The Korea Herald

Why identifying a bubble is so much trouble

Sept 25, 2011

We seem to be surrounded by “bubbles” ― tech stocks, real estate, and now maybe sovereign debt. You might expect that any textbook would have a precise definition of this phenomenon; some set of characteristics that distinguish sensible high prices in good times from prices that are “too high” or in
[Marc Flandreau] Getting to yes (again) with Germany on euro crisis aid

Sept 25, 2011

GENEVA ― Europe’s slow-motion sovereign-debt crisis may appear unique, but it is not. Just a few decades ago, Europe had the Exchange Rate Mechanism, which collapsed during a crisis very much akin to the one afflicting Europe today. Will the outcome this time be different?The ERM was an arrangement
[Zhang Monan] Value cooperation over cash with Europe

Sept 23, 2011

Whether China and other BRICS members will give a helping hand to European countries that have been severely plagued by their looming debt crisis is now a hot topic around the world. China’s purchase of European debt would not be a show of generosity. To help extricate hard-hit European countries fr
[Bennett Ramberg] A watershed doctrine for America

Sept 23, 2011

LOS ANGELES ― As the United States stumbles through its economic challenges at home, the pressure of world events will not subside. But America’s ability to address them has changed. Its fiscal weakness limits its ability to act as global policeman. Despite the relatively costless overthrow of the Q
ASEAN should heed lessons from EU crisis

Sept 23, 2011

Although five major central banks have recently agreed to provide dollars for the European banking system in an effort to avert a funding crisis, the southern European countries are still not immune from a possible financial crisis that could send a tidal wave across the entire continent. The Europe
Taiwan must choose to build home-grown defense industry

Sept 23, 2011

Now it is almost certain that the U.S. will refuse Taiwan’s request for the sale of the new F-16C/D fighter jets for Taiwan’s self-defense. While an official announcement on the U.S. Congress’s decision is expected next week, an unnamed senior congressional aide was widely quoted as saying that the
Japan’s ruling party must present state vision

Sept 23, 2011

The Democratic Party of Japan must deepen debate on constitutional reform and present the vision of the state it aims to establish.In the Diet, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said, “Amid the mountain of pressing issues we face, I don’t think constitutional revision is a top priority on the policy age
[Peh Shing Huei] Retired leaders’ vanishing act

Sept 23, 2011

Former premier Zhu Rongji’s new book detailing his years in office created a media stir and strong reader interest when it went on sale early this month.But the man himself was nowhere to be seen.There were no book tours and media interviews and Zhu, 83, did not make a public appearance to promote h
Israel-Palestine face-off at the United Nations

Sept 22, 2011

The looming United Nations vote on Palestinian statehood is not a cause for celebration ― for Palestinians or anyone else. It is merely further evidence of the utter stalemate of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which once promised to deliver a two-state solution but which during the last few
[Mohamed A. El-Erian] Countering the contagious West

Sept 22, 2011

NEWPORT BEACH ― Imagine for a moment that you are the chief policymaker in a successful emerging-market country. You are watching with legitimate concern (and a mixture of astonishment and anger) as Europe’s crippling debt crisis spreads and America’s dysfunctional politics leave it unable to revive
Strong countries, not Greece, should ditch euro

Sept 22, 2011

Europeans can’t say they weren’t warned. For a decade before the euro was launched, critics ― and many economists ― argued that one currency wouldn’t fit all, or even most, of the nations of the European Union. The unfolding euro-area crisis is proof that the critics were right. Now it’s up to the s
[Ron Klain] Middle-class Americans suffer in silence, for now

Sept 22, 2011

President Barack Obama’s proposed tax on millionaires has restored the issue of “class warfare” to the forefront of politics. The new tax plan follows a week of intense campaigning by the president for his jobs bill, and of considerable attention devoted to a Census Bureau finding that poverty rose
[Yang Sung-chul] Two beggars in classic tragedies

Sept 22, 2011

Even in this age of homo electronicus, the eternal question of love and hate or good and evil never ceases to lose its flame. One critical ingredient of a classic is to arouse in us such an emotion from the innermost depth of our heart.Filial ingratitude seems to be the overriding theme of both Soph
[Joel Brinkley] Obama’s Middle East dilemma

Sept 21, 2011

As Palestinians head to the United Nations this week, President Obama faces one of the most excruciating dilemmas of his presidency, a predicament partly of his own making.After four decades of failed negotiations with Israel, Palestinians are hoping the U.N. will finally grant them a sovereign stat
[Noah Feldman] Abbas’ U.N. offensive might be a step toward peace

Sept 21, 2011

Just what is Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas thinking? At the new United Nations session, he has announced, the Palestinian National Authority will ask the Security Council to recognize Palestine as a state. The application will be dead on arrival: the U.S. has already said it will veto. Abbas, in