Citing the data of the latest Singapore Index of Inflation Expections released by SMU, which showed that Singapore consumers are expecting a higher rate of inflation compared to a quarter ago, the editor noted a few Government initiatives implemented to curb inflation, such as MAS' policy of appreciating the Singapore dollar, encouraging firms to increase productivity, and giving financial assistance to the low-income group. The editor felt that besides relying on the usual currency appreciating policies, the relevant authorities should also take another look at the causes of the inflation.
Speaking at a public lecture on 7 November at SMU, Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman said that President Obama needs to stand firm on the looming "fiscal cliff" issue of the United States. Scheduled to take effect in January, the cliff is a package of tax increases and spending cuts that will reduce the country's huge fiscal deficit but which would also suck billions of dollars out of the world's biggest economy.
Nobel-Prize winning economist Paul Krugman spoke to the media at the sidelines of the SMU Sim Kee Boon Institute public lecture. He advised re-elected President Barack Obama to “hang tough” when facing the January fiscal cliff deadline, where US$600 billion in higher taxes and reduced spending automatically becomes enacted as law. Prof Krugman also said that a Republican Congress and Democratic Party-controlled Senate would unlikely be able to arrive at a compromise on the fiscal cliff and other new major legislation.
In his commentary on the global economic crisis, Tan Sri Dato Dr Lin See Yan mentioned that he had met two friends last month, one of whom was Princeton University's Professor Paul Krugman, who delivered a speech at the SMU Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics public lecture on 7 November. At the lecture entitled Global Economic Outlook: Preventing the Next Economic Crisis, Prof Krugman traced the key causes of the crisis, concluding that although the US has some of the tools needed to avert another crisis, they are still not ready enough to prevent the next crisis.
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