Research Library

The Biden administration’s new industrial policy initiatives aim to help the U.S. compete with China, battle climate change and provide middle class jobs. Will these policies work or fade away like previous efforts?

The UK recently announced that it will pursue commercial arrangements with up to 20 individual U.S. states, beginning with Texas. In this brief, fellow David Gantz explores what these arrangements could achieve and the potential legal and constitutional constraints that may limit their reach.

Most analysis of NAFTA begins by citing the huge increase in bilateral trade between the U.S., Canada and Mexico since 1993. U.S.-Mexico trade—exports plus imports—has grown three and a half times faster than U.S. GDP since NAFTA began in 1994. If NAFTA were solely responsible for that trade, renegotiating it on more favorable terms might have big payoffs. However, there are seven problems with thinking NAFTA has mattered or can matter very much.

This brief gauges the impact of India's drastic, surprise move to eliminate "black money" by requiring holders to redeem certain rupee notes by the end of the year. If not redeemed, such notes will become illegal tender.

Japan's once-booming economy has been somnolent, mainly as a result of deflation and decreased productivity. This issue brief discusses Abenomics — the country's strategy for achieving economic growth — and the headwinds created by the demographic forces of aging in Japan.

Is the U.S. better off linking its money supply to a global commodity market or allowing an independent central bank to respond to economic conditions?

As the BRICS hold their seventh summit in Ufa, Russia this week, international economics fellow Russell Green and Rice student Elisabeth Kalomeris offer advice on designing the framework for the organization’s New Development Bank.

As Congress resumes work this spring on a bill granting Trade Promotion Authority to President Obama for completion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, many members have sought inclusion of a chapter on currency manipulation. Currency manipulation is a legitimate concern. However, countermeasures require clear, objective identification of currency manipulation. Both the IMF and the U.S. Treasury Department have mandates to identify currency manipulation, yet neither has done so in the past 20 years. If it can be done, why has it not happened more often? In this issue brief, Russell Green, Will Clayton Fellow in International Economics, reviews the difficulties of operationalizing a currency manipulation chapter and argues that the difficulty of identifying currency manipulation suggests serious political obstacles to implementation.

The BRICS clearly want something tangible to demonstrate their global prominence and the power of non-Western values. Russell Green examines the critical issues that must be resolved before the BRICS bank can open its doors.

This issue brief identifies the four main reforms that the new Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government must undertake to revive the manufacturing industry in India.