In The News

Drawing the Wrong Lessons

Shashi Tharoor October 14, 2008
Some leaders from poor nations gloat about the global credit crisis and point fingers of blame at liberal, open-market policies. “In India, the debate between capitalist globalization and self-reliance required a huge paradigm shift,” writes Shashi Tharoor for the International Herald Tribune, noting that while the West associates capitalism with freedom, nations like India associate it with...

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,...

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...

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...

Global Crisis: How Far to Go? Part III

Scott B. MacDonald October 13, 2008
As profits surge, financial players eschew government intervention, but crave rescue as problems emerge. Public confidence in banks around the globe could make a cautious comeback, after the UK-led massive semi-nationalization of banks with "equity injection." This YaleGlobal series explores the global financial crisis, detailing how US troubles over mortgage-backed securities and the...

Global Crisis: How Far to Go? Part II

Manu Bhaskaran October 10, 2008
Speed of transportation and communication that characterize today’s global supply chain requires trust and flow of credit along the many steps: But now consumers worry about the future of their jobs, retailers and manufacturers worry about sales, suppliers worry about orders and lenders clutch to their reserves of cash. In the second article of the YaleGlobal series addressing the repercussions...

The World's Most Utterly Failed State

October 10, 2008
Piracy is one of the oldest legacies of globalization; as goods are traded among increasingly connected peoples, others carve their place in the global economy by disrupting trade and stealing what they can on the high seas. Since the end of its "Golden Age" in the 1800s, piracy has taken on a largely nostalgic role in pop culture and travel attractions in the West, but remains a...