International Trade

April 6, 2017

What Matt Damon Can Teach Us About Chinese FDI

The Great Wall is a man beats monsters movie. Set in medieval China, the film has Matt Damon stumbling upon China’s Great Wall just when they […]

April 4, 2017

Why the U.S. Government Cares About a Snuggie

Deciding whether Snuggies is a blanket or a pullover garment is about more than a name. The outcome decided the protective tariff it would owe.

February 12, 2017

A World Trade Snapshot

Asked to name top state imports, we might say cars. For Wisconsin though the right answer is sweaters. A second surprise? Medicine is #1 on Washington D.C.’s import list. The Ins […]

September 14, 2015

Part 2: How the Middle Income Trap Could Catch China

While some high middle income economies have slowed down and then accelerated again, using World Bank criteria, China's economic growth is tough to predict.

September 13, 2015

Part 1: The Trap That China Wants to Avoid

Currently slowing down, China's economic growth might be challenged by the middle income trap that has caught Brazil but not Taiwan or Malaysia.

September 1, 2015

What Our Food Says About Us

Because middling food like hamburgers is consumed by most people in the affluent West, what we eat does not necessarily reflect inequality or social status.

August 25, 2015

Using a Fat Tail to Describe Stock Market Risk

When the unexpected occurs and changes our view of stock market risk, we call it a black swan or fat tail because it is far from the mean of a bell curve.

July 24, 2015

The Real Eurozone Problem

Although people in the eurozone want a single currency and their leaders want unity, monetary union problems create political distrust and disunity.

June 5, 2015

A Poaching Problem that Regulation Hasn’t Solved

The market solutions and regulatory approaches used to solve the problem of elephant poaching have not worked for wildlife conservation in Africa.