Chloregy

Reinventing the World Bank, Again

With three nominees now in the running to become the World Bank’s next president, we should step back and assess the Bank’s trajectory. Unless the next president has a clear vision of the way ahead, and the gravitas to withstand the institution’s internal pressures, he or she will be swallowed...

The Hazard of Second Best

The international community appears increasingly intent on settling for second best on two key issues to be discussed this month in global meetings in Washington, DC: the lingering (if currently dormant) European debt crisis, and the selection of the World Bank’s next president. It is not too late t...

Fed Policy and Inflation Risk

During the past four years, the US Federal Reserve has added enormous liquidity to the America's commercial banking system, and thus to the American economy. But, while many observers worry that this will lead to a rapid increase in the volume of bank credit, causing a brisk rise in the...

Cyber War and Peace

The world is only just beginning to see glimpses of cyber war – in the denial-of-service attacks that accompanied the conventional war in Georgia in 2008, or the recent sabotage of Iranian centrifuges. States have the greatest capabilities, but non-state actors are more likely to initiate a catastro...

The Trouble with Libertarian Paternalism

By exploiting behavioral quirks, libertarian paternalists would nudge people into making decisions that are good for them, even while individuals have complete freedom to change their mind. The problem is that the semblance of choice is an illusion, because individuals do not consciously think throu...

The Anti-Fragile Life of the Economy

Nassim Taleb, famous for his prescient identification of rare “black swan” events that are correlated with economic catastrophes, recently proposed “anti-fragility” as a way to conceptualize the reproduction of markets and output in the face of such events. In fact, anti-fragile structures and proce...

Reversing Europe’s Renationalization

At the onset of the euro crisis, a eurozone breakup was inconceivable: assets and liabilities were so intermingled that a breakup would have led to an uncontrollable meltdown. But, as the crisis has progressed, the eurozone financial system has been progressively reoriented along national lines....

Fanning the Flames of Justice in Syria

 Justice will be a long time coming in Syria, but it can begin with a Security Council referral of the situation in that wounded country to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigation and, ultimately, prosecution. The obstacles are serious, but the goal is imperative.

An African Horn of Plenty

In the Horn of Africa – Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, and Sudan – some 14.6 million children, women, and men remain without enough food. While to the west, in the Sahel countries of Niger, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania, another 14 million are threatened.

Even worse, ther...