Peterson Perspectives: Interviews on Current Issues

Monica de Bolle argues that sanctioning Venezuela’s oil company PDVSA will worsen the country's humanitarian crisis but will likely not change President Nicolas Maduro's behavior.

Jeromin Zettelmeyer and Jacob Funk Kirkegaard argue that there is reason to be optimistic that a government coalition of Merkel's Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats could work on reforms with French president Emmanuel Macron.

Hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens still use costly informal credit where they lack access to a formal financial system. Martin Chorzempa says that Chinese officials should work with private companies to improve the rules around sharing while protecting consumer data that will provide fair priced loans to Chinese people.

Chad P. Bown cautions the Trump administration that its unconventional trade policies—such as imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum, and over intellectual property—could lead to conflict with some of the United States’ largest trading partners.

Joseph E. Gagnon and Edwin M. Truman discuss the pros and cons of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s comments perceived as seeking depreciation of the dollar.

Gary Clyde Hufbauer argues that the criticism of the procedure set up in trade agreements to settle disputes between multinational corporations and states in which they invest is largely unwarranted. There is room for improvements in its procedures and processes, however.

Monica de Bolle argues that Venezuela is giving higher priority to paying its foreign creditors than to the Venezuelan people.

Daniel Heller and Martin Chorzempa believe that policymakers need to create a regulatory framework for initial coin offerings.

At a recent CNN town hall debate between Senators Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz, Jacob Funk Kirkegaard questioned the validity of Senator Sanders’ policy proposals to spend like a Scandinavian country while only raising taxes on the wealthiest citizens. In this Peterson Perspectives interview, Kirkegaard discusses Denmark’s effective tax rate where middle class citizens are taxed nearly 50 percent of their income.

Nicolas Véron says that rescinding AIG’s status as “systemically important” will not lead to financial instability.