International

By Laurance J. Kotlikoff with Juan Pablo NIcolini

In Argentina, workers are rioting for a reason. One in five workers is unemployed and the gross domestic product has fallen by 25% since 1999. The Argentine peso, which for the last decade was worth a dollar, is now worth a quarter. The government has defaulted on its debt and most banks are technically bankrupt. Financial and human flight is rampant.

Alan Auerbach November 18, 2002
Robert D. Burch Professor of Economics and Law University of California at Berkeley

Laurence Kotlikoff
Professor of Economics Boston University

What Japan Must Do

Japan has experienced disappointing economic performance since the early 1990s, and there is little sign of an end to this “lost decade.” Economic growth remains very slow, unemployment is historically high, prices are falling, and the financial sector remains in a precarious state. Indeed, Japan now risks a decline in the very high living standard established during the previous decades of spectacular economic growth.

by James S. Henry and Laurence J. Kotlikoff

Today begins Paul Wolfowitz's tenure as president of the World Bank. And if he doesn't have first-day jitters, he should.

FOUR YEARS, more than 26,600 American casualties, more than 100,00 Iraqi casualties, 2 million refugees, and $410 billion later, large parts of Iraq and a vast majority of Iraqis are stuck in an unmitigated hell, with no end in sight.