Browse EPI news by topic
Trade, Globalization & International Economics
HERE, Find EPI’s research on topics such as monetary policy, plus links to Global Policy Network studies and partners under international economics. Other topics include: trade deficit, trade policy, and offshoring.
International Economics
International Economics
2008
JULY 9 | Mexico feels sting of US housing crisis
JUNE 24 | Job quality growing concern in euro countries
2006
AUGUST 3 | Slovak Republic’s Big Jobs Problem (GPN Report)
JULY 25 | Health Care: U.S. Spends Most, Covers Least (Book Preview)
JULY 19 | Hungary’s Jobless Picture Worsens (GPN Report)
JULY 6 | Australia’s Underemployment, Gender Wage Gap (GPN Report)
JUNE 7 | Argentina Devaluation Holds Lessons for U.S. (Snapshot)
JUNE 30 | U.S. Deeper in Debt to Foreign Countries (International Picture)
MAY 15 | The Immigration Piece Bush May Miss (Viewpoint)
MAY 10 | Economic Growth Stats from White House are Misleading (Snapshot)
APRIL 26 | Trade Imabalance, Manufacturing, and the Dollar (Snapshot)
APRIL 20 | Privatization Shows its Flaws in Five Countries (GPN Report)
APRIL 20 | Income Gap Widens in South Africa, Narrows in Brazil (Snapshot)
MARCH 21 | Panama’s Job Growth Falls Behind GDP, Mostly Low-Income (GPN Report)
FEBRUARY 23 | Israeli Economic Growth Only Benefits Top Earners (GPN Report)
JANUARY 24 | EPI Founder Decodes the “Party of Davos” (Book)
2005
NOVEMBER 21 | Colombia Plagued by Poverty, Lack of Job Growth (GPN Report)
NOVEMBER 2 | Average Productivity Declines Among 10 South American Countries (Snapshot)
OCTOBER 26 | New Direction Urged at Americas Summit (Issue Brief)
OCTOBER 21 | Inequality Persists in Brazil, Despite Progress
AUGUST 10 | EPI NewsFlash: China likely to unravel CAFTA textile trade
Passage of the CAFTA trade deal was predicated on promises that it would be good for textile and apparel employment in the United States and Central America. But in today’s Snapshot, Economic Policy Institute researchers Robert Scott and David Ratner show that the promise of more textile jobs is a pipe dream, given the enormous surge in China’s textile exports to the U.S.
AUGUST 2 | EPI NewsFlash: Serious Flaws Found in Offshoring Reports
For the past two years, public concern has grown over a new word in the American lexicon: offshoring. In this climate, three notable research reports have weighed in with a more reassuring story that finds offshoring to be, on balance, a net benefit for the nation. However an analysis of those research findings, Truth and Consequences of Offshoring, published today by the Economic Policy Institute, reports serious flaws in those reassuring stories.
JULY 29 | EPI NewsFlash: GDP fueled by falling trade deficit, weak wage growth continues
A shrinking trade deficit added the largest positive contribution of trade flows to GDP since 1996. In today’s GDP Picture, Economic Policy Institute economist Josh Bivens analyzes this morning’s release of BEA’s GDP report, which tempers the good news about the shrinking trade deficit with the disheartening news of continued weakness in labor income, particularly private-sector wage and salary growth.
JULY 26 | EPI NewsFlash: Jordan’s Economy Marred by High Unemployment, Trade Deficits
Over the last decade, Jordan’s economy has grown considerably once it came out from under state control and became more market-driven. But 12.5 percent unemployment and an escalating trade deficit make the picture lackluster, according to a new report released by the Global Policy Network, and authored by the Center for Strategic Studies – Economic Studies Unit at the University of Jordan. Moreover, female unemployment has remained at a whopping 20 percent, while the 30 percent rate of unionization for workers has remained stagnant since 1999. To read more about Jordan’s economic and employment trends, click here for the report.
JUNE 30 | EPI NewsFlash: Campaign to Help Latin American Workers
As a region, Latin America and the Caribbean feature the world’s highest inequality, with the 10% of richest citizens holding up to 47% of the total income. But a step towards equality is being taken with the adoption of the Hemispheric Labor Platform, which calls for reforms, protections and freedoms for the region’s workers, and is authored bythe Global Policy Network. The platform has already been officially adopted by the Joint Parliamentary Commission of the Mercosur, a political and trade alliance comprised of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Chile. Next comes a review by the unions of the hemisphere, followed by a presentation at a November meeting of the Presidents of the Americas in Argentina. GPN coordinator Tony Avirgan is available to journalists for comments regarding this platform as well as trends in labor markets of this vast region. For interviews, please contact the Communications Department at news@epinet.org.
JUNE 8 | EPI NewsFlash: CAFTA under NAFTA cloud
Supporters of CAFTA argue that it will benefit the agricultural sector, but just how likely are those benefits to materialize? In today’s economic snapshot, EPI trade economist Robert Scott examines similar predictions that were made before the passage of NAFTA, and shows why the claims now being made about CAFTA should be taken with a grain of salt.
JUNE 2 | EPI NewsFlash: For Farming, CAFTA’s Claims Are Clouded By NAFTA’s Record
Agricultural trade will be a large and contentious aspect of the proposed Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA, as its ratification is debated on Capitol Hill. The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) claims the agreement will create “opportunities for U.S. farmers, ranchers, and processors.” But America’s farmers recognize this siren’s song from 12 years ago when similar claims were made during the push to pass the trade agreement called NAFTA. Many of those claims proved empty. Just how empty is revealed in a new study, Will CAFTA Be a Boon to Farmers and the Food Industry?
released by the Economic Policy Institute.
JUNE 1 | EPI NewsFlash: June 7 Press Roundtable — Chile’s Privatized SS and Lessons for the U.S.
Chile has had more than 20 years of experience with the privatization of Social Security, the longest of any country in North and South America. Most Chilean workers and retirees, especially women, are not reaping benefits from private accounts, however, and their plight offers lessons for the United States as it debates privatizing Social Security. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and the Global Policy Network (GPN) invite you to a breakfast roundtable at the National Press Club — on Tuesday, June 7, from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. — featuring new research from Carmen Espinoza, an attorney, economist and director of Chile’s Program of Economy and Work (PET). To reserve a space, email EPI at news@epinet.org, or call Stephaan Harris at 202-775-8810 by 5:00 p.m., Monday, June 6.
APRIL 6 | EPI NewsFlash: Israel’s Economic Gains Benefit Top Earners
The Israeli economy has seen both recession and high growth over the last decade and a half, but one thing is constant: only the very top earners have made gains in employment, wages and share of wealth. A new Global Policy Network report details Israel’s labor market transitions and shows who has benefited from economic booms.
MARCH 16 | EPI NewsFlash: U.S. deficit increasingly financed by foreign governments
The U.S. trade deficit, which reached an all-time high of $666 billion in 2004, is increasingly being propped up by investments from foreign governments, according to a new Economic Snapshot by the Economic Policy Institute.
FEBRUARY 17 | EPI NewsAlert: Labor Challenges in Australia
As labor market reforms are carried out in Australia, people there now work the longest hours in the developed world, while 25% of workers have casual jobs without sick leave or vacation. Read more in the Global Policy Network’s latest report.
JANUARY 12 | EPI NewsFlash: Trade Deficit Hurts Labor Market in All States
New trade data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau show that the overall U.S. trade deficit continued to climb, hitting another all-time high of $60.3 billion. China accounts for nearly one-quarter of the total U.S. trade deficit, and cost the United States 1.5 million jobs since 1989 that it would have had if trade between the two nations had remained better balanced. That deep trade deficit with China is the focus of a new release today by the Economic Policy Institute which charts, state-by-state and industry-by-industry, its impact on the labor market in every state and the District of Columbia.
2004
NOVEMBER 19 | EPI NewsAlert: What Now For Argentina’s Economy?
Argentina has defied the International Monetary Fund to go its own course, bringing strong increases in employment and GDP. But it struggles with growing inequality and the need of more and better jobs. Click here for an audio clip of a Nov. 17 roundtable and the latest report and a Power Presentation on a look at Argentina’s economy and politics.
NOVEMBER 10 | EPI NewsFlash: Breakfast Roundtable on Argentina’s Future
Argentina seems to be rebounding from its recent economic meltdown with growth in employment and GDP. But inequality is high and more and better jobs are still needed. Can this country avert another crisis? The answers will be explored at a press breakfast roundtable, starting at 9:30, Nov. 17, Wednesday at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. For details and to RSVP, e-mail us .
SEPTEMBER 13 | EPI ADVISORY: Is Turkey the next Argentina?
High unemployment and poverty hurt Turkey as it applies for EU membership. At a Wednesday breakfast roundtable at the National Press Club, Turkish economist Erinc Yeldan will discuss the impact of the current IMF reform program and the recent victory against privatization of the petroleum industry. Read the advisory.
AUGUST 5 | EPI NewsFlash: Other Nations Lead US: Higher Productivity, Lower Poverty
New Economic Policy Institute research released today shows seven European countries have surpassed the United States productivity levels with fewer working hours and lower poverty rates. This is report is a preview of the international comparisons chapter in the forthcoming EPI book, The State of Working America 2004/2005, a comprehensive review of the U.S. labor market and living standards.
JULY 28 | EPI NewsFlash: Informal Employment Raising Concern
The increase and persistence of home-based garment assembly, street vending, and other types of informal employment in developing countries is a major finding of a recent study by the the Global Policy Network (GPN). Todays economic snapshot looks at such employment in El Salvador, India, South Africa, Russia, and Egypt, noting the share of informal employment is rising in all but El Salvador.
MAY 20 | EPI NewsFlash: Reporters’ resource on world economies
The Global Policy Network (GPN) is a worldwide consortium of research organizations that study and report on economic conditions and policies as they affect the lives of ordinary working people. The web site, gpn.org, offers current insights from GPN member groups into economic trends and issues underlying international news events, especially (but not exclusively) in the developing world. The Economic Policy Institute, an independent, nonprofit research institute based in Washington, participates in GPN and coordinates the posting of reports on members countries to the GPN web site. Just posted are new reports from Turkey, the Palestinian settlements, Ghana, New Zealand, and Bulgaria. Journalists: Sign up for GPN email alerts on new reports and resources.
APRIL 20 | EPI NewsFlash: Comparing Japan and U.S. Growth
Read the latest economic Snapshot from EPI senior economist Robert Scott if you count yourself among those who assumed the U.S. economy soared in comparison to the Japanese economy in the 1990s. Japanese workers achieved a productivity growth rate of 2.5 percent during the 1990s while working 191 fewer hours per year.
MARCH 29 | EPI NewsFlash: U.S. rapidly losing high-tech edge to China
A Snapshot by senior economist Robert Scott shows that China is sharply ramping up its high-tech exports while the U.S. trade balance in such goods has declined from a $32.3 billion surplus in 1997 to a $27.4 billion deficit in 2003.
2003
OCTOBER 30 | EPI SPECIAL SNAPSHOT:China’s Currency Manipulation and Trade Imbalance
MAY 30 | Study Urges International Action To Rebalance The Dollar
MAY 21 | EPI NewsFlash: The Dollar How Low Can It Go
MAY 9 | EPI NewsFlash: Dollar Drops – What does it mean?
2002
NOVEMBER 20 | EPI SNAPSHOT: U.S.-China Trade Imbalance
SEPTEMBER 23 | Global monetary system best protection for economy 
APRIL 9 | World Bank and IMF Overlook Key Factor In Global Economic Growth: Labor Standards
Trade Policy
2007
MARCH 9 | Mexico’s Economic Turmoil and Immigration to U.S.
FEBRUARY 26 | Colombia – trade unionist murders and proposed free trade agreement
FEBRUARY 22 | Lessons from NAFTA for Korea: Implications for the proposed U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (Congressional Briefing)
2006
JUNE 7 | Argentina Devaluation Holds Lessons for U.S. (Snapshot)
APRIL 26 | Trade Imabalance, Manufacturing, and the Dollar (Snapshot)
APRIL 5 | ‘Insourcing’ Not Creating Jobs in U.S. Economy (Snapshot)
FEBRUARY 10 | Record High Trade Deficit Driven by Oil Prices (Trade Picture)
JANUARY 24 | EPI Founder Decodes the “Party of Davos” (Book)
2005
NOVEMBER 2 | Average Productivity Declines Among 10 South American Countries (Snapshot)
OCTOBER 26 | New Direction Urged at Americas Summit (Issue Brief)
AUGUST 10 | EPI NewsFlash: China likely to unravel CAFTA textile trade
Passage of the CAFTA trade deal was predicated on promises that it would be good for textile and apparel employment in the United States and Central America. But in today’s Snapshot, Economic Policy Institute researchers Robert Scott and David Ratner show that the promise of more textile jobs is a pipe dream, given the enormous surge in China’s textile exports to the U.S.
AUGUST 2 | EPI NewsFlash: Serious Flaws Found in Offshoring Reports
For the past two years, public concern has grown over a new word in the American lexicon: offshoring. In this climate, three notable research reports have weighed in with a more reassuring story that finds offshoring to be, on balance, a net benefit for the nation. However an analysis of those research findings, Truth and Consequences of Offshoring, published today by the Economic Policy Institute, reports serious flaws in those reassuring stories.
JULY 21 | EPINewsFlash: NAFTA’s job impact dims CAFTA’s bright claims
Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect, teh rising trade deficit with Canada and Mexico displaced production supporting over a million jobs in the United States. That disparaging fact about NAFTA’s failure to live up to its claim is detailed in NAFTA’s Cautionary Tale, by Robert Scott and David Ratner, published today by the Economic Policy Institute. The report gives state-by-state employment figures and rankings.
JUNE 30 | EPI NewsFlash: U.S. reliance on foreign investors grows
The value of foreign holdings in the United States now exceeds that of U.S. holdings abroad by $2.5 trillion in 2004, while foreign central banks are financing 75% of our trade deficit. EPI economist Robert Scott analyzes the risks this type of investment carries in today’s EPI Economic Snapshot .
JUNE 8 | EPI NewsFlash: CAFTA under NAFTA cloud
Supporters of CAFTA argue that it will benefit the agricultural sector, but just how likely are those benefits to materialize? In today’s economic snapshot, EPI trade economist Robert Scott examines similar predictions that were made before the passage of NAFTA, and shows why the claims now being made about CAFTA should be taken with a grain of salt.
JUNE 2 | EPI NewsFlash: For Farming, CAFTA’s Claims Are Clouded By NAFTA’s Record
Agricultural trade will be a large and contentious aspect of the proposed Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA, as its ratification is debated on Capitol Hill. The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) claims the agreement will create “opportunities for U.S. farmers, ranchers, and processors.” But America’s farmers recognize this siren’s song from 12 years ago when similar claims were made during the push to pass the trade agreement called NAFTA. Many of those claims proved empty. Just how empty is revealed in a new study, Will CAFTA Be a Boon to Farmers and the Food Industry? released by the Economic Policy Institute.
JUNE 1 | EPIdeas: Fresh Perspectives on the Economy
Book an Economic Policy Institute Expert for Your Talk Show. EPI’s economists and policy experts have vast media experience and are ready to explain how economic trends affect working people and their families. For interviews or more information, please contact EPI’s communications department at (202) 775-8810 or news@epinet.org .
MARCH 16 | EPI NewsFlash: U.S. deficit increasingly financed by foreign governments
The U.S. trade deficit, which reached an all-time high of $666 billion in 2004, is increasingly being propped up by investments from foreign governments, according to a new Economic Snapshot by the Economic Policy Institute.
JANUARY 12 | EPI NewsFlash: Trade Deficit Hurts Labor Market in All States
New trade data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau show that the overall U.S. trade deficit continued to climb, hitting another all-time high of $60.3 billion. China accounts for nearly one-quarter of the total U.S. trade deficit, and cost the United States 1.5 million jobs since 1989 that it would have had if trade between the two nations had remained better balanced. That deep trade deficit with China is the focus of a new release today by the Economic Policy Institute which charts, state-by-state and industry-by-industry, its impact on the labor market in every state and the District of Columbia.
2004
DECEMBER 14 | EPI NewsAlert: Trouble Ahead as Foreign Borrowing Surges
Foreign debt may reach 64% of GDP in the next ten years. EPI’s new Issue Brief gives crucial context to the upcoming announcement of third-quarter current account figures. To read the news release, click here. To read the report, click here.
2003
DECEMBER 11 | EPI SNAPSHOT:NAFTA losses outstrip gains 2-1
NOVEMBER 17 | New Report Shows U.S. Job lossesfrom NAFTA-Style Trade
NOVEMBER 5 | EPI SNAPSHOT:U.S. NAFTA Trade Deficit Sharply Climbs
MAY 30 | Study Urges International Action To Rebalance The Dollar
MAY 21 | EPI NewsFlash: The Dollar How Low Can It Go
MAY 9 | EPI NewsFlash: Dollar Drops – What does it mean?
Offshoring
Offshoring
2006
JUNE 9 | Soaring Oil Prices Spur Trade Deficit (Brief Analysis)
MAY 31 | EPI Offshoring Issue Guide Now Updated
APRIL 5 | ‘Insourcing’ Not Creating Jobs in U.S. Economy (Snapshot)
2005
AUGUST 2 | EPI NewsFlash: Serious Flaws Found in Offshoring Reports
For the past two years, public concern has grown over a new word in the American lexicon: offshoring. In this climate, three notable research reports have weighed in with a more reassuring story that finds offshoring to be, on balance, a net benefit for the nation. However an analysis of those research findings, Truth and Consequences of Offshoring, published today by the Economic Policy Institute, reports serious flaws in those reassuring stories.
JANUARY 12 | EPI NewsFlash: Trade Deficit Hurts Labor Market in All States
New trade data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau show that the overall U.S. trade deficit continued to climb, hitting another all-time high of $60.3 billion. China accounts for nearly one-quarter of the total U.S. trade deficit, and cost the United States 1.5 million jobs since 1989 that it would have had if trade between the two nations had remained better balanced. That deep trade deficit with China is the focus of a new release today by the Economic Policy Institute which charts, state-by-state and industry-by-industry, its impact on the labor market in every state and the District of Columbia.
2004
JUNE 23 | EPI NewsFlash: US Child Poverty Rate High, Social Spending Low
From a look at 17 rich, industrialized countries, the United States’ child poverty rate 22 percent is by far the highest, and one reason appears to be the relative lack of spending our country commits to social services for disadvantaged families. In an insightful Snapshot, Economic Policy Institute economist Sylvia Allegretto finds that countries with higher social expenditures as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) have dramatically lower poverty rates among children.
JUNE 2 | EPI NewsFlash: New EPI Offshoring Issue Guide
EPI launches a new Issue Guide on the offshoring of white-collar U.S. jobs overseas and its causes, consequences, and impact on our economy. The guide includes data, charts, fact sheets, and links to other resources on the topic.
APRIL 6 | EPI News Flash: The Myths of Insourcing
EPI senior economist Robert Scott’s Snapshot looks at employment figures to see how foreign companies are affecting job creation, and finds that they are not providing a cushion that blunts the impact of jobs going overseas. In fact he finds evidence that suggests foreign-owned companies have destroyed more American jobs than they have created.
MARCH 24 | EPI NewsFlash: High Paying Software Jobs Moving to India
Economists Lee Price and Josh Bivens find evidence that points to a significant movement of U.S. software jobs to India. U.S. jobs in software-producing industries declined by 128,000 between 2000 and 2004, while professional jobs in India’s software export sector rose by 150,000 from 1999 to 2003. For more details read the Snapshot.
MARCH 4 | EPIdeas: Offshoring and Stubborn Unemployment
Long-term unemployment is rising fast for workers with college degrees and those who are 45 and older. And the unemployment rate does not count the growing population who have given up looking for work in a labor market with three job seekers for every one opening. For more about these issues, please click here
2003
NOVEMBER 17 | New Report Shows U.S. Job lossesfrom NAFTA-Style Trade
Trade Deficit
2008
JUNE 19 | Current Account deficit deepens due to falling profits on US foreign investment
2007
MARCH 26 | Benefits of dollar’s rebalancing begin to emerge
MARCH 14 | Falling oil imports lessens US deficit
FEBRUARY 13 | US trade deficit — What goes up, but not down?
2006
JUNE 30 | U.S. Deeper in Debt to Foreign Countries (International Picture)
JUNE 16 | Trade deficit improves, but overvalued dollar needs careful management (Current Account Picture)
MAY 12 | Trade Deficit Improves, Perilous Trajectory Remains (Brief Analysis)
APRIL 28 | Strong GDP Masks Failing Wage Gains (GDP Picture)
APRIL 26 | Trade Imabalance, Manufacturing, and the Dollar (Snapshot)
MARCH 14 | Trade Deficit Hits Record High — Again (Current Account Picture)
MARCH 14 | Does the Trade Deficit Cost Manufacturing Jobs? (Briefing Paper)
MARCH 8 | Government Interest on Foreign Debt to Double by 2011 (Snapshot)
FEBRUARY 10 | Record High Trade Deficit Driven by Oil Prices (Trade Picture)
2005
DECEMBER 16 | “Hurricane Effect” Felt in Trade Deficit (Current Account Picture)
NOVEMBER 30 | Trade Deficits Batter Manufacturing Jobs (Snapshot)
OCTOBER 28 | Two Analyses, One Message to the Fed (GDP and Wages Pictures)
SEPTEMBER 23 | Trade deficit improves, but for the wrong reason (Current Account Picture)
JULY 29 | EPI NewsFlash: GDP fueled by falling trade deficit, weak wage growth continues
A shrinking trade deficit added the largest positive contribution of trade flows to GDP since 1996. In today’s GDP Picture, Economic Policy Institute economist Josh Bivens analyzes this morning’s release of BEA’s GDP report, which tempers the good news about the shrinking trade deficit with the disheartening news of continued weakness in labor income, particularly private-sector wage and salary growth.
JULY 21 | EPINewsFlash: NAFTA’s job impact dims CAFTA’s bright claims
Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect, teh rising trade deficit with Canada and Mexico displaced production supporting over a million jobs in the United States. That disparaging fact about NAFTA’s failure to live up to its claim is detailed in NAFTA’s Cautionary Tale, by Robert Scott and David Ratner, published today by the Economic Policy Institute. The report gives state-by-state employment figures and rankings.
MARCH 16 | EPI NewsFlash: U.S. deficit increasingly financed by foreign governments
The U.S. trade deficit, which reached an all-time high of $666 billion in 2004, is increasingly being propped up by investments from foreign governments, according to a new Economic Snapshot by the Economic Policy Institute.
FEBRUARY 10 | EPI NewsFlash: Trade Deficit at all-time high
Driven largely by a surge in high-tech and other manufactured imports from China, and helped along by higher oil prices, the U.S. trade deficit reached $616.2 billion in 2004, breaking all previous records. New Commerce Department data released today show that imports exceeded exports by 54% last year, with imports totaling $1.764 trillion versus $1.146 trillion in exports. Read todays trade picture.
JANUARY 28 | EPI NewsFlash- GDP to Trade Deficit: What a drag!
The Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that GDP grew at an annual rate of 3.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2004. In todays illustrated GDP Picture, Economic Policy Institute economist Josh Bivens looks at the traits that distinguished the economy for the entire year.
JANUARY 12 | EPI NewsFlash: Trade Deficit Hurts Labor Market in All States
New trade data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau show that the overall U.S. trade deficit continued to climb, hitting another all-time high of $60.3 billion. China accounts for nearly one-quarter of the total U.S. trade deficit, and cost the United States 1.5 million jobs since 1989 that it would have had if trade between the two nations had remained better balanced. That deep trade deficit with China is the focus of a new release today by the Economic Policy Institute which charts, state-by-state and industry-by-industry, its impact on the labor market in every state and the District of Columbia.
2004
DECEMBER 14 | EPI NewsAlert: Trouble Ahead as Foreign Borrowing Surges
Foreign debt may reach 64% of GDP in the next ten years. EPI’s new Issue Brief gives crucial context to the upcoming announcement of third-quarter current account figures. To read the news release, click here. To read the report, click here.
SEPTEMBER 14 | EPI NewsFlash: Foreign Governments Boost U.S. Trade Deficit to New Record
Data just released by the Bureau of Economic analysis show the U.S. trade deficit has continued its record-breaking ascent, growing 13% larger in the second quarter of the year. In the first half of 2004, foreign government purchases of U.S. assets (such as treasury bills and other government securities) financed nearly two-thirds of the U.S. trade deficit, or about $403 billion out of the $627 billion annual deficit. Read the Snapshot.
JUNE 30 | EPI NewsFlash: US International Debt Threatens Recovery
The bulging domestic budget deficit isnt the only debt worry for the US. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the nation is racking up a large and growing trade deficit it is financing by selling off US assets like government securities, companies, and property. Todays Economic Snapshot by EPI economist Robert Scott charts the downward slide in the US international investment position and offers ways to fix the problem.
APRIL 8 | EPI NewsFlash: Good Policy Could Halt Manufacturing Job Losses
See Press Release.
MARCH 29 | EPI NewsFlash: U.S. rapidly losing high-tech edge to China
A Snapshot by senior economist Robert Scott shows that China is sharply ramping up its high-tech exports while the U.S. trade balance in such goods has declined from a $32.3 billion surplus in 1997 to a $27.4 billion deficit in 2003.
MARCH 23 | EPI NewsFlash: U.S. deficit increasingly financed by foreign governments
The U.S. trade deficit, which reached an all-time high of $542 billion in 2003, is increasingly being propped up by investments from foreign governments, according to a new Economic Snapshot by economist Robert Scott.
MARCH 10 | EPI NewsFlash: Trade Deficits Fuel Manufacturing’s Decline
The U.S manufacturing industry ended 2003 with fewer workers than at any time since 1958. Economist Josh Bivens examines the real culprit behind falling production: rising trade deficits in manufactured goods. Snapshot .
FEBRUARY 13 | EPI NewsFlash: U.S. Trade Deficit Reaches New Record
The U.S. trade deficit of $549 billion in 2003 indicates job losses and imbalanced trade with China, and also future dangers, including a rapid, uncontrolled decline in the dollar that could push the United States into a sharp recession. Economist Robert Scott spotlights other troubling trends from our growing trade woes in the Trade Picture .
JANUARY 7 | EPI SNAPSHOT: How A Soaring Deficit, Foreign Investment Can Hurt U.S.
2003
NOVEMBER 5 | EPI SNAPSHOT:U.S. NAFTA Trade Deficit Sharply Climbs
JULY 31 | GDP FACTS:Trade Deficit Soars, Labor Recovery Stalled
JANUARY 15 | EPI SNAPSHOT: U.S. Foreign Debt in Danger Zone
2002
NOVEMBER 20 | EPI SNAPSHOT: U.S.-China Trade Imbalance
OCTOBER 23 | Bush Administration Obscures Dangers of Rising Trade Deficit
JANUARY 30 | Repairing the harm of globalization
JANUARY 11 |
EPI launches Agenda for Shared Prosperity ( News release [PDF]) (Web site)