achieved "a breakthrough in the governance of the global economy" over the weekend, transforming the International Monetary Fund into a "world economic watchdog". Larry Elliott’s ebullience can be explained by his closeness to the UK Chancellor, Gordon Brown, who happens to chair the […]

Posted 24 Apr 2006 in Blog
By Philippe Legrain 8 COMMENTS

“Shock! Horror! Cato Institute declares American capitalism superior to European social democracy.” That was my cynical initial reaction to Cowboy Capitalism: European Myths, American Reality, a new book published by the free-market Washington, DC-based think-tank that comes recommended by the usual right-wing suspects: Milton Friedman, James Buchanan and Henry Paulson, the boss of Goldman Sachs.

Posted 25 Nov 2004 in Published articles
By Philippe Legrain 1 COMMENT

The US economic recovery is unsustainable. Americans cannot live beyond their means forever.

Posted 01 Jul 2002 in Published articles