Podcasts

Back

Biden’s action: a political economy perspective

01
March 2024
By Otaviano Canuto, Dominique Bocquet, Paul Isbell
Related topics: 
Economy
North America

This podcast tackles the intricacies of Biden’s presidency from a political economy standpoint. Our guests initially discuss the degree to which it can be argued that US democracy has recently been under threat. Following this, the conversation shifts to the consequences of US domestic political polarization on its global leadership role. Subsequently, the dialogue explores the surprising political accomplishments of Biden’s presidency thus far, alongside their failure to enhance Biden’s reelection prospects. This podcast is the precursor to additional episodes centered around the US political economy.

RELATED CONTENT

  • Global imbalances and currency bullying
    Authors
    Otaviano Canuto
    August 6, 2018
    The IMF released last July 24 its latest assessments of the current account balances for the 30 largest economies in its External Sector Report 2018 (ESR). There was no major change in 2017 relative to previous years and the reconfiguration of surpluses and deficits that has prevailed since 2013 was essentially extended. However, there are reasons to expect more abrupt alterations ahead, as the U.S. fiscal easing under high employment conditions unfolds. Given the context of ongoing ...
  • Four Dangerous Illusions about the Looming Trade War
    Authors
    Uri Dadush
    July 10, 2018
    Historians often offer different interpretations of the events that have shaped our destiny, yet, with respect to World War 2, the bloodiest conflict in history, they seem to concur on two points. First, that those yearning for peace underestimated the National Socialists’ determination to wage a war of conquest until it was far too late to deter them, and, second, that Nazi Germany failed to anticipate that Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union – each of which it provok ...
  • Emerging markets face multiple tantrums
    Authors
    Otaviano Canuto
    July 3, 2018
    The addition of a fourth US rate rise to the Federal Reserve’s 2018 dot-plot graph after the June meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee sparked a bout of portfolio outflows from emerging markets. This followed a fleeting upswing at the beginning of the month that fell short on reversing the unwinding of exposure and sell-off of assets in May (Chart 1). Country differentiation has been accentuated, with exchange rate devaluation pressures and capital outflows occurring more no ...
  • Download PDF
    Our Trade Tensions Will Persist Beyond Trump
    Authors
    Uri Dadush
    May 15, 2018
    Technology and inequality, China's special status, macroeconomic imbalances, and WTO dysfunction, are the challenges confronted by the world trading system, and which lie at the root of resurgent protectionism. Are the trade tensions that have been stoked by Trump unique to him or the outcome of forces that preceded him and will outlast him? ...
  • The Double Side of the Fed’s Balance Sheet Unwinding
    Authors
    Otaviano Canuto
    April 19, 2018
    In its March 2018 meeting, the Federal Reserve raised the target range for federal funds rate by a quarter point to 1.5-1.75 percent and Fed officials are now projecting a steeper path of hikes for the next two years. Recent inflation data would hint at the Fed staying firmly on track for another 25bp rate hike in June. As producer price inflation hit a seven-year high and a tightened labor market is exercising upward pressure on wage growth, there is no wonder expectations have sli ...
  • Download PDF
    The Protectionist’s Progress: Year 1
    Authors
    Uri Dadush
    December 5, 2017
    President Trump’s actions on trade have not quite matched his rhetoric, but the worst may be to come. Though the political opposition to his protectionism is formidable, so are his conviction and determination and he possesses a wide array of instruments to pursue his goals. The trade doctrine he has espoused makes for trade policy instability both at home and abroad. It may lead to a large deterioration in the operating environment of international business. America’s tradedependen ...
  • Download PDF
    Wage stagnation in the United States: some international implications
    Authors
    Uri Dadush
    October 23, 2017
    The rise of protectionism, economic nationalism and nativism in the United States can be attributed inter alia to the nation’s wage stagnation and rising inequality. Other countries are responding by reevaluating their reliance on the American hegemon. But this is not enough. Policy-makers also need to ask what lessons they can draw for their domestic policies from the United States’ success in creating wealth while, at the same time, failing to distribute it equitably and to reduce ...
  • Trade Backlash and the World Trade Organization
    Authors
    Uri Dadush
    May 22, 2017
    The best way I can describe my feelings about trade these days is as an unstable anxiety disorder. Following on November 8 2016, the date of the US election, my anxiety level rose markedly as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was buried. Shortly thereafter it touched a maximum when a dangerous idea called the Border Adjustment Tax was gaining traction, and the North-American Free Trade Agreement seemed headed the way of TPP. Then I became a little less prone to panic attacks, as v ...
  • Nafta at the Crossroads
    Authors
    Otaviano Canuto
    Michael McKeon
    May 22, 2017
    The U.S. Senate voted to confirm Robert Lighthizer as United States Trade Representative last week, rounding out President Donald Trump’s cabinet and giving momentum to his trade agenda. At his swearing-in ceremony on May 15, Ambassador Lighthizer predicted that President Trump would permanently reverse “the dangerous trajectory of American trade,” and in turn make “U.S. farmers, ranchers and workers richer and the country safer.” This policy shift will begin in earnest in the comin ...
  • Download PDF
    U.S. Economic Policy Toward Africa: The Path to More Collaboration
    Authors
    Eliot Pence
    May 19, 2017
    U.S. Africa policy has tended to shift over time and has lacked a clear overarching strategic vision. The Trump administration’s approach in Africa should articulate a limited set of principles that clarifies and solidifies a more sustainable framework that is better suited to address fundamental drivers of Africa’s future. These principles include prioritizing key countries and rationalizing resources, creating an “Investment- First” policy in Africa, and more clearly communicating ...