Developing countries, especially the poorest, have the most at risk if the Doha Round is not wrapped up this year. If the multilateral negotiations languish, the recent trend toward bilateral and regional trade agreements will accelerate. These arrangements hurt the smallest and poorest...

Almost a decade ago, as the last nuclear crisis with North Korea was reaching a peak, I concluded the following about the potential utility of economic sanctions: The debate over US policy toward North Korea boils down to one deceptively simple question: what does Kim Il-sung want? No one can be...

Although many deny it, a linkage between trade policy and labor standards clearly exists. The International Labor Organization (ILO), long ignored and belittled, is suddenly popular with various constituents who desperately want to deflect pressure to incorporate labor standards in trade...

With the impasse over whether and how to link labor standards and trade agreements stretching into its eighth year, attention has turned to "monetary assessments," or fines, as alternatives to trade sanctions. In testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee in early March 2001, US Trade...

The debate over linking trade and worker rights is often a dialogue of the deaf, with advocates on either side paying little attention to the scope for positive synergies between labor standards, development, and globalization. Instead, each side views the other as promoting positions that will,...

This November, trade ministers from the United States and more than 100 other countries will gather in Doha, Qatar, with the goal of launching a new multilateral round of trade negotiations. Space permitting, hundreds or thousands of protestors will also gather to condemn the unwillingness of...

Most forecasts for emerging and developing economies reflect excessive optimism that is both statistically significant and economically relevant, according to a study of forecasts for horizons of up to 20 years in more than 100 countries. This Policy Brief argues that for rapidly growing...

The new chair of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, contends that there is considerable slack in the labor market, and that the Fed is monitoring several measures of labor market conditions to assess that problem. This Policy Brief provides new analysis on one of these measures, the US labor...

Latin America’s recent economic performance has been disappointing. After a very strong recovery from the Great Recession, growth has slowed considerably, and prospects for 2015 are dim. Among the seven largest economies in the region, output is expected to contract in Argentina, Brazil, and...

This semiannual review finds that most of the major international currencies, including the US dollar, euro, Japanese yen, UK pound sterling, and Chinese renminbi, remain close to their fundamental equilibrium exchange rates (FEERs). The new estimates find this result despite numerous...