There has been some discussion recently on the value of money and whether it is fundamentally essential for future economies. Whether a country is subsistent, independent, regionally integrated, or globally integrated, the value of money, rather, money’s value is complicated. From one perspective, money is often seen as a personal asset that we associate...
Some alternative drawings of maps have been circulating. One like the True Size of Africa had me thinking not only about what the physical geographical size of Africa is, but also, what the geographical size of the Pacific Islands are. Moana Nui, altogether, covers a third of the planet–about 169 million square kilometers (about...
Following are three responses Charles Ebinger posted to my questions during a Brookings Institute webchat on climate change, held on April 28th, 2010. Charles Ebinger specializes in international and domestic energy markets (oil, gas, coal and nuclear), the geopolitics of energy with a particular focus on the Middle East, South Asia and Africa. Ebinger...
————— Also Eswar Prasad on The U.S.-China Economic Relationship: Shifts and Twists in the Balance of Power
How fun! The WSJ has just posted a new community blog: “Which currency would you bet on over the next year.” The options listed are the dollar, the Euro, the Yen and Pound… I had to take a shot at it… AS: Betting on the dollar, euro, yen or pound? All of the above. ...
Below is an excerpt from an exchange with a friend on Facebook regarding a Guardian posting: “Striking Greece Fight Back Against Austerity Plan.” David pointed me to the New York Times article “Banks Bet Greece Default of Debt The Helped Hide,” where Philip Gisdakis, head of credit strategy at UniCredit in Munich said, “It’s...
This is part 1 of a series that I am publicly working through. The previous post introduces the why and how this exploration began and a general outline of where it looks to be going. 1. The 1946 Employment Act To start with, the Census Bureau falls under the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC)...
Throughout the last year and a half, like many of us, I’ve been casually following some progressive financial blogs waiting for an economic historian to look at this financial crisis and guide me towards a critical understanding of why we’re in the crisis that we are, and how we might come out of it....
Sunday morning in Hawaii, and it’s raining. Responding to J. Kehaulani’s request to post a summary remark on Facebook about the *book* I’m writing, I spent a good hour pulling together a summary draft of what will become a public presentation on the research that I’ve been working on, in part as a fulfillment...
Tonight at the Hawaii Theater was the world premiere of the Barbarian Princess (recently changed to a more prudent Princess Kaiulani, perhaps because of the controversy surrounding the previous title which many have criticized since it’s theatrical release). I went expecting to be disappointed, but I often forget that I like most films, and...