Beggar-thy-neighbour banking
Export credit agencies are an enduring instrument of mercantilism
FOR most of its 80 years, America’s Export-Import Bank has laboured in obscurity, providing loans, loan guarantees and credit insurance to foreign buyers of American products from jumbo jets to quiche. All of a sudden, it is in the spotlight: Tea Party conservatives have declared it to be the embodiment of corporate welfare. Republicans are threatening to block reauthorisation of the bank when its mandate expires on September 30th.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Beggar-thy-neighbour banking”
From the July 5th 2014 edition
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