In The News

Globalization and the New Nationalism Collide

Philip Stephens October 29, 2008
The global financial crisis has exposed mutual interdependence and the need for multilateral rules. Leaders like Gordon Brown, Nicolas Sarkozy and George Bush plan international meetings, including leaders from emerging economies, and talk of the need for international regulations. Contradicting the internationalist spirit is nationalistic talk – opposition to foreign investment, immigration or...

Missing Links: After the Fall

Moisés Naím October 27, 2008
The attacks of 9/11 were a watershed event in the institutional makeup of US and global security institutions. The push for rejecting old, seemingly outdated frameworks, explains Foreign Policy editor Moisés Naím, helped lead to the Iraq War, in addition to "the Guantánamo Bay prison, the erosion of civil liberties, disdain for the Geneva Conventions, and the belittling of mechanisms...

How the US Financial Crisis Might Affect Kenya

Ochieng Rapuro October 20, 2008
The fallout of the US financial crisis has already spread to Europe's banks, and developing countries like Kenya also speculate on how the crisis could affect their welfare. Reporting for Kenya's Business Daily, Ochieng Rapuro and Jenny Luesby note that the nation’s banking sector is mostly insulated from foreign finance. In Kenya, concern centers on the increasingly likely chance that...

Chronicle of a Disaster Foretold

Ernesto Zedillo October 15, 2008
Low interest rates and plenty of credit in recent years created a housing bubble with the attendant risk. Investment banks divided the loans into complex financial packages, many labeled as safe and even insured. But the investments were safe only as long as housing prices continued to climb. “Once again the markets forget that financial innovations are likely to be underpriced and therefore...

Icelandic Shoppers Splurge as Currency Woes Reduce Food Imports

Chad Thomas October 14, 2008
Three major Icelandic banks have collapsed, raising uncertainty about Iceland’s currency and ability to repay loans. Inventories of goods, including food and clothing, are shrinking. The island nation must import most food and other products, while the “government has asked banks to prioritize foreign currency transactions for essentials such as food, drugs and oil,” explains Chad Thomas,...

How to Capitalize the Banks and Save Finance

George Soros October 13, 2008
The US quickly approved devoting at least $700 billion to rescue the nation’s financial system. The steps for recapitalizing banks must be well structured and highly transparent, suggests financier and philanthropist George Soros in the Financial Times. Soros offers specific recommendations: ordering bank supervisors to estimate how much capital is needed to meet required levels and reveal plans...

Globalizing the Crisis Response

C. Fred Bergsten October 13, 2008
Regulation of finance has long been a responsibility for nations, but with the current global crisis, governments quickly learned they cannot escape a global credit freeze. Banks struggle to survive, some nations are already in recession and developing countries can anticipate reduced exports and problems ahead. The global nature of the crisis calls out for a global response, argue C. Fred...