Clark Center Forum

This installment of the FTxBooth US Macroeconomists Survey discusses how many interest rate cuts the Fed is likely to make during the remainder of 2024 as well as factors that may affect that decision. The summary results are below and you can read the Financial Times article here, subscription required. View the results of this […] 

There are plenty of reasons why Japanese policymakers might favor a stronger yen. With Japan increasingly reliant on both imported food and imported energy, anything which increases the nation’s international purchasing power can be seen as positive. But the supposed benefits of a stronger currency run beyond that obvious implication. It helps to support household […] 

Looking back from 1919, the economist John Maynard Keynes wrote of the pre-Great War world as a high point of what would now be termed globalization. As he set out in the Economic Consequences of the Peace: “The inhabitant of London could order by telephone, sipping his morning tea in bed, the various products of […] 

This Finance survey examines that it seems likely that Japanese authorities intervened in the foreign exchange market recently to prop up the yen – see, for example: https://www.ft.com/content/455784ec-0465-46ee-8c73-fc5ce3e31c37. In such circumstances, intervention refers to purchases or sales of domestic or foreign currency without changing the monetary policy stance (a) Large-scale intervention by public authorities in currency markets can move exchange rates substantially (b) The effectiveness of foreign exchange interventions can last beyond one month 

This European survey examines (a) The proposed US tariffs on Chinese EVs would lead to measurably higher employment in the US automotive industry over the next five years; (b) The proposed US tariffs on Chinese EVs would measurably slow the adoption of green technology by consumers; (c) Unless the EU matches the proposed US tariffs on Chinese EVs, there would be measurably lower employment in Europe's automotive industry over the next five years 

This US survey examines (a) The proposed US tariffs on Chinese EVs would lead to measurably higher employment in the US automotive industry over the next five years; (b) The proposed US tariffs on Chinese EVs would lead to measurably higher prices of EVs in the US; (c) The proposed US tariffs on Chinese EVs would measurably slow the adoption of green technology by consumers 

Private equity investing, as the name rather helpfully suggests, involves buying (and later selling) equity in firms that are not listed on the public markets. Under that, rather broad umbrella, a whole variety of different investing strategies can be found. Varying from venture capital (the provision of early-stage investments to often quickly growing companies) to […] 

Economics is an unusual discipline. Most fields of study are just that, a study of a specific field. Economics though is, in its broadest sense, almost a way of thinking, a common approach to methodology rather than a set subject matter. This can come as a surprise to non-economists. Often, possibly all too often, telling […] 

This European survey examines (a) Greater integration of national markets for financial services, energy and telecommunications would give a measurable boost to Europe’s GDP over the next ten years; (b) The potential benefits for GDP from loosening European merger rules to allow greater consolidation within the single market would outweigh the potential harm to consumers from weaker competition

  

This Finance survey examines that Retail investors account for a large share of global wealth, but a small share in private equity holdings. (see link: https://bain.com/insights/why-private-equity-is-targeting-individual-investors-global-private-equity-report-2023/ (a) A reduction in the barriers to all retail investors investing in private equity funds - notably regulatory restrictions on investor wealth/income and on liquidity - would substantially improve household welfare.