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Articles by Wesley Widmaier
Wesley Widmaier, Author at Switzer
Markets Last week’s summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping heralds a different sort of "G2".
After an opaque summit, China and the US want to work together again. That might not be good news for the world
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After an opaque summit, China and the US want to work together again. That might not be good news for the world
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After an opaque summit, China and the US want to work together again. That might not be good news for the world Original
Back in 2005, US economist Fred Bergsten coined the term “Group of 2” or “G2”, proposing a stronger partnership between what are now the world’s two largest economies – the United States and China. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis a few years later, economic cooperation between these two countries briefly seemed to attest to the success of efforts at integrating China into a liberal rules-based order.
Will China's epic spend be enough?
China’s relentless economic growth used to be the marvel of the world. Oh, what a memory. The past couple of years have seen China contend with an economic slowdown amid colliding crises, many of which make it internationally unique. Consumer prices have been approaching deflationary territory, there’s an oversupply of housing, and youth unemployment has soared. Mounting pressure has forced the Chinese government to step in.
China’s government is about to spend big on stimulus - can it turn around the country’s sluggish economy?
China’s relentless economic growth used to be the marvel of the world. Oh, what a memory. The past couple of years have seen China contend with an economic slowdown amid colliding crises, many of which make it internationally unique. Consumer prices have been approaching deflationary territory, there’s an oversupply of housing, and youth unemployment has soared. Mounting pressure has forced the Chinese government to step in.
What happened to Trump was a shock but not a surprise - and that should worry us
In an immediate sense, the attempted assassination of former - and potentially, future - US president Donald Trump posed a profound shock. Subscribe now for unlimited access.
Australian Foreign Policy Stability and Instability: Imperial Friendships and Crises from the Great Depression to the Fall of Singapore
Since the establishment of the Commonwealth, Australian foreign policy orders — based in ideas that reduce uncertainty and stabilise interests — have been marked by the search for what Robert Menzies termed “great and powerful friends” capable of providing security and economic guarantees. Yet, while such friendships have often provided early benefits, they have over time often suffered diminishing returns.
Asia Policy 18.4 (October 2023)
Roundtable Wesley Widmaier, Mathew Davies, Lorraine Elliott, Ralf Emmers, Natasha Hamilton-Hart, Wenting He, Beverley Loke, and Susan Park Special Essay Lily Schlieman Article Shang-su Wu Book Review Roundtable Ian Hall, Kate Sullivan de Estrada, Jivanta Schottli, Frank O’Donnell, Sameer Lalwani, and Rajesh Basrur About Asia Policy Asia Policy is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal presenting policy-relevant academic research on the Asia-Pacific that draws clear and concise conclusions useful...
Habeck's Dangerous Flirt with Autarky – AIIA
The newly elected German government has signalled major changes to the nation’s energy policy. This could have dangerous implications for the German economy. In his first interviews and speeches as federal minister for the economy and climate protection, Robert Habeck emphasised the urgency of restructuring the German economy. Surprisingly, Habeck referred to the supposed benefit of Germany’s partial self-sufficiency several times.
Paul Volcker’s pragmatism: fighting inflation and financialization
Paul Volcker, chairman of the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1987, passed away this month. In remembrances, he has been most often celebrated for taming the runaway inflation of the 1970s. Yet, even as Volcker confronted the limits of post–Second World War Keynesianism, he resisted ideological commitments to “monetarism” or a “neoliberal” order. Instead, over ensuing decades, Volcker would maintain a pragmatic suspicion of market power – in any setting.
Australian Foreign Policy in Political Time: Middle Power Creativity, Misplaced Friendships, and Crises of Leadership - Australian Institute of International Affairs
In addressing the uncertainty Australia faces through its recurring shifts from stability to instability, it would be valuable to look at social psychological approaches, where ideas reduce uncertainty and stir stability. Over the past century, Australian foreign policy orders, defined with respect to ideas that reduce uncertainty and stabilise interests, have been marked by recurring patterns of development and decline.
Yellen's Fed faces a tricky rates dilemma in 2017 that may end up tripping up Trump
Editor’s note: The Federal Reserve’s policy-setting committee raised its target interest rate a quarter-point to a range of 0.5 percent to 0.75 percent, only the second such move in eight years. In the widely anticipated decision, the Fed signaled it anticipates raising rates another 0.75 percentage point in 2017 – likely in three quarter-point hikes – a faster pace of tightening than previously expected. We asked two experts to analyze what this will mean for the not too distant future.
Trump’s Carrier coup reveals credibility gap between Twitter rhetoric and economic reality
In a political coup, President-elect Donald Trump says that his transition team has struck a deal with Carrier’s Indianapolis plant to keep 1,000 jobs in the state. This builds on Trump’s recent tweets directed at the air-conditioner maker and Ford, as he sought to deliver on a campaign promise and reverse what his populist predecessor Ross Perot termed a NAFTA-spawned “giant sucking sound” of jobs leaving the Rust Belt.
Timeline: Americans, the economy and elections
Looking back on the US presidential campaign, it has sounded at times as if Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump supporters inhabit two different economies. Clinton supporters see the economy as a success: From the depths of the global financial crisis in 2008, the Obama administration averted another Great Depression. The government worked with the Federal Reserve to bring the unemployment back from 10% in 2009 to near-full employment at 4.9%. This has now started to reverse decades of falling wages.
It's not just the economy, stupid; it's whether the economy is fair
Most experts say globalisation spreads wealth, bringing people out of poverty and nations closer together. But right now some politicians and their supporters are arguing it simply increases inequality. What’s really going on? Our Globalisation backlash series offers some answers. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, America’s Obama administration faced a dilemma. The public wanted banking reform.
It's the end of the world as we know it...again
On “Black Monday” October 19, 1987, the US stock market crashed, losing over 500 points and 22% of its value in a single day. At around the same time, R.E.M. had just broken through as a major act, and their song “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” was playing everywhere, getting an extra boost from the events of the day. In the US, it seemed the ostensible “Reagan era” was coming to an end.
A History of Crisis: Can the G-20 Save Capitalism From Itself?
To understand this week’s G-20 summit being held in Brisbane, Australia, and measure its success, requires a sense of the history of economic crisis and change. Recurring crises have shaped global institutions across the interwar gold standard, the Bretton Woods postwar order, the G-7 of the 1970s, and the expanded G-20 of today.
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