Press reports say that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is arguing for repealing a broad set of U.S. tariffs, allegedly as a way to fight inflation. Her argument is said to rely on a set of reports[1] published in March by the Peterson Institute that claimed that cutting tariffs would cut 1.3 percentage points off the…
For years, mainstream politicians and economists have pooh-poohed America’s huge and growing trade deficits and tried to argue they don’t matter. In the first quarter of 2022, those commentators got a wake-up call from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. On April 28, the BEA issued a press release pointing out that U.S. gross domestic product…
By Amanda Mayoral Summary Global supply-chain crises, over-dependence on foreign production and government stimulus best explain the current inflation problem. Policy makers should learn from current crises and enact policies to reduce our strong dependence on unreliable foreign suppliers. Tariffs can cause a one-time rise in prices, but they don’t cause persistent month-after-month…
Thirty years ago, Clint Eastwood held a gun to his rival’s head and asked the question: “Do you feel lucky, punk?” That is what the Chinese solar manufacturers are doing today, with President Biden at the other end of that Magnum 44 six-shooter. On March 28th, Biden’s Commerce Department decided to pursue an anti-circumvention case…
P&O Ferries is the largest operator of ferryboats between the British Isles and the European Continent, a $1.1 billion company carrying 10 million passengers a year. Two weeks ago, on March 24, P&O shocked its 800 employees by firing all of them. But it was less what it did than how it did it. On…
Summary Sanctions on Russia are devastating to the Russian economy Power of the sanctions is due to concerted international action, not to the US role as world’s “reserve currency” U.S. economic power owes more to the size of U.S. economy than to dollar’s reserve status Dollar overvaluation continues to be a huge problem for U.S.…
On Saturday, the U.S. government, European Commission, and five major nations issued a statement on financial sanctions against Russia which targets some of the largest Russian banks and drastically reduces the ability of the Russian central bank to support the value of the ruble currency by restricting their access to their reserves held outside Russia.…
War in Ukraine Highlights Critical US Dependencies on Russia-China Axis By Jeff Ferry and Amanda Mayoral Summary Points The Russian invasion of Ukraine reveals the weakness of US industrial strategy and our over-reliance on imports in manufactured goods and raw materials. The US is import-dependent in many industries critical to US national security. A…
Capital flow management is coming back into vogue among economists, government officials in other countries and in international institutions. As international capital flows continue to grow to tens or even hundreds of trillions of dollars per year, washing around unpredictably between countries and financial institutions, officials are increasingly looking at ways to put some sort…
A new CPA study, using widely accepted methodology and IMF data, shows that for the world’s major economies to achieve fair currency values and eliminate global imbalances, large adjustments in major currencies would be required. The dollar would need to fall by 16.6%, while the Chinese yuan would need to rise against the dollar by…