AGI

Geoeconomics

The AGI Geoeconomics Program promotes original thinking and debate on U.S., German, and EU global economic strategy with a focus on ways that trade, climate, financial, and technology policies can advance their shared interests, prosperity, and values.
Reset

The Euro Zone Should Look to the Brady Plan to Solve Its Crisis

As the financial crisis within the euro zone widens, governments have been at a loss for immediate action to resolve the situation. In an essay based off of his remarks given at a recent AICGS conference on Balancing Global Macroeconomic Discrepancies, Jacob Funk Kirkegaard of the Peterson Institute for International Economics suggests that the Brady Plan from the Latin American debt crisis in the 1980s might provide a good model for the euro zone as it tries to extricate itself from further crisis.

Europe’s Surprisingly Bold Step Toward Solving Its Sovereign Debt Crisis

The outcome of the euro area meeting last week was far more substantive than expected, even if one takes into account that the expectations had been at rock bottom, writes Jacob Kirkegaard, research fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and a regular contributor to the Advisor. Not only did EU leaders demonstrate how they intend to prevent peripheral defaults, they also gave us an idea of their longer-term solutions for Europe’s economic problems and future integration, Kirkegaard argues.

Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft

The “creative economy” is an important economic factor in Germany, write former Deutsche Bank/AICGS Fellow Thomas Dapp and Philipp Ehmer, producing goods and services worth over 60 billion euros in 2009. The industry has significant growth potential for the future, but some changes within the sector are necessary – namely some changes to copyright and patent statutes – to achieve the maximum growth potential.

The Euro: Halfway Full

In this week’s At Issue, Executive Director Dr. Jackson Janes examines the current concerns about the future of the euro and the challenges of securing both consensus among the euro zone members and domestic political support for the European single currency, especially in Germany.

To Rule the Euro Zone

As euro zone governments quietly work on a proposal to relieve Greek bond debt, a much louder debate over the future of the euro zone has come about across Europe. The following several articles focus on the debate and show the range of opinions regarding the future of the euro zone.
Germany has become the object of Europe’s resentment, writes Stefan Theil, Newsweek correspondent and a regular contributor to the Advisor, mostly because the weak euro has meant a strong German. But at the same time, Theil argues, Germans are starting to feel some disillusionment with supporting some fellow euro zone members, a growing attitude that will eventually force action – action that Germany will likely lead. This essay originally appeared in the January 23, 2011, edition of Newsweek.

Ordnungsmacht Deutschland

Jochen Bittner, a regular contributor to the Advisor, argues that behind all of the euro zone debate lies a simple but unpleasant truth: The monetary union came too soon. Certainly it is difficult to shift strategies in the middle of a crisis, but Bittner contends that nothing less than a ‘reset’ will help the euro zone out of this mess, something the German government is eager to tackle, even if it won’t admit so publicly. This essay originally appeared in the January 18, 2011, edition of Die Zeit and is available in German only.

Knausrige Kanzlerin verschärft die Euro-Krise

As Portugal, Spain, and others have to pay exorbitant interest rates on their government debt, all of Europe is threatened with an increasingly worse economic crisis, writes Senior Non-Resident Fellow Dr. Sebastian Dullien. Germany could help, Dr. Dullien argues, but instead a ‘stingy’ Chancellor Merkel is endangering the euro zone with her government’s mindset of demanding punishment for countries in crisis. This essay originally appeared in the January 17, 2011, online edition of Der Spiegel and is available in German only.

The Financial Outlook in 2011

In an essay written for Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, AICGS Trustee Dr. Josef Joffe examines the global financial outlook for 2011 and writes that despite some negative indicators, global prospects in 2011 look brighter than previous years, leading to cautious optimism for the coming year.

Recovering From an Economic Hangover: Lessons and Prescriptions for Transatlantic Cooperation

Issue Brief 38 Two years after the financial and economic crisis began in the United States and shortly thereafter spread to Europe and Germany, the subsequent economic downturn continues to …

Intellectual Property Rights and Green Technology Transfer: German and U.S. Perspectives

Policy Report 45 While environmental concerns have recently taken a backseat to the economic and financial crisis, scientific projections on climate change continue to call for action. Yet, international cooperation …

Promoting Energy Innovation and Investment Through Transatlantic Transfer of Community Energy Policies

Policy Report 43 In Policy Report #43, “Promoting Energy Innovation and Investment Through Transatlantic Transfer of Community Energy Policies,” Dale Medearis, Peter Garforth, and Stefan Blüm look to the European …

At the Eve of Convergence? Social Services in the U.S. and Germany

Policy Report 42 In Policy Report 42, Annette Zimmer and Steven Rathgeb Smith look at social service and health care provision in the United States and Germany, examining the historical …