Clark Center Forum

It can be all too easy for both investors and those writing about finance and economics to get too caught up in the day-by-day and week-by-week moves of financial markets. The drama of sudden gyrations, rallies, and declines is sometimes irresistible and there is always a risk that too much significance will be attached to […] 

It is never a good sign for finance ministers when bond market moves make the front pages of the non-financial press. That is what has happened this week in Britain as the rising yield on gilts (as British sovereign bonds are rather quaintly sometimes dubbed) rose to multi-year highs. The yield on ten year British […] 

Despite a wobble at the very end of the year, American investors remain in an exuberant mood.  The results of Bank of America’s closely watched survey of fund managers found them in a mood best described as near-euphoric or “super bullish” in the words of the firm’s investment strategist. Allocations to cash fell to record […] 

Almost 20 years ago, back in 2006, at a summit meeting In Riga, NATO members pledged to commit 2% of GDP to defense spending. This year 23 of the alliance, 32 members look set to hit that target, up from just 6 as recently as 2018. But that target now looks grossly out of date. […] 

This European survey examines (a) The likely need for increased European public investment in defense should come with substantial reallocations of public budgets at the national and EU levels; (b) Greater use of joint EU-level procurement of military equipment and defense research/innovation would promote substantially enhanced capacity in Europe's defense industry; (c) Increased defense spending would deliver a measurable boost to economic growth in Europe over the next five years 

This US survey examines (a) Doubling existing tariffs on imports from China of critical production components in solar energy manufacturing will provide a substantial boost to employment in the domestic 'cleantech' sector over the next five years; (b) Disruptions to global supply chains from new tariffs and trade wars will lead to measurably slower global growth over the next five years 

This Finance survey examines (a) A properly diversified 401k account should include private equity and private credit assets 

This installment of the FTxBooth US Macroeconomists Survey discusses the 2025 outlook for the US economy. The summary results are below and you can read the Financial Times article here, subscription required. View the results of this survey >> For social media: Please use the hashtag #FTxBooth when referring to the FT-Booth US Macroeconomists Survey. 

Economics is a broad subject, certainly one of the broadest of all the social sciences. Indeed, over the last year, the polls of the Clark Center’s various panels of experts have covered everything from education funding to tariffs to climate change to concert ticket pricing. And yet whenever your columnist mentions what he does for […] 

Is the world on track to meet its climate targets? The answer depends upon who one asks. A poll of climate scientists earlier this year was not especially optimistic. As the Guardian reported in May: Hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists expect global temperatures to rise to at least 2.5C (4.5F) above preindustrial levels […]