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Michael Spence

Michael Spence

Writing for PS since 2008
163 commentaries

Website

Michael Spence, a Nobel laureate in economics, is Professor of Economics Emeritus and a former dean of the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. He is Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Senior Adviser to General Atlantic, and Chairman of the firm’s Global Growth Institute. He serves on the Academic Committee at Luohan Academy, and chairs the Advisory Board of the Asia Global Institute. He was Chairman of the independent Commission on Growth and Development, an international body that from 2006-10 analyzed opportunities for global economic growth, and is the author of The Next Convergence: The Future of Economic Growth in a Multispeed World (Macmillan Publishers, 2012).

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  1. In Defense of Industrial Policy
    spence161_SAUL LOEBAFP via Getty Images_semiconductor industrial policy SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

    In Defense of Industrial Policy

    May 5, 2023 Michael Spence justifies government intervention to alter market outcomes – and explains the right way to go about it.

  2. Destructive Decoupling
    spence160_wenjin chenGetty Images_USChinawar wenjin chen/Getty Images

    Destructive Decoupling

    Mar 30, 2023 Michael Spence tallies the costs of the global economic fragmentation that the US-China rivalry has set in motion.

  3. Countering Structural Disruptions
    spence159_sesameGetty Images_businessdisruption sesame/Getty Images

    Countering Structural Disruptions

    Feb 22, 2023 Michael Spence assesses policymakers' options for mitigating the adverse distributional consequences of trade and technology.

  4. America’s Widening Productivity Gap
    spence158_Justin SullivanGetty Images_helpwantednowhiring Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

    America’s Widening Productivity Gap

    Feb 6, 2023 Michael Spence & Belinda Azenui urge policymakers to pursue interventions aimed at reducing supply constraints in the non-tradable sector.

  5. Is It Time to Give Up on 1.5°C?
    spence157_plus49Construction PhotographyAvalonGetty Images_emissions plus49/Construction Photography/Avalon/Getty Images

    Is It Time to Give Up on 1.5°C?

    Dec 23, 2022 Michael Spence questions the value of clinging to an aspirational climate target that is becoming more remote by the day.

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  1. zizek19_Carsten KoallGetty Images_jewish and anti-semitism Carsten Koall/Getty Images
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    Anti-Semitism and Intersectionality

    Slavoj Žižek

    The European Jewish Association’s recent insistence on the exceptional nature of anti-Semitism raises important questions about the nature of privilege and oppression in contemporary societies. The risk is that the EJA’s conceptual framework could all too easily reproduce the very bigotry it seeks to oppose.

     sees problems with efforts to treat hatred toward Jews separately from other forms of bigotry.
  2. rajan83_Kevin DietschGetty Images_federalreserve Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
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    Not Buying Central Banks’ Favorite Excuse

    Raghuram G. Rajan shows why monetary policymakers must bear some of the blame for the latest banking-sector turmoil.
  3. op_reedlangen6_Chip SomodevillaGetty Images_supremecourt Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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    The Lost Liberal Legal Imagination

    Nicholas Reed Langen considers the complicated legacy of a progressive jurist whom conservatives now champion.
  4. fulford1_John MooreGetty Images_pandemic John Moore/Getty Images
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    Saved by the Pandemic?

    Scott Fulford explains why its successful COVID-19 stimulus could help the US forge a path to financial stability for all.
  5. slaughter97_Miguel PereiraGetty Images_workingfromhome Miguel Pereira/Getty Images
    1

    How Much Work Is Enough?

    Anne-Marie Slaughter & Autumn McDonald explain how the pandemic raised new questions – and some very old ones – for employers and employees.
  6. velasco137_JAVIER TORRESAFP via Getty Images_kast JAVIER TORRES/AFP via Getty Images
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    How the Far Left Paves the Way for the Far Right

    Andrés Velasco

    In October 2022, Chileans elected a far-left constitutional convention which produced a text so bizarrely radical that nearly two-thirds of voters rejected it. Now Chileans have elected a new Constitutional Council and put a far-right party in the driver’s seat.

     blames Chilean President Gabriel Boric's coalition for the rapid rise of far right populist José Antonio Kast.
  7. skidelsky187_Getty Images_gpt-4 Getty Images
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    Creeping Toward Dystopia

    Robert Skidelsky worries that even elected governments will appropriate emerging technologies in the name of national security.
  8. shoukry2_BOBB MURIITHIAFP via Getty Images_drought BOBB MURIITHI/AFP via Getty Images
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    The Climate Loss and Damage Fund Is Coming

    Sameh Shoukry assesses recent efforts to implement a crucial initiative agreed at last year’s UN Climate Change Conference.
  9. wian29_Kevin FrayerGetty Images_chinagraduates Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
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    China’s Youth Unemployment Problem

    Nancy Qian warns that diminishing opportunities for new graduates will have profound long-run macroeconomic implications.

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