The “L” Word: Is lobbying actually a sign of progress in developing countries?

For some Eastern European investors, the geographic proximity to the eurozone has been too close for comfort, with the Russian MICEX Index declining about 20 percent year-to-date. However, stronger fiscal and monetary stances in Eastern Europe compared with its western neighbors warrant a second look.

Today, we are fortunate to have a guest contribution from Gaston Gelos, Advisor in the IMF’s Institute for Capacity Development, and Yulia Ustyugova, Economist in the IMF’s Western Hemisphere Department. Commodity prices have been particularly volatile during the last decade. They set off on a multi-year rally around 2003, peaked in 2008, plummeted with the global recession, recovered quickly, and surprised recently with renewed surges.

Let's take a look at the latest Fed regional economic surveys to catch a glimpse at current business conditions. Philly Region Back in Contraction The November 2012 Philadelphia Business Outlook Survey is back in negative territory. Indicators Suggest Diminished Activity

Today Secretary Locke wrote an op-ed posted in The Hill with a focus on how the administration and the Commerce Department are working to increase America's global competitiveness and create U.S. jobs by selling more American-made goods and services around the world.Cross posted at The Hill**********As 2011 begins, the American economy is stronger than at any time since the Great Recession began in December 2007.Retail sales just had their strongest quarterly gain since 2001. Private sector employment grew every single month in 2010, with the manufacturing sector posting its first increase in annual employment since 1997.These are strong indications that the steps President Obama took to foster economic recovery are working — beginning with the Recovery Act and continuing through the December 2010 tax-cut package.But that’s not to suggest that anyone within the administration or the Commerce Department is satisfied — not with unemployment still over 9 percent.As we move forward, policymakers should remember that the most important contest is not between Democrats and Republicans, but between America and countries around the world that are competing like never before for the jobs and industries of the future.Making the U.S. more competitive will require us to focus on two things: supercharging innovation and selling more American-made goods and services around the world, so that U.S. firms can hire more workers and reinvest in the research and development they need to keep growing.Although the private sector will take the lead on innovation, we can’t forget that the government has always had an important, supportive role to play, and the Commerce Department is engaged in a variety of areas.

 By Simon Johnson, co-author of 13 Bankers Of all the weak, ill-informed, and misleading pieces written on the “resolution authority” – a central tenet of the Dodd bill – by far the most disappointing is the Washington Post editorial in Sunday’s paper. I fully appreciate that these are complex issues and I understand that journalists frequently write under great time pressure. 

Earlier in the crisis, the line was that "too big to fail" was too big to exist. I'm coming around to an altogether more radical view: What if "too complex to understand" is too complex to exist?

It turns out that all the various delays involved in getting comprehensive health reform passed have an upside: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will be signed into law on precisely the five-year anniversary of the day “Change In Challenging Times: A Plan For Extending And Improving Health Coverage” by Jeanne M. Lambrew, John D. Podesta, and Teresa L. Shaw was published in Health Affairs.