Prize or Penalty

Jeremy Clift
Sports events like the soccer World Cup stimulate trade around the world and spotlight the host country.

Is It Worth It?

Andrew Zimbalist
Hosting the Olympic Games and other mega sporting events is an honor many countries aspire to—but why?

The Olympic Trade Effect

Andrew K. Rose and Mark M. Spiegel
Countries that bid for the Olympics are sending a signal that they are ready to open up trade.

A Lucky Start

Shekhar Aiyar and Rodney Ramcharan
If life is like cricket, then the luck of a good first job matters a lot in a successful career.

Also in This Issue

Viewpoint: Challenge of the Century

Alex Bowen, Mattia Romani, and Nicholas Stern
Climate change is about market failure on a global scale: it must be resolved together with debt and global economic imbalances, with the IMF playing a major role.

Opaque Trades

Randall Dodd
Not all financial innovations increase efficiency. High-frequency trading, flash trades, and dark pools are three with questionable effects.

Perils of Ponzis

Hunter Monroe, Ana Carvajal, and Catherine Pattillo
Regulators need to stop Ponzi schemes before they gain momentum, especially in developing countries.

Inflation Targeting Turns 20

Scott Roger
A growing number of countries are making a specific inflation rate the primary goal of monetary policy—with success—20 years after New Zealand introduced the practice.

South Africa's Economy and the Soccer World Cup

After the Crisis

Avoiding Protectionism

Christian Henn and Brad McDonald
So far the world has resisted widespread resort to trade measures, but the hardest part may be yet to come.

Differential Impact

Pelin Berkmen, Gaston Gelos, Robert Rennhack, and James P. Walsh
Why some countries, mostly in eastern Europe and central Asia, were hit harder than others by the global crisis.

Their Cup Spilleth Over

Trung Bui and Tamim Bayoumi
The U.S. and U.K. financial market crises had a spillover effect on the rest of the world, which explains the synchronized global slowdown.

A Tale of Two Regions

Jorge Ivan Canales-Kriljenko, Brahima Coulibaly, and Herman Kamil
Foreign-bank lending to emerging markets during the global crisis differed from continent to continent. This might explain why Latin America was not hit as hard by the crisis as other emerging markets.

Big Bad Bonuses?

Steven N. Kaplan defends bankers' bonuses; Simon Johnson says they are a symptom of a bigger problem—reckless risk taking by big financial players.

Should Bankers Get Their Bonuses?
Steven N. Kaplan

Bonuses and the “Doom Cycle”
Simon Johnson

Learning from the Past

May Khamis and Abdelhak Senhadji
Countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council confronted the global financial crisis from a position of strength, allowing them to weather economic setbacks both in Dubai and worldwide.

Housing Prices: More Room to Fall?

Prakash Loungani
From a historical perspective, it is not the trend but the volatility in housing prices that is distinctive. House prices in many countries still have room to fall.