Research Library

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.

Part 2 of a two-part blog on China’s economy. Part 1 can be found here.

At this point, projections indicate that a…

In a two-part blog, Russell Green, Will Clayton Fellow in International Economics, examines whether a slowdown of China's powerhouse economy will impact the country's global agenda.

This week, negotiators announced the framework of a nuclear agreement — ultimately, a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — with Iran. If a final deal can be struck and if the agreement holds, this deal will mark a historic foreign policy achievement, writes Joe Barnes.

Saudi Arabia's role in global energy markets is changing. The kingdom is diverting crude oil into an expanding refining sector and moving beyond its role as global “swing supplier” of crude oil, writes Jim Krane.

In contrast to the generally accepted view of U.S. policy toward hostile regimes, especially in the Caribbean basin, Washington is not trying to destabilize the government of Venezuela. In fact, it is making efforts to keep Nicolás Maduro in office. With U.S. foreign policy in a precarious position — facing challenges from ISIS, Russia and China — stabilizing the Maduro government looks like the most rational option to support the White House’s current interests in the Western Hemisphere.

Part of a study directed by the Center for Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute, Harvard University’s Geopolitics of Energy Project at the Kennedy School and the University of California, Davis, Graduate School of Management.

Last year’s China-Russia gas energy deals pack some significant economic and geopolitical clout, but many Western commentators have lost sight of the humanitarian ends for which the gas deals were designed.

Anticipation is growing as India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepares to release his government’s annual budget. International economics fellow Russell Green advises Modi to go big.

We explain a great change in the distribution of income by increased automation, which has directly replaced human labor in tasks that can be reduced to algorithms.