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Begin New Search Topic Globalization Political Geography United States Content Type Policy Brief Publishing Institution Peterson Institute for International Economics

1. How Can Trade Policy Help America Compete?

Author:
Robert Z. Lawrence
Publication Date:
10-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
America deserves credit for not having succumbed to the global financial crisis by repeating the protectionist mistakes of the 1930s. Nonetheless, since 2007, although lip service has been paid to boosting US exports, its trade policy accomplishments have been modest. This is unfortunate because active trade policies can promote American living standards and facilitate America's return to full employment and sustained growth. These policies can also help to create a global trade order that advances American interests. This policy brief argues that the United States needs new initiatives that discipline foreign practices, increase access to foreign markets, revitalize the World Trade Organization (WTO), improve the administrative and regulatory environment for trade, and assist workers and communities adversely affected by change.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, Markets, Global Recession, Monetary Policy, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:
United States and America

2. Currency Manipulation, the US Economy, and the Global Economic Order

Author:
C. Fred Bergsten and Joseph E. Gagnon
Publication Date:
12-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
More than 20 countries have increased their aggregate foreign exchange reserves and other official foreign assets by an annual average of nearly $1 trillion in recent years. This buildup of official assets—mainly through intervention in the foreign exchange markets—keeps the currencies of the interveners substantially undervalued, thus boosting their international competitiveness and trade surpluses. The corresponding trade deficits are spread around the world, but the largest share of the loss centers on the United States, whose trade deficit has increased by $200 billion to $500 billion per year as a result. The United States has lost 1 million to 5 million jobs due to this foreign currency manipulation.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, International Cooperation, International Trade and Finance, and World Trade Organization
Political Geography:
United States

3. Corporate Tax Reform for a New Century

Author:
Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Woan Foong Wong
Publication Date:
04-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama stressed four ingredients of American prosperity: faster innovation, better education, less deficit, and more jobs. As the president recognized in his address, the US free enterprise system drives the private sector to innovate, invest, and create jobs. This policy brief concentrates on how reforming the corporate tax system can strengthen the private sector, thereby spurring both innovation and job.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, Monetary Policy, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:
United States

4. US Tax Discrimination Against Large Corporations Should Be Discarded

Author:
Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Martin Vieiro
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
The United States holds contradictory views about large corporations. When Americans speak of breakthroughs in research and engineering, they are justly proud of large firms that pioneered railroads and steam engines in the 19th century, automobiles, electric power, and oil exploration in the 20th century, and computers, software, and biotechnology in the 21st century. Yet when talk turns to paying taxes, public opinion holds that large corporations should pay a higher statutory tax rate than other business firms, and enjoy fewer deductions in computing their taxable income. Despite common sense and the teachings of economics, tax discrimination is alive and well.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:
United States and America

5. What Can and Cannot Be Done about Rating Agencies

Author:
Nicolas Véron
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) are prominent participants in the assessment of credit risk by financial markets. They determine and publish credit ratings, which represent the CRA's opinions on issuers' relative probability of default. The market for credit ratings is currently dominated in most western countries by three players: n Standard Poor's (S) is a division of the McGraw- Hill Companies, a US-based media group whose ownership is dispersed (the largest shareholder is Capital Group, with 12 percent of shares); n Moody's Corporation is an autonomous US-based listed company with dispersed ownership (the largest shareholder is Berkshire Hathaway, with 12.5 percent of shares); n Fitch Ratings is a division of the Fitch Group which is jointly owned by Fimalac, a Paris-based listed investment vehicle (60 percent of shares), and the US-based Hearst Corporation (40 percent of shares).
Topic:
Debt, Economics, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, and Markets
Political Geography:
United States

6. The Current Currency Situation

Author:
William R. Cline and John Williamson
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
The currency markets have been extremely disturbed for the last three months. The period witnessed a major strengthening of the US dollar in September, then the European currency crisis, a recovery of the euro when the markets believed that the crisis was being controlled, and then a rebound of the dollar. In view of these developments, those who follow currency movements need a new guide as to how the current values of currencies compare to our estimates of fundamental equilibrium exchange rates (FEERs). That is the main object of this paper.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, International Political Economy, and Monetary Policy
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

7. Buy American: Bad for Jobs, Worse for Reputation

Author:
Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Jeffrey J. Schott
Publication Date:
02-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
On January 28, 2009, the US House of Representatives passed its economic stimulus plan, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Out of the bill's 700 text pages, a small half-page section attracted enormous media attention: the section requiring that all public projects funded by the stimulus plan must use only iron and steel produced in the United States (box 1). Another provision, which drew less attention, extends the so-called Berry Amendment (an old Buy American provision) to uniforms purchased by the Department of Homeland Security.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, Government, Industrial Policy, International Political Economy, International Trade and Finance, and International Affairs
Political Geography:
United States

8. Senator Kerry on Corporate Tax Reform: Right Diagnosis, Wrong Prescription

Author:
Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Paul Grieco
Publication Date:
04-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
Senator John Kerry has proposed a major overhaul in corporate taxation, with the goal of persuading multinational companies (MNCs) to employ more workers at home and fewer abroad. Kerry has correctly emphasized that domestic production is often taxed at a higher rate than production abroad, but his prescriptions will not boost US jobs.
Topic:
Development, Globalization, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States, South America, Central America, Caribbean, and North America

9. Globalization of IT Services and White Collar Jobs: The Next Wave of Productivity Growth

Author:
Catherine L. Mann
Publication Date:
12-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
Businesses throughout the US economy continue to transform even after the technology boom has faded. The key sources of this continuing transformation are investment in the information technology (IT) package (hardware, software, and business-service applications) and reorientation of business activities and processes to use both information and technology effectively.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States