Election 2024: What They’re Not Telling Us

20 September 2024 The US election is now less than seven weeks away. We have witnessed two quite memorable Presidential debates. The candidates have clashed on issues of character, fitness for office, U-turns on previous policy positions, etc. All important topics, to be sure. However, direct questions on how to address key policy issues are [...]

Global Government Debt: Balloon Still Expanding

11 June 2024 Government efforts to mitigate the economic consequences of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and the Covid pandemic have led to surging government debt. In the United States, for instance, public sector liabilities are approaching levels not seen before in peacetime (Chart above). And, while I will discuss important differences between countries and [...]

Can Turkey Get Back on Track?

12 May 2024 Turkey has long been a classic boom-bust economy. Indeed, the volatility of Turkish GDP growth is higher than most comparable Emerging market and advanced economies (next Chart). In addition, while the global economy has experienced two episodes of negative GDP growth since 1980, Turkey has endured five recessions. In my March 2021 [...]