Biden is Better on Economics

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October 29, 2020 — In a few days, Americans will choose a president.  Polling suggests that voters favor former Vice-President Joseph Biden when it comes to social policy, foreign policy, the environment, and managing the pandemic, not to mention the question of personal character. But on economics, polls have reported that voters favored President Donald Trump, at least until recently.

A general impression that the US economy does better under Republicans is long-standing.  The facts do not support it, however. read more

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Will the Coronavirus Spur Action on Climate Change?

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October 3, 2020 — From early on in this pandemic, a common reaction has been “at least, maybe now we will get serious about addressing climate change.”  One can see the logic.  The terrible toll taken by Covid-19 should remind us of the importance of three things: the need for science, the role for public policy, and the usefulness of international cooperation.  With these three revelations firmly in mind, we can see that we also need them to respond to the problem of climate change. read more

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What’s wrong with US Treasury claim of Vietnamese undervaluation

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August 27, 2020 — The US Treasury’s tendentious interpretation of the IMF’s External Balance Approach this week found a 4.7 % undervaluation of Vietnam’s currency.  It may pave the way for the US Commerce Department to impose countervailing duties (in a case involving the tire market), for the first time in a currency case. See Mark Sobel’s useful update of August 27. The Treasury claimed to find undervaluation despite small Vietnamese current account surpluses and fx reserves equal to only four months of imports. This finding is an ominous step in a predictably misguided US movement to use allegations of trading partners’ currency manipulation to justify protectionism. read more

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