It may be useful to imagine for the duration of Europe’s upcoming election season that we live in a world without public polling. Would that make further populist surprises look more or less likely? The post-Brexit, post-Trump world is not necessarily “post-truth” despite a certain blurring of lines between fact and spin. It is, however, definitely post-poll. U.S. pollsters …
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Don’t get worked up over Fed’s reaction to Trump
Nobody is really sure what Donald Trump will want from the Federal Reserve during his presidency: Will he try to make it adopt the “hard money†views of many people in his party, or will he want it to err on the side of letting the economy run hot? Since we might not know the answer for some time, …
Read More »UAE fast turning into world’s innovation capital
The UAE is right on track to become world’s innovation capital. Its comprehensive and visionary policies are creating a conducive climate for innovation and innovators to thrive. As laid down in the National Innovation Strategy, innovation is being encouraged in key sectors like renewable energy, transport, education, health, technology, water and space. The second Innovation Week — which kicked …
Read More »Even Donald Trump believes that Keynes got it right
What does the election of Donald Trump mean for macroeconomics? Above all else, it means that the half-century-long challenge to Keynesian ideas is over. The insurgents lost. First, some background. During the Great Depression, John Maynard Keynes suggested that government spending would boost the economy, by increasing aggregate demand. In a recession, there are unused resources — empty offices, …
Read More »A last chance for fixing roads, refinancing debt
There are times when a confluence of events creates a rare opportunity. The U.S. now is at one of those the moments. To wit: As of January, a single party will control the executive and legislative branches of government; Campaign promises were made by the president-elect to upgrade infrastructure; The U.S. federal debt is almost $20 trillion; The U.S. …
Read More »Actually, Trump’s core voters should love TPP
Mihir Sharma US President Barack Obama’s the Trans-Pacific Partnership, his signature trade pact, is very likely dead. President-elect Donald Trump swept to victory in part by railing against such massive trade deals. Today, few in Washington would dare to challenge the view that globalization has benefited cheaper foreign workers at the expense of hard-working Americans. But Washington’s politicians, Donald …
Read More »Greenspan: Why productivity growth lags in America
Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, weighed in last week on one of the pressing issues facing the Trump administration and the country — slow economic growth. Greenspan’s explanation is novel and is bound to be controversial. To preview: He blames the welfare state and overall uncertainty for the slowdown. Why should we listen to …
Read More »Canada can be Trump’s model for immigration reform
The U.S. immigration system needs reform, and President-elect Donald Trump might be just the man to do it. Although research shows that low-skilled immigration — agricultural laborers, janitors, construction workers and the like — isn’t that bad for working-class Americans, it’s now clear that very few Americans are going to listen to what the research says. Working-class people want …
Read More »For a better White House, have fewer appointees
When President-elect Donald Trump visited the White House last week, he was reportedly surprised to learn that he’ll need to replace nearly the entire staff. While Trump is said to have promised jobs to his small campaign team, research suggests that he should try a revolutionary approach to staffing his administration: replacing political appointees with civil servants. Today, an …
Read More »Intensify mobilization for climate finance
The UN meeting in Marrakesh boiled down to finance to combat climate change. Even as the conference addressed many crucial issues, the one to top it all was how to fund adaptation and mitigation against environmental dangers and meet costs of clean technologies. The developing countries insisted that the rich nations should keep their commitments to provide money to …
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