The Korea Herald

[Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff] Too much debt means the economy can’t grow

As public debt in advanced countries reaches levels not seen since the end of World War II, there is considerable debate about the urgency of taming deficits with the aim of stabilizing and ultimately reducing debt as a percentage of gross domestic product. Our empirical research on the history of financial crises and the relationship between growth and public liabilities supports the view that cu

Viewpoints July 20, 2011

[Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff] Too much debt means the economy can’t grow

[Simon Johnson] Contagion in three forms now has grip on Europe

There are three types of contagion in a financial crisis, when the potential collapse of a firm, bank or country threatens to spiral out of control. The European Union today has all three. The first type is purely psychological ― the panic of herd behavior. The second comes from thinking through the real effects that a collapse would have, as the potential spillovers dawn on people. The third, and

Viewpoints July 19, 2011

[Khaled Diab] Arab Spring stops short of gender revolution

JERUSALEM ― In the early days of the Egyptian revolution, Tahrir Square provided a tantalizing glimpse of what the new Egypt might look like if differences of class, religion, gender and age melted into insignificance. Muslims and Christians mingled; the old followed the young’s lead; men and women became comrades.“The social problems that have plagued Egypt for years seem to have dissolved in the

Viewpoints July 19, 2011

[Olivia Hernndez] Let JYJ appear on TV

JYJ became honorary ambassadors for Jeju Island as part of its bid to become one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. JYJ started activities to promote the island and encouraged us, the fans, to vote for Jeju.As we love JYJ so much, and we also like Korea from the bottom of our hearts, we started voting for Jeju Island in order to help Korea and make JYJ happy. We did this believing and trusting

Viewpoints July 19, 2011

[Casey Lartigue, Jr.] Park Chung-hee: Dictator or benevolent autocrat?

Park Chung-heeIt ain’t necessarily so. That’s what New York University economics professor William Easterly essentially says about crediting “benevolent autocrats” like South Korea’s Park Chung-hee for high growth rates.In “Benevolent Autocrats,” a provocative working paper posted in May, Easterly 1) argues that economists should be skeptical of the “benevolent autocrat” theory; (2) questions whet

Viewpoints July 19, 2011

[Casey Lartigue, Jr.] Park Chung-hee: Dictator or benevolent autocrat?

[Jahan Alamzad] 2008 crisis: Black swan or flashing red flamingo?

I was in Korea on a project when the financial meltdown of 2008 started. In a Seoul cab chatting with an American colleague in the early stages of the debacle, he confided that the worst was yet to come. Indeed, it came with a tsunami force. By the end of 2008 when I was back in the U.S., the shambles was evident, and was getting worse.The term “black swan” is now in vogue after Nassim Taleb’s boo

Viewpoints July 18, 2011

[Jonathan Schell] The fall of the house of Murdoch

NEW YORK ― During the four decades since the Watergate affair engulfed U.S. President Richard Nixon, politicians have repeatedly ignored the scandal’s main lesson: the cover-up is worse than the crime. Like Nixon, they have paid a higher price for concealing their misdeeds than they would have for the misdeeds alone.Now, for once, comes a scandal that breaks that rule: the United Kingdom’s phone-h

Viewpoints July 15, 2011

[Jonathan Schell] The fall of the house of Murdoch

[Editorial] International assistance vital for South Sudan

A newly independent country in North Africa has got off to an uncertain start. The country needs support from the international community until it can move ahead on its own.South Sudan, officially the Republic of South Sudan, became the 54th independent nation on the African continent when it officially separated from Sudan on July 9.Over the past half-century, the Sudanese people suffered from ci

Viewpoints July 15, 2011

[Martin Khor] Rich economies caught in crisis

There was more bad news about the global economy last week. It looks as if the major developed economies are facing worsening problems that will not go away.This does not augur well for the developing world, as it is still dependent on the richer economies.An economic slowdown in the United States was indicated by last week’s data of a rise in unemployment to 9.2 percent and only 18,000 new non-fa

Viewpoints July 15, 2011

[Martin Khor] Rich economies caught in crisis

[Editorial] Social networks for Taiwan’s presidential poll

The introduction of Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks and online video-streaming sites has revolutionized the concept of “breaking news” and information distribution.Using the highly visual and instantaneous new media can allow something to spread faster than the proverbial wildfire, creating a borderless, 24-hour wellspring of data that simultaneously attracts millions of eyeballs acro

Viewpoints July 15, 2011

[Editorial] Cruel news for world

For the print media struggling to survive in a world that seems to be inexorably bent on embracing the electronic media, the news that News of the World, London’s biggest selling weekend tabloid, was closing was, indeed, cruel, cruel news. If only for the paper’s longevity, the last issue last Sunday of the 168-year-old News of the World was headline news many times over. The News was an instituti

Viewpoints July 15, 2011

[Editorial] China, U.S. need more military exchanges

It is noteworthy that over the years whenever there has been a rift in Sino-U.S. ties, bilateral military relations have always been the first to be affected and that even when bilateral relations are warming, military-to-military exchanges are usually the last to thaw. With the unfolding of a series of reciprocal visits and dialogues between the two militaries this year, including former U.S. Sec

Viewpoints July 15, 2011

[Gordon Brown] Why Europe slept during crisis

LONDON ― When the history of the 21st century is written, people will rightly ask why it was that Europe was found wanting during its most intractable economic crisis.They will ask why Europe slept as an undercapitalized banking system floundered, unemployment remained unacceptably high, and the continent’s growth and competitiveness plummeted.Worse still, if a reconstruction plan does not come so

Viewpoints July 14, 2011

[Gordon Brown] Why Europe slept during crisis

[Allan Luks] Charities can act as the United States’ conscience

Among the many proposals to raise taxes and cut and reallocate government spending to regain our country’s economic health, one of the most sensitive is decreasing the tax deductibility of charitable contributions.The independent Congressional Budget Office recently reviewed 11 options for revising the income tax treatment of charitable giving, and it grouped them into four categories. All establi

Viewpoints July 14, 2011

[Editorial] For-profit hospitals

The long drawn-out controversy over the establishment of for-profit hospitals in Korea has been rekindled as the government and the ruling Grand National Party seek to pass bills allowing such hospitals on Jeju Island and in the Incheon Free Economic Zone. If passed through the National Assembly in August as planned, the bills will allow private investors to set up and operate hospitals in the two

Editorial July 14, 2011

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