With the Evergrande crisis unfolding, Kenneth Rogoff, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Harvard University, predicts the end of the Chinese real estate boom.

CAMBRIDGE – The impending bankruptcy of Chinese real estate giant Evergrande, with its <a title="Evergrande Gave Workers a Choice: Lend Us Cash or Lose Your Bonus" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/19/business/china-evergrande-debt-protests.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$300 billion in debt</a>, has roiled global investors. Analysts have focused mainly on whether the Chinese government will succeed in ring-fencing the problem, so that it does not spill over into a broader <a title="This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly" href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691152646/this-time-is-different" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Western-style financial crisis</a>.

An aerial view of an Evergrande new housing development project is under construction in Beijing, Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021. Photo: AP/TT

Kenneth Rogoff predicts the end of the Chinese real estate construction boom.

China’s Housing Conundrum

Today Edmund S. Phelps, the 2006 Nobel laureate in economics, and Mohammad A. Salhut write about how to recover proseperity in the face of the pandemic, digitalization and Big Tech. In their analysis they emphasize education, innovation and regulation.

NEW YORK – As public discontent forces a political reckoning in most developed economies, the social contract binding together markets, states, and citizens is being reimagined. Indeed, today’s anger and alienation present an opportunity to address cracks in our societies’ economic foundations, starting in the United States.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) building in Washington. According to Phelps and Salhut quarterly reporting has contributed to short-termism and therefore the SEC should switch back to semi-annual reporting. Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP/TT

The 2006 Nobel laureate in economics Edmund Phelps on the prosperity, innovation, education and Big Tech.

Recovering Prosperity

Here, the well-known German economist Hans-Werner Sinn, professor emeritus at the University of Munich and a former president of the Ifo Institute, offers his take on Angela Merkel’s 16 years in office and her legacy.

MUNICH – After 16 years in office, Angela Merkel is stepping aside as Germany’s chancellor. While other countries’ presidents and prime ministers have come and gone, Merkel has remained in power for four electoral terms, generally enjoying <a title="15 Years of Angela Merkel" href="https://www.statista.com/chart/23144/merkel-opinion-polls-since-2005/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">high public-approval ratings</a>. But with her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) potentially heading into opposition following Germany’s September 26 federal election, how should we evaluate her long reign?

Angela Merkel waving goodbye after 16 years? Picture taken at the CDU party’s headquarters in Berlin after the election, Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021. Photo: Markus Schreiber/AP/TT

The well-known German economist Hans-Werner Sinn writes about Angela Merkel’s legacy.

A Post-Merkel Post-Mortem

The launch of AUKUS, a new security partnership in the Asia-Pacific involving Australia, UK and the US, has caused quite a stir on the international arena. Here, Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong and a former EU commissioner for external affairs, gives us his perspective.

LONDON – The basic text making the case for an international-relations rulebook was provided by the ancient Greek historian Thucydides in his account of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta in the fifth century BCE. During that struggle, the inhabitants of Melos, the only significant island in the Aegean Sea not controlled by Athens, insisted on retaining their neutrality despite intense Athenian pressure. Eventually, the Athenians lost patience and wiped the Melians out, killing all the men and enslaving the women and children. The Athenian justification was simple: “Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.”

Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison, center, appears on stage with video links to Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, left, and US President Joe Biden at a joint press conference  announcing the launch of AUKUS, Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021. Photo: Mick Tsikas/AP/TT

Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong and a former EU commissioner for external affairs, on the launch of AUKUS.