The dollar could bring investors a nasty surprise
Our currency, your problem. That is how John Connally, America’s Treasury secretary, described the dollar to European leaders in 1971. The phrasing was apt. His boss, Richard Nixon, had suspended the convertibility of the dollar into gold and demanded a change to the exchange-rate system established at Bretton Woods in 1944. Other countries were told […]
Has economics run out of big new ideas?
At the annual meeting of the American Economic Association, held this year in New Orleans, wonks discussed everything from inflation and technological progress to the economics of crime and the energy transition. Yet those looking for big breakthroughs would have left unsatisfied. Most new work focused on rigorous analysis of data or painstaking theoretical modelling. […]
Dell looks to phase out ‘made in China’ chips by 2024
US computer maker Dell aims to stop using chips made in China by 2024 and has told suppliers to significantly reduce the amount of other “made in China” components in its products as part of efforts to diversify its supply chain amid concerns over Washington-Beijing tensions. The world’s third-largest computer maker by shipments told suppliers […]
Warnings from history for a new era of industrial policy
“Free trade is almost dead,” declared Morris Chang, the founder of tsmc, dampening the mood at an event in December to celebrate a milestone in the building of the Taiwanese chipmaker’s new fab in Arizona. The remark was not out of character. In July he called America’s effort to bring chipmaking home an “exercise in […]
The Decline of Growth – Econlib
Last summer I lamented the recent dearth of good news: In the last part of the 20th century, I greatly enjoyed reading news outlets such as The Economist, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Far Eastern Economic Review. These news sources focused on public policy issues, especially economic and political issues. […]
The energy crisis and Europe’s astonishing luck
Visitors to warsaw at this time of year do not usually bask in temperatures nearing 20°C. Bilbao tends to be frosty, not tropical, in January. But this winter is a strange one. Temperature records are being broken across Europe and energy prices are plummeting: the price of natural gas at the continent’s main hub has […]
