Here's an idea. Forgive debt. Everybody's debt. It is a pretty old idea, actually. But now Iceland is thinking of giving it a try. And Planet Money went to Iceland to explore this key question: "What happens when you wipe debt clean?"...

Writing at VoxEU , Simon Everett sounds a warning on protectionism. Not surprisingly, the global economic crisis spurred something of a "retreat" from global trade among many countries. Perhaps more of a surprise, though, is that there have...

At Project Syndicate Robert Shiller reminds us that the global politics and the global economy "took a turn for the worse" eight years after the stock market crash of 1929. There are lessons from that history for policymakers today, and Shiller...

There are plenty of people dissatisfied at what they see as insufficient punishment for financial institutions for their roles in the global economic crisis, and not enough regulatory changes to the financial sector. And that can lead us to believe that...

Writing in a special 50th anniversary edition of the IMF 's Finance & Development magazine, Olivier Blanchard argues that the big lesson from the global economic crisis is to not ignore "dark corners" but to eliminate them through policies...

The World Economic Forum's latest Global Competitiveness Report is out and there aren't a lot of significant changes to the rankings. The U.S. did move up to third, behind Switzerland and Singapore and just ahead of Finland. The overall takeaway...

At Vox , Laurence Ball reminds us that output is supposed to return to "potential" after recovery from a recession, and that "potential itself is not affected significantly by the recession." But as with all conventional econ wisdom...

At Vox , Miranda Xafa --CEO of E.F. Consulting and former executive board member of the IMF--assesses lessons learned from one of the biggest, and controversial, rescue efforts of the global economic crisis: the Greek debt restructuring. She finds that...

Michael Porter sat down with Charlie Rose last week to discuss the state of the U.S. economy. They hit many of the key issues, but the most interesting facet of the conversation centered on what Porter sees as the central challenge: making America more...

Looking for winners in the new global economy? Dani Rodrik is too. And he doesn't seem to be finding many. Writing at Project Syndicate , Rodrik tells us to expect lower rates of global economic gorwth for years to come, and that means few--very few...

The 2010 Pulitzer Prize winners were announced yesterday, and an investment manager won in the History category. Liaquat Ahamed , director of Aspen Insurance Holdings, won for his book Lords of Finance , a compelling look back at the economics of World...

We've just been through the worst recession since the Great Depression, so one thought is that these are rare events and and don't need a lot of attention in core classes. But Mark Thoma argues that depression economics needs to become a standard...

In a compelling speech at the PopTech Iceland 2012 conference this summer, Tim Harford presented an interesting way to prepare for, and ultimately prevent, financial disasters. And the approach has a lot less to do with studying the history of economic...

While those of us on the East Coast were watching the weather this weekend, top economists from around the globe were still at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium , listening to the new head of the IMF , Christine Lagarde give what Felix Salmon...

In The New Depression: The Breakdown of the Paper Money Economy , Richard Duncan paints a grim picture of what is to come for the global economy. In this interview with The Economist , he presents his analysis, and makes the case for debt as a trigger...

Europe and the euro start 2012 in the spotlight, as economists around the globe watch to see how policymakers fight what appears to be an oncoming recession. Count the Wall Street Journal 's top editors and reporters among those who see Europe struggling...

At Vox , Isabella Rota Baldini and Paolo Manasse compare GDP in Europe and the U.S. and ask, "What's wrong with Europe?" In asking the question they point to the considerable disparity between EU member nations, and raise concern that the...

Most readers associate Michael Lewis with his best-selling books Liar's Poker , The Big Short , Moneyball , and The Blind Side . But he has written some amazing pieces on economies in danger. His long form Vanity Fair article on Iceland's collapse...

Change is hard. Change takes time. And in the short run, change can seem like a lot of work that distracts people from their daily work. And yet, long term success depends on regular change. In good times or in bad, companies that reshuffle or reallocate...

Tim Harford is a talented multi-media econ journalist on the other side of the pond, where he writes a column for the Financial Times and hosts the BBC4 program More or Less , where he works to make sense of the stats and numbers politicos and pundits...

Central banks have risen to positions of great power and responsibility in large developed economies. So much so that we watch their every move as if it has the potential to change everything. They not have planned on acquiring this "quasi-dominant...

Simon Johnson has become one of the most active public economists since the global economic crisis. Professor of economics at MIT , a member of the Panel of Economic Advisers for the Congressional Budget Office , former chief economist for the IMF --Johnson's...

The New York Review of Books held a crowded panel as part of the PEN World Voices Festival . Senator Bill Bradley , Niall Ferguson , Paul Krugman , Nouriel Roubini , George Soros , and Robin Wells filled a stage and discussed The Economic Crisis and How...

The IMF's World Economic Outlook shows a worrying global economic slowdown, led by Europe and the US. Among the many causes cited for slowing economic activity is the lack of demand in the private sector. The IMF's researchers suggest that they...

While it comes with what is a big price tag--$125 Billion--few are looking at the EU bailout of Spain's banks as anything more than an incremental step toward solving the Euro debt crisis. But it is exactly the type of move that Eurasia Group president...