Presidential candidates and Congress should take note that export-led growth—generated by globalization—and its creation of new jobs are cushioning the US slowdown and so far preventing a recession, writes C. Fred Bergsten.

Peterson Perspectives: Interviews on Current Issues
The decision by the House of Representatives to change the rules for Congressional action on trade agreements drives a gaping hole in US trade policy and poses the gravest threat to the global trading system in decades, says C. Fred Bergsten in a website interview. See also Policy Brief 08-5.

Howard Rosen testifies before Congress that the United States needs a comprehensive strategy to address the economic disruptions to American workers and firms that are an inevitable part of globalization. See also event on Trade Adjustment Assistance. America must reform healthcare and education to better protect Americans against job loss, says Jacob Funk Kirkegaard.

America's Gains from Globalization
Gary Clyde Hufbauer answers critics who question Peterson Institute research on US gains from globalization.
Paper | Summary

The United States should seek partnership with Beijing to provide joint global economic leadership instead of focusing on narrow bilateral problems, writes C. Fred Bergsten.

Jeffrey J. Schott examines the history and future of the world trading system with recommendations for reform.

Peterson Perspectives: Interviews on Current Issues
William R. Cline explains how he has analyzed the effect of climate change on agriculture on a country-by-country basis, where the impact will be greatest, and what we need to do to reduce the risks in this website audio interview.
>> Transcript

Unabated global warming is estimated to reduce world agriculture potential 5 to 15 percent by the 2080s, with the greatest losses falling disproportionately on developing countries, writes William R. Cline. See also Global Warming and Agriculture. Cline agrees with the Stern Review: Aggressive action is necessary to abate global warming.

Peterson Perspectives: Interviews on Current Issues
In this interview, Trevor Houser explains the US domestic economic impact of measures to limit greenhouse gas emissions, the advantages and limits of a cap-and-trade system, and discusses how such a system might fit into the WTO.

New Book: Leveling the Carbon Playing Field: International Competition and US Climate Policy Design
>> Event: Book Release | News Release

Peterson Perspectives: Interviews on Current Issues
Arvind Subramanian discusses Asian policy responses to the food crisis and inflation in a website audio interview.
>> Transcript

Arvind Subramanian spells out short-, medium-, and long-term solutions to the food crisis and how the United States can lead the global response. The food crisis affords an opportunity for world leaders at the June G8 summit to collectively agree to policies that promote trade and efficiency while boosting agricultural production.

North Korea is on the verge of another famine, and the United Nations has only made matters worse, say Stephan Haggard, Marcus Noland, and Erik Weeks. See related news release and event. North Korea's recent nuclear confession is only a first step toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

New Book: Accountability and Oversight of US Exchange Rate Policy by C. Randall Henning
>> News Release

Inflation now plagues many former communist countries with fixed exchange rates; those with floating exchange rates, balanced budgets, and inflation targeting are not, writes Anders Åslund. Inadequate fiscal and monetary policies are exacerbating inflation in India, writes Arvind Subramanian, but inflation targeting is an unnecessary and inappropriate solution to India's current crisis.

The Korea–United States Free Trade Agreement can be ratified this year if both countries resolve problems that threaten to delay the accord, says Jeffrey J. Schott. See also Policy Brief 07-7. Improvements in South Korea's political and economic institutions over the past decade have outstripped the country’s "First World economy, Third World politics" image, say Marcus Noland and Erik Weeks. Working Paper 08-5.

To avoid future financial crises, Morris Goldstein presents a proposal to improve regulatory liquidity.

The potential impacts of sovereign wealth funds on US foreign policy, national security, and economic interests may be disquieting, but they do not endanger the United States. Edwin M. Truman presents a blueprint for sovereign wealth fund best practices to make these funds more transparent, predictable, and accountable to their own citizens and governments and the international financial community. See also related event and specific recommendations for Japan.

Peterson Perspectives: Interviews on Current Issues
Anders Åslund offers litmus tests for the strength of the new Russian president and comments on inflation and privatization in Ukraine in a website audio interview.
>> Transcript

A World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement on competition policy covering all WTO members is remote; the best prospect is for an agreement among a subset of WTO members that covers the interests of both developing and developed countries, say Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Jisun Kim. To help accommodate differences between developing and developed countries, core WTO commitments can be supplemented with additional agreements, or clubs, to which only some members would subscribe, suggests Robert Z. Lawrence.

Peterson Perspectives: Interviews on Current Issues
Gary Clyde Hufbauer assesses what Canada and Mexico would seek in any NAFTA renegotiation in this website audio interview.
>> Transcript

New Book: Debating China's Exchange Rate Policy edited by Morris Goldstein and Nicholas R. Lardy
>> In Brief

To address global imbalances, C. Fred Bergsten calls for an Asian Plaza Agreement.

Adam Posen debates whether the US economy will recover quickly from the current financial turmoil and how much US financial problems will be transmitted to the global economy. Financial panic obscures the reality that the euro is at a temporary peak of influence and cannot yet, if ever, match the dollar in its global role.

Freer markets in Russia would reduce its corruption, writes Anders Åslund. Europe must find alternatives to Russian state-dominated energy company Gazprom, which is an explicitly monopolistic, corrupt, nontransparent, and therefore unreliable supplier. Dmitry Medvedev's strong start as Russia's president suggests that many badly needed reforms are in the pipeline.

Global Economic Prospects
Michael Mussa forecasts a slowdown in global growth and a mild US recession in 2008/2009. Morris Goldstein offers his program for financial regulation after the subprime and credit crisis (available as audio). Rising inflation across emerging Asia is leading countries there to restrict exports and liberalize imports of food, says Arvind Subramanian. Audio and video available online.

New Book: Economic Sanctions Reconsidered, 3rd edition, with CD-ROM
by Gary Clyde Hufbauer, Jeffrey J. Schott, and Kimberly Ann Elliott
>> In Brief | Selected Case Studies Online

NAFTA was state of the art when negotiated in the early 1990s; 15 years later, the pact could benefit from renovation, say Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Jeffrey J. Schott. See also NAFTA Revisited.

Jacob Funk Kirkegaard outlines the trends impeding immigration of high-skilled workers at a time when US skill levels are falling. In its negotiations with the United States on immigration, India should work toward creating an exclusive temporary visa category for high-skilled Indians.