Archive

what have we learned from the crisis and what should we have learned?

Simon Johnson, Professor at MIT and former chief economist of the IMF, calls for much higher capital requirements for big banks.

How could reputable ratings agencies – and investment banks – misjudge things so badly?

Five years after the collapse of the U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers, the world has still not addressed the fundamental cause of the subsequent financial crisis – an excess of debt. And that is why economic recovery has progressed much more slowly than anyone expected (in some countries, it has not come at all).

What have we learned about the American political economy from the crisis and its aftermath?

What happens when professionals lose touch with the people they’re supposed to serve?

Ronald Coase, who passed away last week at age 102, spent his academic career swimming against the current.

What’s behind rapidly worsening inequality in the United States?

What was the political dynamic driving post-crisis economic policy?

Let Them Eat Credit: Has Financial Capitalism Failed the World?

Can China lead the way on innovation?

Can China lead the way on innovation?

Economic theories that have been predominant over the past few decades have broken down, and we now have to start creating a new economics that reflects the realities of today.

Every nation faces the challenge of imagining what a good life means. Sound nutrition, shelter, health care, personal safety, social stability, security of savings, clean air and water, and the development of children are among the elements of what many envision as vital to a happy and healthy society.

The global financial cycle has transformed the well-known trilemma into a ‘dilemma’. Independent monetary policies are possible if and only if the capital account is managed directly or indirectly. This column argues the right policies to deal with the ‘dilemma’ should aim at curbing excessive leverage and credit growth. A combination of macroprudential policies guided by aggressive stress‐testing and tougher leverage ratios are needed. Some capital controls may also be useful.