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Behind the Scenes, Berlin and Beijing Are Forging a New World Order

Geopolitics are on the move with a possibly violent upheaval in the offing. Earlier this month, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, President Xi Jinping of China donned the mantle of globalism – promising to carry the torch about

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Davos: Globalists Hail President Xi Jinping

This week, China debuts on the world stage as the unlikely saviour of globalism. President Xi Jinping, an ardent nationalist at home, is expected to remind all who care to listen that free trade must be preserved in order to

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Gavin Wilson, CEO IFC AMC: Mobilising Private Capital for Sustainable Development

Building and upgrading the infrastructure to underpin sustainable development in emerging markets and elsewhere requires additional investments estimated at around one trillion dollars annually. To support expected economic growth rates, and meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the McKinsey

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Grant Thornton: Mobility – A Double Edged Sword?

It would be hard to imagine a chef working without a culinary knife. Different kinds of knives serve different purposes. If used appropriately, these knives can do wonders for their users. However, if used carelessly or even abused, they can

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UNCTAD: A Policy Compact to Get Investment Flowing Again

James Zhan suggests world leaders make a joint effort to formulate effective investment policies to help build investment firepower to face 21st Century development challenges. Forecasts of deeper global economic gloom are tumbling one over the other. The global economy

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Otaviano Canuto, IMF: China’s Spill-Overs on Latin America and the Caribbean

The Chinese economy is rebalancing while softening its growth pace. China’s spillovers on the global economy have operated through trade, commodity prices, and financial channels. The global reach of the effects from China’s transition have recently been illustrated in risk

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Otaviano Canuto, IMF: What Happened to World Trade?

World trade suffered another disappointing year in 2015, experiencing a contraction in merchandise trade volumes during the first half and only a low recovery during the second half (Figure 1). While last year’s trade performance can be associated to the

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Ann Low, US Department of State: Good Corporate Governance is Good Business

OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises. Over the past decade, cross-border trade and investment by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) has surged. According to the OECD, whereas in 2005, there were only three SOEs in the Fortune Global 50 list

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Grant Thornton Hong Kong: M&A – Cultural Alignment for Successful Integration

Too often companies put together look great on paper but are fraught with management and structural problems that end up turning deals into busts. Acquiring companies often underestimate the problems that different corporate cultures can inflict on a merger. In fact,

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Michael Pettis: Money Is Not Created Out of Thin Air

A recurring conversation I have with clients concerns the ability of banks to create credit, and of governments to monetise debt, and whether this ability is the solution to or the cause of financial instability and economic crisis. Monetarists and structuralists

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