Budget And Trade Deficit, The Two Big Issues For the U.S.

While Washington is consumed by political furor over how to get the federal budget deficit under control, strangely few people are talking about its troublesome twin sister. Unlike the budget deficit, the half-trillion-dollar U.S. trade deficit does nothing to stimulate the economy even in the short term. Rather, it is sucking jobs out of the […]

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Northeast Asia’s Free Trade Dream

Amid a storm of bluster and posturing in East Asia, there has been scarce analysis on recent attempts at regional integration. Despite this, the rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula have actually served to temporarily move the microscope away from maritime security issues and territorial disputes in favor of punditry over Pyongyang’s nuclear wish list. […]

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Japan’s Depopulation Time Bomb

Japan‘s National Institute of Population and Social Security Research on March 27 announced a population estimate for Japan in 2040. As expected, what emerges out of this is a nation with an unprecedented rapidly aging and declining population. The implications of the estimate must be taken very seriously and preparations made to ameliorate the impact […]

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The Missing Strategic Pivot In Japan-Saudi Relationship

In a few weeks’ time, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit Saudi Arabia with an avowed objective of fostering the cordial relationship between the two countries. That is exactly where the relationship has always been — cordial and businesslike without cultivating strategic opportunities. The relationship between the two countries has been dominated by trade except for […]

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Keep The Door Open For Trade

If ever a reminder was needed of the slippery nature of the grounds on which India-Pakistan relations are played out, a most recent offering is the Washington-based Wilson Center study on India-Pakistan trade. Fairly up to speed on bilateral relations, by recording developments as recent as November 2012, the study has already been rendered outdated […]

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The Top Soil That China Bought

Western Australia’s energy boom has seen the state outpace the rest of Australia in job creation and economic growth, helping the conservative Liberal-National coalition comfortably win re-election. The state’s traditional secessionist sentiment has been fuelled by Premier Colin Barnett, who has demanded a greater share of tax revenues from the federal government in Canberra. Read Here – […]

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The BRICS Expose the West’s Hypocrisy

Who do they think they are, these upstart economies, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa? That might sum up the feeling in the U.S., Europe and Japan as the BRICS nations consider a new development bank that might challenge the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The move brings to mind Alice Amsden, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist who died last […]

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Sri Lanka’s Growing Economy Battles Commercial Disputes

Since the end of Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war in 2009, the government has clearly been focusing on expansion, with new investments in infrastructure and the private sector that are helping to spur growth and contributing to an increase in disposable income and rising consumerism. While this growth is largely positive, there has also been […]

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