(8/2/1015) The plunge of China’s stock market that has taken place since June 2015 has received a lot of attention. All the commentary says not only that the Chinese authorities have taken a variety of artificial measures to try to boost the market on the way down but also that they did the same during the huge run-up in stock prices between mid-2014 and mid-2015, when the Shanghai stock exchange composite index more than doubled. The finger-wagging implications are that the Chinese authorities, particularly the stock market regulator, have not learned how to let the market operate and that they had only themselves to blame for the bubble in the first place.
Category Archives: Asia
The Top Ten Reasons Why Trade Agreements Should Not Cover Currency Manipulation
(6/13/2015) President Obama is still pressing the difficult campaign to obtain Trade Promotion Authority and use it to conclude international negotiations — across one ocean for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and then across the other ocean for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Many in the Congress, particularly many Democrats, insist that the trade agreements must include mechanisms designed to prevent countries from manipulating their currencies for unfair advantage.
New Improved Trade Agreements
(5/11/2015) In marketing the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), President Obama has been emphasizing some of the features that distinguish it from earlier free trade agreements such as NAFTA. They include commitments by Pacific countries on the environment and expansion of enforceable labor rights. Also new is the geopolitical argument for the much-discussed “pivot to Asia.” (Detractors, for their part, focus on some partly new features as well, such as investor protection, which is said to benefit only big corporations.)
