Cracks in the System: Repairing the Damaged Global Economy

Olivier Blanchard
The global economy is facing its worst crisis in 60 years, triggering fears of a long, deep recession. The task ahead is to design new rules and institutions to reduce systemic risks without stifling innovation.

Preventing Future Crises

Noel Sacasa
The financial crisis has exposed the limits of the current regulatory and supervisory frameworks. The four priorities for reforming the financial sector—which include reducing systemic risks—are spelled out.

A Crisis to Remember

Mohamed A. El-Erian
The financial system will not reset to what it looked like just a year ago, and the longer-term impact will change the fundamentals of the world economy. All this accentuates the need for urgent and bold modernization of the multilateral framework.

The Crisis through the Lens of History

Charles Collyns
The most important lesson from every financial crisis since the Great Depression is to act early, to act aggressively, and to act comprehensively to deal with financial strains. The priority must be to quench the fire, even if unorthodox measures are needed.

Stockholm Solutions

Stefan Ingves and Göran Lind
Sweden and other Nordic countries went through systemic financial crises in the early 1990s. A crucial lesson from the Nordic experience is the need for prominent state involvement in crisis resolution through restructuring and asset value protection.

The Road to Recovery: A View from Japan

Kenneth Kang and Murtaza Syed
Japan's financial crisis a decade and a half ago evokes an unmistakable sense of déjà vu amid the current turmoil. Japan's story shows that here is nothing like a crisis to bring to light—and build popular support for—much-needed reforms.

The Catch-Up Game

Michael Spence and Mahmoud Mohieldin served on a panel of policymakers and academics that looked at what it takes to generate sustained high economic growth rates. Archana Kumar asked them what makes countries grow, in good times and bad.

F&D on Financial Crisis Origins

The June 2008 issue of F&D examined the origins of the crisis and how it spread. See particularly A Crisis of Confidence ... and a Lot More and Outbreak: U.S. Subprime Contagion. Banking on More Capital looks at the capital adequacy rules for the banking system.

When Crises Collide

Stijn Claessens, M. Ayhan Kose, and Marco E. Terrones
Earlier episodes of recessions, crunches, and busts are sobering, suggesting that recessions following the current financial crisis may be more costly because they are likely to take place alongside simultaneous credit crunches and asset price busts.

Global Financial Turmoil Tests Asia

Kenneth Kang and Jacques Miniane
Any hope that Asia would escape the global financial crisis has by now evaporated. How Asia withstands the shock of both slower world growth and a spreading financial crisis is critical not only for the region, but for the world as a whole.

Ensuring Food Security

Maros Ivanic and Will Martin
Agricultural trade reform in developing countries can help improve food security by reducing the cost of food to poor people. But trade policy must be complemented by other measures to ensure sufficient food is available.

Neighborly Investments

Mahmoud Mohieldin
Gulf oil producers are investing petrodollars in other Middle East countries—a trend that should continue even as oil prices fall, as Gulf states have learned from previous bad experiences and become more strategic about investing their wealth.

Nigeria's Shot at Redemption

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Nigeria squandered its oil windfall of the 1970s, which led to three decades of economic stagnation. The new oil boom of the last few years has given oil-exporting developing countries a rare shot at redemption.

The Economic Geography of Regional Integration

Uwe Deichmann and Indermit Gill
Regional integration means much more than preferential trade access between neighbors. If it includes steps such as infrastructure investment and labor market liberalization, regional trade integration helps connect developing countries to world markets.