Peterson Institute Press

Banking on Basel Praised by The American Journal of International Law

The American Journal of International Law (Volume 104-2010) praises Banking on Basel: The Future of International Financial Regulation in a new review: "... provides a timely, careful and sharply critical account of a pivotal international financial regulatory regime.... Turullo's comprehensive account of Basel II is surprisingly clear and penetrating given the staggering complexity of the new accord and is essential reading for anyone interested in international financial regulation."

Global Warming and the World Trading System Offers Insightful Analyses on Framework for Climate Change Agreement

The Journal of World Trade Review (Volume 91/-2010) lauds Global Warming and the World Trading System in a new review: "Global Warming and the World Trading System represents the best tradition of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. It takes on a hard problem at a critical juncture and offers insightful analysis as well as practical policy solutions that promise to advance understanding and policymaking at both the national and global levels."

New Book: China's Strategy to Secure Natural Resources: Risks, Dangers, and Opportunities

The rapid emergence of China as a major industrial power poses a complex challenge for global resource markets. Backed by the Chinese government, Chinese companies have been acquiring equity stakes in natural resource companies, extending loans to mining and petroleum investors, and writing long-term procurement contracts for oil and minerals. These activities have aroused concern that China might be "locking up" natural resource supplies, gaining "preferential access" to available output, and extending "control" over the world's extractive industries. On the demand side, Chinese appetite for vast amounts of energy and minerals puts tremendous strain on the international supply system. On the supply side, Chinese efforts to procure raw materials can either exacerbate or help solve the problems of high demand.

Evidence from the 16 largest Chinese natural resource procurement arrangements shows that Chinese efforts—like Japanese deployments of capital and purchase agreements in the late 1970s through the 1980s—fall predominantly into categories that help expand, diversify, and make more competitive the global supplier system. Investigation of smaller projects indicates the 16 largest do not suffer from selection bias. However, Chinese attempts to exercise control over mining of rare earth elements may constitute a significant exception.

The investigative focus of this analysis is deliberately narrow and precise, assessing the impact of Chinese resource procurement on the structure of the global supply base. The broader policy discussion in the concluding chapter raises other separate important issues, including the impact of Chinese resource procurement on rogue states, on authoritarian leadership, on civil wars, on corrupt payments and the deterioration of governance standards, and on environmental damage. Such effects may make patterns of Chinese resource procurement objectionable, on grounds quite apart from the debate about possible "control" of access on the part of China and Chinese companies.

China's Strategy to Secure Natural Resources: Risks, Dangers, and Opportunities, by Theodore H. Moran, is available for preview and purchase.

President Obama Reads Figuring Out the Doha Round

The Wall Street Journal's David Wessel reports that President Obama used data from PIIE's Figuring Out the Doha Round at the recent G-20 meeting to argue that the Doha negotiations must be reinvigorated and broadened.

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Authors Forward Solution to Doha Round Negotiations

In yet another example of having the right book at the right time, PIIE presents Figuring Out the Doha Round as world leaders gear up to discuss trade and the world economy at the G-20 Summit in Toronto this weekend.

The authors urge G-20 leaders to revise and "top up" their efforts in trade to services. With the recommendations outlined in this new book, negotiators can end the longest running multilateral trade negotiation in the postwar era and increase potential annual world output.

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Anders Aslund Challenges Russian Leadership to Launch Reforms

Today in the Moscow Times, Anders Åslund discusses the central conclusions of his new book Russia After the Global Economic Crisis, coedited with Sergei Guriev and Andrew Kuchins. Åslund asserts that Russia "is facing a dead end," as corruption obstructs the country's ability to develop its infrastructure. To help reverse these problems, Russia after the Global Economic Crisis identifies what Russia can do to leverage its substantial assets and reform the current state-capitalist system.

Read the Moscow Times op-ed.
Buy Russia after the Global Economic Crisis.

New Book: Figuring Out the Doha Round

The global economic and financial crisis has awakened protectionist sentiments around the world, and policymakers have failed to actively seek trade liberalization. In light of this, some have proposed abandoning the Doha Round and starting over with a new agenda. Figuring Out the Doha Round argues that this is far from the time to drop the Doha Round and that it is now more important than ever to sustain political support for the rules-based multilateral trade system. This important new study recommends modest increments in market access commitments by G-20 countries beyond tariff and subsidy cuts in agriculture and nonagricultural market access (NAMA), and policy reforms in customs procedures and related areas that slash red tape and cut transactions costs for exporting and importing goods and services. With additional effort by the G-20 countries, WTO countries can put together a Doha package that is both ambitious and balanced between the interests of developed and developing countries. The study finds that following these recommendations can lead to a world GDP gain of almost $300 billion a year.

Figuring Out the Doha Round, by Gary Clyde Hufbauer, Jeffrey J. Schott, and Woan Foong Wong, is available for preview and purchase.

New Book: Russia after the Global Economic Crisis

Russia after the Global Economic Crisis examines this important country after the financial crisis of 2007–09. The second book from The Russia Balance Sheet Project, a collaboration of two of the world's preeminent research institutions, the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), not only assesses Russia's international and domestic policy challenges but also provides an all-encompassing review of this important country's foreign and domestic issues. The authors consider foreign policy, Russia and it neighbors, climate change, Russia's role in the world, domestic politics, and corruption.

Russia after the Global Economic Crisis, edited by Anders Åslund, Sergei Guriev, and Andrew Kutchins, is available for preview and purchase online.

Praise for Russia after the Global Economic Crisis

"A delicate subject treated with genuine strategic sobriety—Russia after the Global Economic Crisis is deserving of serious reflection."
—Zbigniew Brzezinski, former US national security adviser

"These excellent essays by major Russian and Western scholars on Russia's key political and economic developments are vital reading for anybody who wants to understand Russia's current dilemma."
—Carl Bildt, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden

"This is a major contribution for those who seek real modernization of Russia. The authors refute the notion of Russian exceptionalism, arguing soberly that Russia faces major challenges in economic, social, and foreign policy, which require careful study of the historical experiences of many countries. The current 'reset' in relations between Russia and the West improves the chances for success, but Russia has to make the critical choices."
—Yevgeny Yasin, academic director, Higher School of Economics, Moscow

Noland Foresees Role for International Aid in North Korea

In a Wall Street Journal article, Marcus Noland paints a bleak picture of North Korea's currency reform aftermath. The reform has led to food shortages and hunger as prices for staples, including rice and corn, skyrocket. Indeed, in his forthcoming book, Witness to Transformation, Noland takes the pulse of North Korean dissidents whose narratives illuminate this intractable situation.

As North Korea's leaders face economic distress and a disillusioned population, the article cites a rumor that North Korea is ready to court China and perhaps the United States. Kim Jong Il is anticipated to visit China next month and secure aid in exchange for a commitment to participate in nuclear negotiation. In both the article and his forthcoming book, Noland lays out North Korea's options and the potential steps toward foreign aid.

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Find out more about Witness to Transformation: Refugee Insights into North Korea.

Lardy Estimates Modest Currency Appreciation before Strategic and Economic Dialogue

China's currency reserves shot up while Chinese President Hu Jintao was visiting Washington for the Nuclear Security Summit. In an interview with Bloomberg Nicholas Lardy—author of The Future of China's Exchange Rate Policy—explained this development is partly a result of "hot money" moving in to China, as investors try to take advantage of a potential currency appreciation.

He observes that it's unlikely that China's currency will appreciate significantly now, and estimates that the currency will appreciate modestly before the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue takes place in May.

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Marcus Noland's New Book Tells Us What North Koreans Really Want

Marcus Noland's article in Foreign Policy provides a peek into the private discontent of North Koreans, which he explores in his forthcoming book Witness to Transformation: Refugee Insights into North Korea. He comments on the North Korean government's public apology after a devastating currency reform and warns that the regime's conciliatory attempts will not end negative and dissenting attitudinal trends among North Koreans.

Indeed, Noland's new book offers lessons for North Korea's leaders and other authoritarian counterparts whose efforts at repression could backfire as the North Korean society grows increasingly politicized.

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Find out more about Witness to Transformation: Refugee Insights into North Korea.

China's Rise Authors Speak on Chinese Exchange Rate Issues

Two authors of China's Rise: Challenges and Opportunities continue to play a prominent role in the debate over how the United States should handle its relationship with China.

C. Fred Bergsten told the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday that it's time to label China a currency manipulator and enter into negotiations with China to resolve the currency problem, as is mandated by law.

Read the Testimony: Correcting the Chinese Exchange Rate: An Action Plan.

Nicholas R. Lardy, also coauthor of The Future of China's Exchange Rate Policy, gives his analysis of what's at stake in the debate over China's currency on PBS NewsHour.

See the Interview.

Marcus Noland Unravels the Backstory of a North Korean Policymaker's Execution

In a Peterson Perspectives Interview, Noland, author of Korea after Kim Jong-il, explains why the architect of a recent confiscatory currency reform was brutally held accountable. He notes that the policymaker's execution occurred against a backdrop of social and succession crisis.

Despite North Korea's attempts to crush the market, Noland and Stephan Haggard's recent studies of North Korean refugees—outlined in their forthcoming bookWitness to Transformation—indicate that the marketplace is a zone of communication. To that end, Noland anticipates public reaction to North Korea after the execution and the government's apology to the public.

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Anders Aslund Outlines Top Reforms for Ukraine

In the Moscow Times, Anders Åslund, author of How Ukraine Became a Market Economy and Democracy, recommends ten priorities for Ukraine's new government, starting with gas reform. As co-chairman of the Independent International Experts Commission, Åslund calls for structural changes and identifies international institutions that can facilitate reforms.

Ukraine stands at a disadvantage in comparison with other post-Soviet countries because of a lack of past substantial economic and institutional reforms. However, Åslund's ideas can lead Ukraine to develop its potential and overcome a severe economic crisis and a discontented public.

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Marcus Noland Presents Findings at University of Toronto

Marcus Noland discusses his forthcoming book Witness to Transformation: Refugee Insights into North Korea on March 18, at the University of Toronto. Noland reports refugee attitude and behavioral trends from his analysis of surveys with North Koran refugees. Along with this humanistic perspective, Noland gives an updated picture of the implications of recent economic and political reforms.

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Schott and Hufbauer Set Forth Ambitious Agenda for Doha Round Trade Talks

Jeffrey Schott, coauthor of the forthcoming book Figuring Out the Doha Round, explains the overlooked benefits of negotiating global services, which includes as financial, shipping and transportation, energy and environmental, and labor services. In a Peterson Perspective Interview, Schott recommends greater trade liberalization in an effort to go beyond standard agricultural priorities that have characterized past Doha Round negotiations.

The authors of Figuring Out the Doha Round highlight the political and economic urgency of the Doha Round negotiation; they set forth an ambitious agenda that could yield a valuable agreement for workers in developed and developing countries.

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Aslund Assesses Potential for Reform in Ukraine

Anders Åslund, author of How Ukraine Became a Market Economy and Democracy, gives an overview of what to expect from the new Ukrainian government. As co-chair of the Independent International Experts Commission, Aslund observed that Ukraine's political and economic climate presents a unique opportunity to enact reforms.

He sees a broad public consensus on necessary reforms with gas sector reform at the top of the list. But, as opposition leaders heighten their scrutiny, president Viktor Yanukovich must seek governmental transparency and avoid corruption allegations.

Listen to the Interview.
Find out more about How Ukraine Became a Market Economy and Democracy.