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Michael Spence
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2021
Biden’s vaccine challenge
In many ways, the United States is at war against COVID-19. But the existing systems for delivering what is needed to win are weak, fragmented and, especially, uncoordinated.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 9, 2020
The pandemic public-debt dilemma
Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. Failing bold action, developing countries could be on track to lose years or even decades of progress in the post-pandemic world.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 11, 2020
What my younger self never expected
At the start of a new year and a new decade, it is both humbling and illuminating to reflect on major global developments that no one saw coming just a few decades ago.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2019
The consequences of global uncertainty
A broad economic slowdown should come as no surprise.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2019
How inequality hampers economic growth
With job and income polarization having increased across all developed economies, the unrest in France should serve as a wake-up call to others.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 28, 2018
The long Sino-American trade war
The trade war initiated by the Trump administration seems less like a tough negotiating tactic and more like a guessing game.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2018
The restructuring of the world
The global economy is undergoing a far-reaching transformation.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2018
Emerging vulnerabilities in emerging economies
For many emerging economies, it is imperative to pursue a rebalancing of growth patterns, with a more active approach to managing debt and capital flows and their effects on asset prices, exchange rates, and growth. Otherwise, the dangers of unsustainable growth patterns will bring expansion to an abrupt halt.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 2018
Keep regulation from leading to the internet's Balkanization
If regulation of the internet is fragmented, clumsy, heavy-handed or inconsistent, the consequences for economic integration — and, in turn, prosperity — could be severe.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 29, 2018
Making migration work
The U.N. is right to underscore the benefits of broad-based international cooperation on migration, but to be politically acceptable in virtually any country, such cooperation must respect national sovereignty.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2017
The state of the global economy in 2018
Economic power and influence will continue to shift from west to east next year, with no obvious convulsions on the horizon.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 4, 2017
Reprieve or reform in Europe?
Unless Europe addresses flaws in growth patterns and pursues urgent reforms, the longer-term risks to its survival will continue to mount.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2017
Europe or anti-Europe?
The eurozone is stuck in a semi-permanent economic malaise, which could destroy it.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 30, 2016
Brexit, Trump and a new economic order
Multilateralism is giving way to national self-interest. As inequality across countries has declined, inequality within countries has surged — to the point that the reversal of priorities was probably inevitable.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 1, 2016
How to fight secular stagnation
There are different types of forces that could be suppressing economic growth, not all of which are beyond our control.
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2016
Managing debt in our overleveraged world
Since the 2008 global financial crisis, austerity and balance-sheet repair have been the watchwords of the global economy. And yet today, more than ever, debt is fueling concern about growth.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 25, 2016
Growth vs. political instability
How can the West improve its economic performance at a time when political instability is impeding effective policymaking?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 1, 2016
In search of growth strategies
Restoring growth to the global economy will require the removal of obstacles to investment, efforts to fix dysfunctional labor markets and measures to counteract rising inequality.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2015
The Fed's risk to emerging economies
While the Fed's rate hike, prudently accompanied by an emphasis on small and gradual steps, may not turn out to be a trigger, the concerns about the knock-on effects are legitimate.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 1, 2015
The inexorable logic of the sharing economy
Today's sharing-economy companies like Amazon and eBay have left their infancy, and their services will one day be ubiquitous.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?