Videos » TripleCrisis

Capital Controls and Trade Agreements: Pressure rises on Obama Administration

On Monday, we reported on a letter signed by more than 250 prominent economists, including many Triple Crisis bloggers, which was delivered to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and US Trade Representative Ron Kirk, urging the Obama Administration to remove restrictions in its trade agreements with developing countries that limit the use of capital controls. The story was featured in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, BNA Trade Daily (subscription only), and it was picked up on Naked Capitalism blog and the NY Times Dealbook blog among others. Kevin Gallagher, one of the letter’s initiators with Sarah Anderson of the Institute for Policy Studies, wrote his monthly column on the topic in the Guardian. Gallagher and Anderson were also interviewed by the Real News Network to explain why capital controls are an important policy tool developing countries can use to prevent financial instability.

Read the full letter and press coverage here. (The letter is also available in Spanish.) Read more on Gallagher’s work on capital controls.

Should Economists Declare Conflicts of Interest?

Gerald Epstein

Triple Crisis blogger Gerald Epstein was recently interviewed by the Real News Network on his and Jessica Carrick-Hagenbarth’s study on the failure of economists to disclose conflicts of interest when providing financial analysis in the media. They spearheaded an effort to get the American Economic Association to adopt an ethics code for economists with a sign-on letter that garnered the support of close to 300 economists. In this video, Epstein discusses the letter’s impact at this month’s AEA annual meeting, which resulted in the creation of a committee to research and consider new ethics standards for economists.

Read more of Epstein’s commentary on economists’ conflicts of interest in two recent blog posts (here and here).

The Fundamentals of the Fed

Jane D’Arista, occasional guest blogger for Triple Crisis, was recently interviewed by the Real News Network on the development of the banking sector’s influence on the Federal Reserve and her opinions on Fed reform. This video is re-posted from the Political Economy Research Institute, a Triple Crisis partner. We periodically cross-post items of interest.

Jane D’Arista is a research associate and co-coordinator of the SAFER Project at the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Subsidizing Inequality: Wise interviewed about U.S. agricultural dumping

Triple Crisis blogger Timothy A. Wise was interviewed by the Real News Network about his work on the costs of U.S. dumping to Mexican farmers, which he summarized in a previous blog post. His monograph and policy brief are part of the report, “Subsidizing Inequality: Mexican Corn Policy Since NAFTA,” which will be presented January 18 in Washington at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Wise will participate in the panel presentation of the report, which will be webcast live at 3 pm.

Subsidizing Inequality: Wise interviewed about U.S. agricultural dumping

Hogging the Gains from Trade and Agricultural Policies

Timothy A. Wise

Triple Crisis blogger Timothy Wise was interviewed by the Real News Network on why NAFTA has undermined Mexican agriculture and caused many Mexican farmers to migrate North to seek employment. It is based on his policy brief with Betsy Rakocy, “Hogging the Gains from Trade: The Real Winners from U.S. Trade and Agricultural Policies.”

For more on this topic see Wise’s 2010 Woodrow Wilson Center paper, “Agricultural Dumping Under NAFTA: Estimating the Costs of U.S. Agricultural Policies to Mexican Producers” as well as his recent Triple Crisis posts on agricultural dumping in Mexico and agribusiness and food security.

The Dragon in the Room: Chinese Investment in Resources Creating Lopsided Economy in Latin America

Kevin P. Gallagher

Following his opinion article in the Financial Times, Triple Crisis blogger Kevin Gallagher was interviewed by the Real News Network on how China’s growing investment in Latin America may be good for short-term economic growth, but bad for Latin American industrialization.

Read Gallagher’s full article at Financial Times.

Read more on Gallagher’s work on China in Latin America.

Spotlight G-20: Hot Money Creating Havoc in the Global Economy

Kevin P. Gallagher
Part of a Triple Crisis series leading up to the Nov. 11-12 G-20 meetings.

Part two of Triple Crisis blogger Kevin Gallagher’s interview with the Real News Network on why many developing countries are adopting capital controls as a countermeasure to the Fed’s proposed quantitative easing and why the IMF is supporting them.

Watch part one of the interview at the Real News Network. Read more on Gallagher’s work on capital controls and foreign investment.

Spotlight G-20: Quantitative Easing: Crippling Costs for Developing Countries

Kevin P. Gallagher
Part of a Triple Crisis series leading up to the Nov. 11-12 G-20 meetings.

In response to his opinion article in the Guardian, Triple Crisis blogger Kevin Gallagher was interviewed by the Real News Network on the consequences of the Fed’s proposed quantitative easing and its implications for G-20 leaders currently trying to prevent a “currency war” at the Seoul summit.

Read more on Gallagher’s work on capital controls and foreign investment.

Spotlight G-20: Causes and Consequences of the Currency War between US and China

C.P. Chandrasekhar
Part of a Triple Crisis series leading up to the Nov. 11-12 G-20 meetings.

Triple Crisis blogger C.P. Chandrasekhar was interviewed by Newsclick on the ongoing “currency wars” between the US, China, and other developing countries. This contentious issue will be a priority for many leaders attending this week’s G-20 meetings in Seoul.