Almost one year after writing a book to encourage Americans to revive the U.S. economy following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Jeffrey Rosensweig, associate dean for corporate relations at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, is less optimistic about global economic recovery.
Dr. Rosensweig, an economist, said in a recent presentation at Emory’s Miller-Ward Alumni House that he was right in the short-term about the United States’ quick rebound after last year’s Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but corporate scandals, in addition to fiscal crises in Japan and Latin America, have since stymied economic recovery.
“The U.S.’s confidence last year saved the world’s economies, but now the situation is as uncertain as it’s ever been,” he said.
Barring another major terrorist attack on the U.S., however, the local and global economies will continue to recover slowly, Dr. Rosensweig asserted. He added that although his outlook for the global economy is dim, he can still remain somewhat optimistic, because capital is starting to flow back into the U.S. economy, and immigrants continue to enter the country, offering talent and labor.
In his book, “Patriotic Economics: How to Thrive While Helping America,” that was published soon after Sept. 11, Dr. Rosensweig recommended that Americans continue to buy U.S.-made products, as well as those produced by the country’s major trading partners, in order to keep the global economy afloat.
He still gives this advice, he said, as the world’s economic situation is now even more precarious.
Dr. Rosensweig said that the unprecedented series of Federal Reserve interest rate cuts last year essentially saved the world from an economic depression because it encouraged U.S. consumers to continue spending on foreign goods, thus supporting foreign economies.
Foreign investors then put wealth back into the U.S. stock markets, buoyed by American investors’ confidence that rebounded shortly after Sept. 11. This raised the value of the dollar as well as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Dr. Rosensweig said.
But now, U.S. and foreign investors have lost confidence in some of the country’s largest corporations. And selling goods “even in our own hemisphere” is difficult, he said, because consumers throughout the Americas are struggling under economic uncertainty or even financial crisis, as is the case in Argentina, for example.
President Bush’s tax cuts have not been helpful to the U.S. nor global economy, Dr. Rosensweig added, because they benefited wealthier people who tended to save their extra money, whereas the less fortunate would have been more likely to spend their tax savings and stimulate the economy.
Contact Dr. Rosensweig at (404) 727-6360 or j@globalguru.com