Shadow economies around the world: Model-based estimates

Ejaz Ghani, Arti Grover, Homi Kharas, 4 May 2011Services have long been the main source of growth in rich countries. This column argues that services are now the main source of growth in poor countries as well. It presents evidence that services may provide the easiest and fastest route out of poverty for many poor countries.Full Article: Service with a smile: A new growth engine for poor countries

The basic concept of "currency wars" is that countries are all trying to weaken their currencies to boost exports. "Wars" is an overly dramatic word to use, but countries to complain about other countries engaging in currency weakening, and it does make for a good soundbite.

Nick Schulz at AEI offers am argument I find deeply confusing:

Asli Demirgüç-Kunt, Harry Huizinga, 18 March 2011Today's big banks are enormous. By 2008, 12 banks worldwide had liabilities exceeding $1 trillion. This column, using data on banks from 80 countries over the years 1991-2009, provides new evidence on how large banks differ in terms of their risk and return outcomes and investigates how market perceptions of bank risk are affected by bank size. It concludes that policies should reward bank managers for keeping their banks safe rather than for making them big.

The Center for Global Development has just released its 2010 Commitment to Development Index: "Rich and poor nations are linked in many ways-by foreign aid, commerce, the environment, and more.

Greg Mankiw says that even though European growth rates have been comparable to America’s, we should still fear the European economic model because America is richer than the biggest European countries: Here is GDP per capita, adjusted for differences in price levels (PPP), from the IMF, for the United States and the five most populous countries in Western Europe: