Recent economic indicators of the performance of the Japanese economy have been weak and prognosis negative. In December Japanese industrial output contracted by 10%. In January this trend intensified. Moreover Toyota has announced 7,000 job losses and Honda a four month closure of their UK plant. Other labour market indicators and consumption related data suggest...Read More

The current economic meltdown should give new momentum to the fading dream of a social Europe. Growing demand for state protection and the need to co-ordinate national responses to the crisis should bring grist to the mill of the proponents of a genuine social Europe, if the EU and EMU are to survive the current...Read More

The emerging Pacific Asian economies are clearly not immune to the current international financial crisis. All the major economies remain heavily dependent on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and export earnings, particularly from the USA. The vulnerability of the Pacific Asia economies is reflected in the behaviour of the regional stock markets, the sharp declines in...Read More

For some time past a ghost has been standing behind Alistair Darling sardonically monitoring his every action and thought with the expertise that comes from having lived through the United Kingdom’s last encounter with the dilemmas that are posed by the onset of a World Depression. And it is not John Maynard Keynes, who during...Read More

Transatlantic economic relations are a less widely studied part of the broader subject of transatlantic relations. Depending on the political agenda, the focus of attention in the relationship between the United States (US) and Europe shifts between policy fields. Since the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York, differences between the responses of...Read More

Europe’s divergence from America, on issues like war with Iraq and trade competition, is becoming increasingly ill-tempered. With the Euro flourishing and a European defence force a real prospect, Europe is now a recognizable political entity on the world scene. A population of over 300 million and the world’s largest economy have already turned the...Read More