(5/4/2015) Trade is now high on the agenda in Washington. President Obama is pushing hard for Congress to give him Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), once known as fast-track authority.
Give Obama Trade Promotion Authority
Author Archives: jfrankel
Asia Games: Not Zero-Sum
(4/28/2015) Two hostesses are rivals in a popularity contest throughout the social season. When they hold soirees on the same night invitees must choose which one to go to. The hostesses guard their social ranking jealously, and may even punish a guest who goes to the rival’s party by withholding an invitation next time.
To read about the roles of China and the US over the last month, one would think that Asia/Pacific relations are a zero-sum game like that of these two hostesses in some fictional time and place.
Devaluations are Often Associated with Changes in Government
(4/16/2015) The possibility of devaluation is apparently an issue in the upcoming Argentine elections. (The forward rate for next year is about 13 pesos per dollar, which is close to the informal rate and suggests a big devaluation relative to the current official exchange rate of 8.) In this connection, an Argentine newspaper has asked me about “Contractionary Currency Crashes,” a paper that I presented as the 5th Mundell-Fleming Lecture of the IMF’s Annual Research Conference.