Archive

Foreign Affairs

21 July 2011

The perennially indecisive character of European politics, which makes it nearly impossible for European policymakers to hold one another to account, allowed the Greek situation to get out of hand. For months it seemed the most that European leaders could manage was a muddle of bluffs, half-measures, and mixed-messages. And before long, what had begun as a bad debt problem in Greece had degenerated into a broad liquidity crisis for the Eurozone. More…

Foreign Affairs

5 July 2011

Sarkozy’s was a Cinderella story of a young dynamic neo-liberal sweeping to power, overcoming a disorganized and outdated left. Many commentators were quick to point out that Sarko was a French conservative, and that came with a few caveats. Still, the predominant opinion was summed up by the title of a Financial Times editorial: “France braced for a swift dose of Thatcherism.” More…

The White House has been managing its relationship with Musharraf according to the logic of a specific class of economic game, which economists call the “Principal-Agent Problem.” You give your money to someone; how do you know they will manage it with your interests in mind? The answer is to make sure the incentives of the principle and the agents are aligned. More…

When you consider the modesty of the current reform and the vehemence of the reaction against it, you begin to suspect there’s more at stake than just the CPE. Though directed at a single issue, the demonstrations seem more like a mass expression of anxiety over an unexpected future. The word for this future is globalization. More…