Tag: IMF

Big Tech, Big Macroeconomic Problems

~ Karen Petrou ~ 1 Comment

By Karen Petrou

It’s easy enough to miss the macroeconomic and financial-sector impact of giant tech-platform companies in the swirl of concern about privacy, political integrity, concentration, and corporate governance.  However, big tech also has massive macroeconomic impact with far-reaching financial-system implications.  We explored safety-and-soundness implications in here and economic-equality impact in here.  Now comes a sweeping IMF study linking and even attributing structural economic transformation to these same big-tech behemoths.  Although inconclusive in critical respects, it’s worth a careful look. Continue reading “Big Tech, Big Macroeconomic Problems” →

Wondering Why Trump Loves Tariffs? Check Out Globalization’s Inequality Impact

~ Karen Petrou ~ 1 Comment

By Karen Shaw Petrou

When the IMF was established at Bretton Woods in 1945, it was key to the post-war creation of a globalized international economic and financial system.  That was then.  Now, the Fund has released a ground-breaking paper finding that globalization not only does not boost growth in advanced economies, but also appears to worsen income inequality.  The paper does not go on to push for protectionism – blasphemy at the Fund and not borne out for trade in goods by the detailed findings of this study.  It does, though, show that the more globalized capital flows grow in concert with more imports, the harder it is for low-skilled workers to get ahead.  No wonder the Rust Belt’s as angry as it said it was in 2016. Continue reading “Wondering Why Trump Loves Tariffs? Check Out Globalization’s Inequality Impact” →

Why Liberal Economics is to Growth and Systemic Risk as the Clinton Campaign was to Winning the White House

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By Karen Shaw Petrou

At its October meeting, the IMF’s economists pronounced that global economic prospects are “benign,” with financial risks well within acceptable bounds, at least for now.  But, as Martin Wolf said the following Friday in the Financial Times, the meeting’s mood was anything but calm and confident.  Why?
 Continue reading “Why Liberal Economics is to Growth and Systemic Risk as the Clinton Campaign was to Winning the White House” →