Economics & Global Affairs

4 Items

Oil tanker Marlin Luanda on fire after an attack in the Gulf of Aden.

Associated Press

Analysis & Opinions - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

The Other Side of the Strait: The Strategic Significance of the Houthi’s Aggression for East Africa

| Mar. 06, 2024

Iranian-backed militants in Yemen are clashing with the United States and British naval forces in the Red Sea over Israel’s operations in Gaza, all in a complex dance for geopolitical leverage in the Middle East. Yet, there is another region with a stake in the conflict brewing in the Bab al-Mandab strait, one seemingly beyond the world’s purview – the Horn of Africa.

Central Bank Digital Currency Tracker

Atlantic Council and Belfer Center

Infographics & Charts

National Digital Currencies: The Future of Money?

| Updated September 2020

China piloted a national digital currency in April 2020. The European Central Bank has convened a working group of major economies to coordinate digital currency research and development. The U.S. Federal Reserve said it was in the early stages of researching the digital dollar. Spurred by the potential to modernize domestic payments systems, or take a leading role in updating the global payments infrastructure that supports cross-border trade and remittances, nations around the globe are exploring the merits and risks of issuing a digital currency. While many are in the early stages of research, central banks representing one-fifth of the world's population say they will issue a digital currency very soon.

The Belfer Center’s Economic Diplomacy Initiative, in collaboration with the Atlantic Council’s Global Business and Economics Program, is tracking the latest developments in central bank issued digital currencies.

Blog Post - Views on the Economy and the World

Long-term Job Decline in US Manufacturing

| Nov. 13, 2017

What does international trade have to do with US jobs?  Surely the US trade deficit in manufacturing has reduced employment?  Not as much as you would think, on net.  Especially with regard to overall employment, which in the long run is determined by the size of the labor force.  But even if manufacturing jobs are considered more important than service jobs, trade policy has not been the main reason for their decline.  Perhaps the raw statistics can be made more intuitively convincing if one makes comparisons with other sectors.