Jim O’Neill

The sudden rise of "special purpose acquisitions companies" and cryptocurrencies speaks less to the virtues of these vehicles than to the excesses of the current bull market.

COVID-19 crisis has accelerated Asia’s global rise in terms of relative economic growth, with China driving the region’s ascent. The contrast between China’s governance structure and that of Western democracies will thus become an even bigger issue for many leaders than it already is.

What the world really needs is what we called for back in 2001: genuinely representative global economic governance. Let us hope there is a renewed desire to take this path under the new US administration.

What can we expect in 2021? On the positive side, the year will follow a similar script as 2020, with generous monetary and fiscal policies justifying further optimism for equities.

It seems only reasonable that we should adopt a broader “optimization framework” for understanding and managing relations between China and the West.

LONDON - On August 11, the OECD signaled that it would be revising its 2020 real (inflation-adjusted) GDP forecast for South Korea from -1.2 percent to -0.8 percent, adding to the confidence that the country is faring better economically than any other OECD member.

LONDON – In an April commentary about the wild gyrations in financial markets during the February-March phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, I noted that the behavior of equity markets had been as bewildering, complex, and fascinating as ever. Still, I suspected that a weird logic was at work, and argued...

LONDON – Since March, I have been more open than other commentators to the possibility of a “V-shaped” recovery from the pandemic-induced downturn (though I have also consistently warned of structural challenges facing many economies in the decade ahead). Wherever I have expressed this optimism, I h...

LONDON – I recently re-read and reflected on everything I have written for Project Syndicate since the start of this year. Two commentaries, in particular, stood out. In January, I suggested that without a new surge in productivity, the world would struggle to achieve the same level of economic grow...

LONDON – As the COVID-19 crisis roars on, so have debates about China’s role in it. Based on what is known, it is clear that some Chinese officials made a major error in late December and early January when they tried to prevent disclosures of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, even silencing health...