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November 22, 2024
 

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Christopher Lingle
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 17, 2003
A weak dollar for a strong economy?
GUATEMALA -- Since mid-March, the dollar's value measured by a trade-weighted index against a basket of currencies has declined by 6 percent and by 9.6 percent for the entire year. Some economists, businessmen and politicians in America believe that a weaker dollar will be "good" for the U.S. economy....
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 17, 2003
Bubbles feed on more than irrationality
GUATEMALA CITY -- Government officials in China and South Korea are confronted with the troubling prospects of a real estate bubble evident in soaring prices in parts of Shanghai and Seoul. After all, it was the bursting of the asset bubbles in Japan that set the stage for a lost decade of sluggish economic...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 1, 2003
Currency interventions prove to be both fruitless and costly
GUATEMALA CITY -- The weakening of the U.S. dollar accelerated after finance ministers from the Group of Seven issued a communique calling for market-oriented international exchange rates. Soon afterward, the Japanese yen set a two-year high against the American currency.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 26, 2003
Dollar peg undermines China's economy
As Beijing is pressured to halt currency intervention, arguments are generally proposed in terms of the possible benefits to other countries. Such an argument is less compelling than one that points out how China might benefit from an end to its peg against the U.S. dollar. In any event, China's fixed...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 1, 2003
Mess with the bull and you might get gored
GUATEMALA CITY -- At last, the Nikkei stock average has risen above 10,000 points for the first time in more than a year, rebounding from 7,600 in April. Much of the rally is due to the net buying of Japanese shares by foreign investors as global money managers increase their holdings.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 24, 2003
Enough nonsense about the liquidity trap
Tokyo's cutting interest rates was once the response to borrowing costs being too high or credit too tight. Despite no indications that the financial system is deprived of liquidity, the Bank of Japan and the U.S. Federal Reserve Board continue to hold or push down interest rates.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2003
Greenspan should quit while he's ahead
News that U.S. President George W. Bush intended to support the continuation of Alan Greenspan as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors was greeted with wide support. However, if Greenspan cares about his place in history, he might be wise to decline the offer.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2003
S. Korea emerges from Japan's shadow
NEW DELHI -- Despite resentment against Japan for its colonial domination of the Korean Peninsula (1910-1945), South Korea followed Japan in its model of postwar economic development. In both countries, the central government established close links between commercial banks and companies while ensuring...
COMMENTARY / World
May 14, 2003
Higher oil prices need not doom a nation to inflation
UBUD, Indonesia -- With high and volatile oil prices, it appears that a rough road is ahead for those countries with currencies that have become weaker relative to the U.S. dollar. Perhaps one of the biggest concerns is that Taiwan, as an importer of oil, may face a new wave of inflationary pressures...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 12, 2003
Slash taxes and spending, not interest rates
UBUD, Indonesia -- Alan Greenspan denounced the recent round of tax-cut proposals by the Bush administration. As governor of the world's most important central bank, his words carry a considerable amount of gravitas.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2003
Market intervention not the right solution
GUATEMALA CITY -- Japan's Nikkei average is below 8,000 for the first time in 20 years, putting it 80 percent below its 1989 high. A fall in the Nikkei below 7,500 could mean that some Japanese banks would not meet their international capital adequacy requirements.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 18, 2003
Beijing can learn from Tokyo's mistakes
GUATEMALA CITY -- As Beijing develops a reliance on fiscal spending to boost economic growth, a mushrooming fiscal deficit and ballooning public-sector debt will weaken China's long-term economic prospects. This is because economic growth bought with increased government spending is unsustainable and...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2002
Refer grim 'futurologists' to Adam Smith
GUATEMALA CITY -- It is both telling and disturbing that so many of those wishing to be regarded as "futurologists" seem to prefer Thomas Malthus to Adam Smith. For his part, much of Malthus' work was premised upon a view that world conditions are essentially static.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 18, 2002
China afflicted by illegal flights of capital
While China continues to attract much of the foreign capital that comes into Asia's emerging market economies, it appears these inflows are increasingly needed to offset capital flight. A flood of unregistered outflows from China has been compounded by the difficulty in tracking outbound movements of...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 26, 2002
China hardly a 'natural' regional leader
The Chinese economy seems to have performed remarkably well both during the "Asian financial crisis" of 1997-98 and the recent global economic slowdown. One might conclude that the present Chinese economy is robust and in a position to perform well over the course of the world business cycle -- that...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 13, 2002
Keynesian cheerleaders ignore failures
It is ironic that Joseph Stiglitz waited until he gained the credibility of sharing the Nobel Prize in Economics to become an unabashed cheerleader for Keynesian economics, especially when it comes to suggesting policies for Japan. Receiving the universally recognized accolade allowed him to come out...
COMMENTARY / World
May 4, 2002
No end in sight to China's banking woes
While Japan's recession and its wobbly banks distract much of the world, the banking sector in China is in much worse shape. Xinhua News Agency has reported that central bank governor Dai Xianglong admits that nonperforming loans (NPLs) account for 26.6 percent of total lending by China's top four state-owned...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2002
Target nonperforming loans, not deflation
While there is good reason to be concerned about the state of Japan's economy, analysts wrongly target deflation as the main villain in this tale. Contrary to received wisdom, Japan's economic slump is not the result of price deflation. Nor are aggressive expansions of fiscal and monetary policies the...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2002
Flawed theory, leadership thwart recovery
For many, the inability of Japan's economy to recover remains a mystery. This inability to assess the situation arises from misjudgments concerning the nature of the malaise and can be traced to the application of faulty economic theory.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 11, 2002
Populist politics behind Argentine crisis
Those who would blame Argentina's economic woes on free-market policies or pegging the peso to the U.S. dollar choose to be willfully blind to reality. Although the most evident and most disastrous results are economic in nature, the bases of the problems are political.
Ishiba delays meeting with Trump, citing legal restrictions
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waves upon arrival for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, in Callao, Peru, on Friday.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

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By Kathryn Wortley

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