黑料网

黑料网 professor Ed Fogarty assesses debate from global economic perspective

Back to All Stories

While President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney jockeyed to dominate Tuesday night鈥檚 town hall style debate, political science professor paid particular attention to their positions on the international political economy, a subject he studies and teaches at 黑料网.

Fogarty noticed that while Obama and Romney both support free trade and globalization, they offered different strategies to 鈥渓evel the playing field 鈥 a time-tested phrase implying that others (especially China, a popular target) are cheating.

鈥淩omney鈥檚 plan to label China a currency manipulator looks outward for someone to blame. It is either an empty threat or one that Romney would come to regret, as the Chinese government has tremendous leverage as the owner of much of American debt,鈥 Fogarty said.

鈥淥bama鈥檚 position is more inwardly focused, applying industrial policy to promote American manufacturing 鈥 industrial policy that may well be illegal under international trade law.鈥

As for jobs in the U.S., Fogarty said that each candidate ultimately offered a 鈥渧ague strategy to create new, high-value production and employment, but only Obama, acknowledged a specific reality: that some of the jobs lost simply aren鈥檛 coming back.鈥

On the subject of the price of gasoline in the U.S., Fogarty found both candidates鈥 positions lacking.

鈥淣either Romney nor Obama gave the obvious, factual answer to the question 鈥 that the price of oil is set internationally, and responds to many other factors than supply and demand in the U.S., including the level of instability in the Middle East and economic activity (and downturns) in Europe, China, and the rest of the developing world,鈥 Fogarty said.

鈥淭he U.S. president has little control over such things, and neither wanted to admit the limits of U.S. power over oil prices.鈥

Watch Fogarty鈥檚 September 2011 video interview regarding the European Union and international monetary issues, and click for a playlist of other faculty interviews.