Author Archives: karimfoda
Part III: The Quest for Demand and the US Consumer
This is the final post in a series on how a weaker global economy can threaten the strengthening recovery in the US. The first post in the series is the introduction, which is followed by three parts. Part I, delves into the drivers of growth in the US and in the rest of the world. […]
Inflation: Slowly Rising Prices Can Be a Bad Thing
It is important that prices don’t rise too fast when times are good or too slow when times are bad. The latter is the current situation in some key advanced economies, with low and falling inflation emerging as the most serious obstacle for a return to full employment and a durable economic recovery. Weak demand […]
Tiger Index: A Shaky Recovery Runs Out of Steam
This article originally appears on the Financial Times website to accompany the Brookings-FT Tracking Indices for the Global Economic Recovery (TIGER). To view a full set of charts, visit the Financial Times or Brookings. By Eswar Prasad, Karim Foda, and Arnav Sahu The global economic recovery has stalled and become unbalanced, with the U.S. now […]
Is China Serious About Liberalizing the Renminbi?
**This article originally appears here in the Financial Times online blog ‘Beyondbrics’ and refers to the interactive China Currency Tracker. Both are featured in the Financial Times Special Report: The Future of the Renminbi.** By Eswar Prasad, Karim Foda, and Abhinav Rangarajan September 30, 2014 China is making steady progress on its path to making the renminbi an […]
China Is Not On Top, Yet
For the first time in history, the largest economy in the world will be poor. Last week, the World Bank revealed that prices in developing countries are much lower than we previously thought, implying that the purchasing power of citizens in those countries is stronger. Taking this into account, new estimates of GDP at purchasing […]
Of Global Interest
The persistent decline of global real interest rates since the 1980’s has been puzzling. Public debt in advanced economies is approaching record highs, yet borrowing costs have continued to decline. The good news is that a low interest rate improves fiscal sustainability for governments trying to improve their fiscal positions. The bad news is that […]
Tiger index: Better Days Could be Ahead
This article originally appears on the Financial Times website to accompany the Brookings-FT Tracking Indices for the Global Economic Recovery (TIGER). To view full set of charts, see http://www.ft.com/tiger or http://www.brookings.edu/tiger By Eswar Prasad, Karim Foda and Arnav Sahu The global economic recovery remains uneven and wobbly but finally appears to have built up […]
(un)Employment in the U.S.
The unemployment rate in the U.S. has been steadily declining since it hit 10 percent in October 2009. Four and a half years of steady and consistent improvement in the unemployment rate, however, has convinced neither policymakers nor the public that the American labor market is on track for a comeback. At the end of […]
Driving Growth to Catch Up
Any casual observer of the world’s state of affairs knows that advanced economies have been in trouble and emerging markets and China in particular have been important drivers of global economic growth. Despite concerns of “emerging market turmoil” over the last couple months, there has been a sense of unease and fear in advanced economies […]
Global Burden of Disease
A healthy population is a productive one. Disease, malnutrition, sanitation and other public health concerns are central to the development of a region and to the productive capacity of a population. With the advancement of technology, increased availability of drugs and improved governance, death by communicable disease has decreased and average life expectancy globally has increased […]
A Reminder of History
Reading Western news headlines on Egypt leaves me scratching my head wondering: “Are freedom and democracy really that simple? What does history tell us, and are Egyptians required to repeat it?” In Jan/Feb 2011, Egyptians said no to military autocracy. In June/July 2013, Egyptians said no to “Islamist” autocracy. It is clear now in Egypt […]
Call It A Comeback: Egypt’s Economy
Egypt’s democracy. Egypt’s politics. Egypt’s economy. As mainstream popular reaction in the West suggests, the essence of democracy is the vote. As mainstream popular reaction in Egypt itself suggests, the essence of democracy is liberty. Ultimately, the essence of a free and prosperous society is an inclusive political system and an inclusive economy that provides […]
Rates of Interest at the ECB
Today, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced a cut in the interest rate that it charges when it lends money to commercial financial institutions like banks. With falling inflation (a signal of a sluggish economy when extra low) and record high unemployment in the eurozone, this drop in the refinancing rate, from 0.75 percent of […]
Check the Record
Young high school students around the U.S. are increasingly interested in economics and discuss the economy more often, but are no more knowledgeable of the subject than they were in 2006. The Nation’s Report Card, released Wednesday, shows that the share of students performing below the Basic level of competency in Economics has declined, yet the increases to […]
Hopes Lift as Europe Shifts
Europe is finally shifting its priority from fiscal austerity to growth. After a few years of harsh spending cuts, eurozone-wide budget deficits fell from a peak of 7 percent in the third quarter of 2010 to below 4 percent at the end of 2012. During that same time, growth went from positive to negative and […]
Say What?
The right to express oneself freely and without judgment or fear is at the core of a prosperous and stable society. No other right occupies this absolute core than the right to free speech and expression – the core of the core, if you will. The right to freedom of religion, thought, movement, assembly, and […]
In Defense of Politics
Last night, re-elected President Obama put into words a defense for a true and vital attribute of democracy: politics. He spoke of how cynics “tell us that politics is nothing more than a contest of egos or the domain of special interests”, yet people in various corners of the world are risking their lives “just […]
Bigger than Policy, Bigger than Religion
Peace, tolerance, compassion, forgiveness. All religions and faiths are based on these basic moral standards. When I heard yesterday and today about some self-proclaimed religious groups in Libya and in Egypt attacking the embassies of the United States in response to an amateur film made by some bigots somewhere in the U.S., I find myself […]
Buying Time by Buying Bonds
Note: This article originally appears at and belongs to The Brookings Institution. By Kemal Derviş, Galip Kemal Özhan and Karim Foda On Thursday, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi outlined a framework for a bond buying program to stabilize financial markets as policymakers tackle the underlying national and eurozone structural reforms that are necessary to […]
A Vision For Egypt?
Beginning in late January of last year, the soul of an entire population believed in its strength. Hardly possible by individuals but righteously achievable among peoples, a symbol of all that is wrong with society in Egypt was defeated. The belief that Egyptians have what it takes to build a better country and the determination […]
Karim Foda 