Category Archives: Russia

Negative Real Interest Rates ‘Round the World Bode Ill for Inflation

While some writers in the US have taken note of the fact that the Fed’s rate cuts have propelled the US into negative real interest rate territory, until recently, the role of overly-permissive monetary policy in inflation-fraught countries like China and the Gulf States has gotten comparatively little attention. Last week, the Economist devoted an […]

High Euro Leading to Fall in Long-Term Investment

Policymakers in Europe have been worried about the appreciation of the euro, which makes local goods less competitive in international markets. Another cost of the currency’s strength is that foreign direct investment has plummeted, as producers shift funds to nations that now have a cost advantage. From the Telegraph: Long-term private investors are pulling their […]

From Imperialists to Third World?

A good comment by Philip Stephens in the Financial Times, “Uncomfortable truths for a new world of them and us,” is a polite and understated wake-up call to the fading former imperialist of the West. He notes that the countries currently dominant in major international organizations assume that life will continue more or less as […]

Hamilton: "Understanding Crude Oil Prices"

Here I wanted a light weekend and what does Jim Hamilton do but go and put up a link to a very interesting new paper of his. This is from the introduction: How would one go about explaining what oil prices have been doing and predicting where they might be headed next? This paper explores […]

International Energy Agency to Try to Gather Supply Data It Won’t Get (And Other Oil Information Gaps)

The headline above is perhaps the most important message contained in the front page Wall Street Journal article, “Energy Watchdog Warns Of Oil-Production Crunch.” Well, in fairness, it may rank as important as the thrust of the article, which is that the IEA, which recently had predicted that oil supplies would be able to more […]