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Kenneth Rogoff
For Kenneth Rogoff's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2013
U.S.' endless budget battle
The privilege of issuing the global reserve currency lowers the interest rates that the U.S. government and Americans pay. An unforced debt default could weaken this advantage.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2013
Gold's slumber is not the cue to stop hedging
The recent collapse of gold prices has not really changed the case for investing in it one way or the other, says a former chief economist for the IMF.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 10, 2012
Follies of overconfident, arrogant government may be setting the stage for a cyber meltdown
When the financial crisis of 2008 hit, many shocked critics asked why markets, regulators and financial experts failed to see it coming.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2012
The real deal on austerity and debt
Many, if not all, of the world's most pressing macroeconomic problems relate to the massive overhang of all forms of debt. In Europe, a toxic combination of public, bank and external debt in the periphery threatens to unhinge the eurozone.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2012
Public acceptance of high salaries for athletes contrasts with low regard for finance superstars
The biggest news around Cambridge in recent weeks has been Jeremy Lin, the Harvard economics graduate who has shocked the National Basketball Association by rising overnight from "nowhere" to become a genuine star, leading a losing New York Knicks team to an unlikely string of victories.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 2011
A beloved liberal tax that is wrong for Europe
Europe is already in pickle, so why not add more vinegar?
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 6, 2011
Will the IMF stand up to eurozone officials?
As the eurozone crisis continues to deepen, the International Monetary Fund may finally be acknowledging the need to reassess its approach. New Managing Director Christine Lagarde's recent call for forced recapitalization of Europe's bankrupt banking system is a good start. European officials' incensed reaction — the banks are fine, they insist, and need only liquidity support — should serve to buttress the Fund's determination to be sensible about Europe.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2011
Medicine for the 'second great contraction'
Why is everyone still referring to the recent financial crisis as the "Great Recession"?
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2011
Technology and the growing income gap
Until now, the relentless march of technology and globalization has played out hugely in favor of high-skilled labor, helping to fuel record-high levels of income and wealth inequality around the world. Will the endgame be renewed class warfare, with populist governments coming to power, stretching the limits of income redistribution, and asserting greater state control over economic life?
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2011
Indebted eurozone needs a dose of tough love
Europe is in constitutional crisis. No one seems to have the power to impose a sensible resolution of its peripheral countries' debt crisis. Instead of restructuring the manifestly unsustainable debt burdens of Portugal, Ireland and Greece (the PIGs), politicians and policymakers are pushing for ever-larger bailout packages with ever-less realistic austerity conditions.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2011
Beware the impact of returning to normal
At the U.S. Federal Reserve's recent and first-ever public press conference, Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a spirited defense of the Fed's much-criticized policy of mass purchases of U.S. government bonds, or "quantitative easing." But was his justification persuasive?
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 6, 2011
A cure for fiscal failure
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Should more countries create independent fiscal advisory councils to infuse greater objectivity into national budget debates?
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 9, 2011
Reduce global imbalances with wholesome asset diet
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Doctors have long known that it is not just how much you eat, but what you eat, that contributes to or diminishes your health. Likewise, economists have long noted that for countries gorging on capital inflows, there is a big difference between debt instruments and equity-like investments, including both stocks and foreign direct investment.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2011
The inequality wild card
DAVOS, Switzerland — As the dramatic events in North Africa continue to unfold, many observers outside the Arab world smugly tell themselves that it is all about corruption and political repression. But high unemployment, glaring inequality, and soaring prices for basic commodities are also a huge factor. So observers should not just be asking how far similar events will spread across the region; they should be asking themselves what kind of changes might be coming at home in the face of similar, if not quite so extreme, economic pressures.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2011
2011: Armageddon can wait
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Where are global currencies headed in 2011? After three years of huge, crisis-driven exchange-rate swings, it is useful to take stock both of currency values and of the exchange-rate system as a whole. And my best guess is that we will see a mix of currency wars, currency collapses, and currency chaos in the year ahead — but that this won't spell the end of the economic recovery, much less the end of the world.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2010
Euro crisis reaches midlife
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Now that the European Union and the International Monetary Fund have committed 67.5 billion euro to rescue Ireland's troubled banks, is the euro zone's debt crisis finally nearing a conclusion?
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2010
It's no surprise that America isn't working
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — As the U.S. economy limps toward the second anniversary of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, anemic growth has left unemployment near 10 percent, with little prospect of improvement soon. Little wonder that, with midterm congressional elections coming in November, Americans are angrily asking why the government's hyper-aggressive stimulus policies have not turned things around. What more, if anything, can be done?
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 12, 2010
Age of stunted expectations
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — As the United States and European economies continue to struggle, there is rising concern that they face a Japanese-style "lost decade." Unfortunately, far too much discussion has centered on what governments can do to stimulate demand through budget deficits and monetary policy. These are key issues in the short term, but, as every economist knows, long-run economic growth is determined mainly by improving productivity.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 2010
Can good come from BP's oil spill?
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Perhaps it is a pipe dream, but it is just possible that the ongoing BP oil-spill catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico will finally catalyze support for an American environmental policy with teeth. Yes, the culprits should be punished, both to maintain citizens' belief that justice prevails, and to make other oil producers think twice about taking outsized risks. But if that is all that comes out of the BP calamity, it will be a tragic lost opportunity to restore some sanity to the United States' national environmental and energy policy, which has increasingly gone off track in recent years.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 5, 2010
BP disaster's lesson for government regulators
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — As the damaged BP oil well continues to spew millions of gallons of crude from the depths of the floor of the Gulf of Mexico, the immediate challenge is how to mitigate an ever-magnifying environmental catastrophe. One can only hope that the spill will be contained soon, and that the ever-darkening worst-case scenarios will not materialize.

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A statue of "Dragon Ball" character Goku stands outside the offices of Bandai Namco in Tokyo. The figure is now as recognizable as such characters as Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man.
Akira Toriyama's gift to the world