Barry Eichengreen is Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, and a former senior policy adviser at the International Monetary Fund. His latest book is Hall of Mirrors:The Great Depression, the Great Recession, and the Uses – and Misuses – of History.
The year 2017 will mark the 40th anniversary of the publication of John Kenneth Galbraith’s The Age of Uncertainty. But if Galbraith were writing the same book in 2017, he probably would call the 1970… read more
Determining causality in economics may be elusive, but in the case of world trade it is clear: slower growth is the result of slower global GDP growth, not the other way around. And slower growth in i… read more
At the start of October, the renminbi was added to the basket of currencies that make up the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights. But if China wants to transform the renminbi into a first-class global curren… read more
The early returns on Brexit are in, and the data are not good, regardless of claims to the contrary by supporters of the UK’s decision in June to withdraw from the EU. And, though sterling's depreciat… read more
The IMF's Independent Evaluation Office, established after Asia's 1998 financial crisis to assess IMF policies and programs at arm's length, has issued a comprehensive critique of the Fund’s role in E… read more
Economists are all but unanimous in arguing that the macroeconomic effects of US presidential candidate Donald Trump’s trade proposals would be disastrous. But just because economists agree doesn’t me… read more
With interest rates at all-time lows and central banks buying everything that moves, the world is awash with credit. Yet, paradoxically, a dangerous shortage of international liquidity is putting the … read more
The IMF estimates that 15% of Chinese loans to nonfinancial corporations are at risk, implying that the book value of the bad loans could be a quarter of national income. Policymakers have three optio… read more
The British campaign to leave the European Union is tapping into the same primordial sentiments as Donald Trump is in the US. Exposure to international trade and finance, which is what EU membership e… read more
