Peterson Institute for International Economics

The Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics is an independent think-tank that provides the type of strategic assessment that is needed to develop better worldwide trade and financial relationships. All nations depend on trade for stable societies through stable economies and many have unique situations in terms of resources. Issues between nations can be complicated.

Established in 1981 as the Institute for International Economics, the name was changed in 2006 to its present form and has only had one director in its history. The driving force behind the think-tank is C. Fred Bergsten. The institute is known for being consistently politically neutral and ahead of the curve regarding international economic issues

In addition, Bergsten is also a member of the invitation-only Trilateral Commission. The Trilateral Commission is the elite supra-governmental organization in the world and the members are a unique collection of political and academic experts. The Trilateral Commission was formed in 1973, eight years prior to the Institute for International Economics.

The Peterson Institute for International Economics has been a major contributor to international trade policy since its beginning. In the area of trade, they have provided intellectual underpinning for the development of organizations such as the World Trade Organization and policies such as the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, which is a treaty among the nations of North America that makes the entire region a non-tariff zone.

The institute is not necessarily limited to trade initiatives. Where there is trade, there is also finance. They have provided academic guidance for changes in the International Monetary Fund, instituting new international banking regulations during the G-20 summit in 2009-10. The institute's current primary agenda is in the global financial crisis and developing initiatives to circumvent further erosion. They are addressing international trade imbalances and currency relationships between nations and regions. Its members cover all areas of the globe and focus on all levels of trade agreement. They are not just limited to multilateral agreements.

The Peterson Institute for International Economics is a nonprofit nonpartisan organization that operates on a $10 million budget. The institute's funding is procured from various charities, corporations, and individual donors. The institute consists of 50 members from across the globe, two of which are sharing joint appointments with the Center for Global Development. Armind Subramanien and William R. Cline are both senior fellows at the Peterson Institute. Subramanien is an Indian national and also a senior research professor at the Johns Hopkins University. He has taught at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, along with being widely published in many academic and professional journals.

A graduate of Princeton University and Yale University, William R. Cline has been a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics since its inception in 1981, just as Bergsten. He has also been an associate professor at Princeton University and a deputy director of the Brookings Institute, along with working for the US Treasury in the early 1970s.

The Peterson Institute for International Economics has been instrumental in helping form trade policy around the world during the past 30 years. They publish at least one long professional publication each month addressing pertinent trade issues and have influenced several US free trade agreements, including agreements with Korea and China separate from NAFTA. Implementing its website as a publication platform, the Peterson Institute for International Economics has an extensive archive of research publications on virtually every trade and financial issue across the globe.

The Peterson Institute, from a free-market standpoint, represents the very worst of "insider politics" by consistently advocating free-market solutions that include government involvement and regulation at all levels. Additionally, the Peterson Institute's implicit endorsement of the world's central banking economy only covers up the real problems inherent in the price fixing of money and the endless distortion of the larger global economy that leads to ruinous monetary and fiscal results.