The willful US fiscal crackup of 2012-13 will impose costs unless politicians' change their behavior and return to practicing good governance. In the past, the United States ran deficits, or put off some harder long-term choices, but basic budgetary processes worked. Everyone worldwide, whether...

The renminbi (RMB) is not yet an international currency that could challenge the position of the dollar or the euro, but it is heading in that direction. Chinese officials support the limited goal of increasing usage of the RMB in international transactions, but they do not publicly advocate...

Active accommodation of fiscal consolidations by monetary policy is controversial, as can be seen in current euro area discussions. While many observers acknowledge that there is usually a place for monetary accommodation in response to fiscal consolidation, a sequencing argument is often heard...

Europe must adopt policies to grow and reform at the same time to reverse its downward economic slide, excessively low inflation, high unemployment, and the risk of a lost decade or more. Seven years after the start of the global financial crisis in 2007, the prospect of secular stagnation...

Using data on eight advanced economies (Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Slovakia, Spain, the United Kingdom, and United States) between 2007 and 2010, Tomas Hellebrandt shows how the Great Recession affected income inequality in different countries and how families and the state tried to...

Janet Yellen, who will serve as the 15th chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System after her likely confirmation in December 2013, faces some formidable challenges as the economy and financial system continue to recover from the long-lasting effects of the global financial...

The escalating crisis in Ukraine has prompted the United States and Europe to impose the toughest economic sanctions against Russia since the end of the Cold War. Continued instability and military conflict in eastern Ukraine are straining Ukrainian finances. Despite a generous international...

Has the biggest sovereign debt default in history passed without answering the urgent legal and policy questions it posed, and with barely a ripple in the global financial markets? So far, pretty much. Lawsuits have not yielded a penny for the creditors. They failed to stop the spring 2005 debt...

Italy changed its debt contracts, Belize passed new debt legislation, and Taiwan sued Grenada this year, all in response to a string of court rulings in New York that tried to make Argentina pay its debts from its financial crisis in 2001. The court rulings have gone to unprecedented lengths to...

Inflation in the euro area is too low, and the European Central Bank (ECB) is at risk of missing its price stability mandate. With the market forecasting average inflation in the euro area over the next five years in the 1.25 to 1.5 percent range, the ECB must prepare to act forcefully to push...