MONETARY POLICY
October 14, 2008
"Economic Realities Must Guide Africa's Constitutional Reform Efforts"
News
By Beth Maclin, Communications Assistant
"African countries need new constitutional orders to cope with modern economic challenges, Calestous Juma said at a recent lecture....A major challenge is based in the constitutions and laws left behind for the newly liberated countries. 'What was being negotiated as independence was really an exercise in constitutional continuity from the colonial period through independence,' Juma said....While there is enormous pressure on African countries to focus on economic programs, they are unable to because the governmental framework left behind did not integrate the economic role of the colonizer into the new role of president."
AP Photo
October 14, 2008
Paul Volcker: Bailout “Distasteful” but Necessary
News
By Paul Volcker, International Council Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Paul Volcker, speaking at a lecture in Singapore, said the U.S. economy faces a "considerable recession."
AP Photo
September 25, 2008
Feldstein: Everyone has a Stake in Preventing the Financial Markets from Collapsing
In the News
By Martin Feldstein, George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University
Martin Feldstein, president emeritus of the National Bureau of Economic Research and a member of the Belfer Center's Board of Directors, gave his take on the most pressing issues facing the United States' economy in an interview with Canada's Business News Network.
Justin Ide
September 9, 2008
Lawrence H. Summers Testifies on the Economy and the Case for Fiscal Stimulus
Testimony
By Lawrence Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor
Lawrence H. Summers testified that the American economy remains in a highly uncertain state with very significant risks to the downside.
AP Photo
July 27, 2008
"The way forward for Fannie and Freddie"
Op-Ed, Financial Times
By Lawrence Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor
Lawrence Summers explains the Treasury's rescue plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and how it will impact the housing crisis.
June 29, 2008
"What we can do in this dangerous moment"
Op-Ed, Financial Times
By Lawrence Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor
"It is quite possible that we are now at the most dangerous moment since the American financial crisis began last August," says Lawrence Summers. Summers, a member of the Belfer Center's Board of Directors, says the staggering increases in oil prices and other commodities has brought consumer confidence to new lows and raised serious inflation concerns. He urges Congress to pass the housing bill immediately, to promptly pass other fiscal measures in response to the nation's economic difficulties, and to address non-monetary factors causing inflation concerns. In addition, Summers says, regulators should do what is necessary "to assure that in the event of an institution becoming insolvent they can manage the resolution in a way that protects the system while also protecting taxpayers."
August 31, 2006
"Globalization and its Effects: Introduction and Overview"
Book Chapter
By Richard N. Rosecrance, Adjunct Professor; Senior Fellow, International Security Program, Etel Solingen and Arthur A. Stein
"Globalization has the effect of incapacitating states as autonomous units."
August 31, 2006
"The Dilemma of Devolution and Federalism: Secessionary Nationalism and the Case of Scotland"
Book Chapter
By Arthur A. Stein and Richard N. Rosecrance, Adjunct Professor; Senior Fellow, International Security Program
"In 1707, England and Scotland completed their union. Yet more than a quarter of a millennium later Scottish nationalism made a reappearance...."
May / June 2006
The Long War Against Corruption
Journal Article, Foreign Affairs
By Ben Heineman, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Corruption is widely acknowledged to distort markets, undermine the rule of law, damage government legitimacy, and hurt economic development. The global anticorruption movement has gained ground since the mid-1990s, but its key agents -- developed and developing countries, international organizations, and MNCs -- must do more to prevent and punish misbehavior systematically.
February 16, 2006
"There's More to Growth than China . . ."
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Wall Street Journal
By Martin Feldstein, George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University
When President Bush visits India next month, he will see a country that is making remarkable economic progress despite enormous structural problems. That progress will, however, be far less visible than it is in China. In India he will not see the modern high-rises or the general level of prosperity that he has seen in urban China. But the progress in India is nevertheless real.
