Macroeconomy & Globalization

Shifting Sands   Global Finance takes a long, hard look at the prospects for the coming decade.   By Dan Keeler   The first decade of the 21st century began with the spectacular and painful collapse of the dot-com bubble ...

Europe/Global   By Anita Hawser   Trouble ahead: Delegates failed to secure a binding treaty in Copenhagen In mid-December political leaders, environmental scientists, NGOs and lobbyists converged on Copenhagen to try to hammer out a global agreement on climate change. ...

Far from collapsing under the weight of the recent financial crisis, the biggest emerging markets are powering the next wave of global growth.   By Laurence Neville   In its July World Economic Update,the International Monetary Fund said that the ...

Recent financial turmoil has accelerated the seismic shifts taking place in the balance of global economic and political power. How the major powers act in the coming years will determine the future shape of globalization. BY LAURENCE NEVILLE The global ...

  AFRICA IN A SQUEEZE   By Paula Green     Africa faces an uncertain future as its key economies suffer multiple setbacks and the global slump threatens to constrict the flow of investment. By Paula L. Green   Being ...

  The G-20 meeting in London in April was groundbreaking for the scale of the resources committed to the IMF and the unity of a diverse group of nations to combat global recession. But the legacy of the G-20 will ...

LATIN AMERICA Once considered relatively immune to the global economic slump, Latin America is facing hard times as commodity prices crumble, trade dwindles and Venezuela’s oil-funded regional largess begins to dry up.     On a roller coaster ride: Wild ...

DEFLATION   US policymakers have already braced themselves for a bout of deflation, and many corporations are quaking at the prospect of price declines. Some are wondering, though, how bad can it really get?     That the global economy, ...

MARKET REPORT CARBON TRADING Barack Obama’s support for carbon trading will help strengthen an already growing market.       Schleimer: The Clean Air Act could be used to regulate greenhouse gases Bolstered by Europe’s legislative advances to tackle climate ...

THE NEW PROTECTIONISTS As countries seek to safeguard their economies from the effects of the global downturn, they risk being accused of protectionism. The fall-out could be ugly.   When US president-elect Barack Obama sailed to victory in the November ...

GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS     Bernanke: Has slashed Fed rate to record lows. Central banks around the world dug deeply into their ammunition dumps and unleashed a volley of outsized rate cuts in December, hoping to keep their economies from ...

THE DECOUPLING DEBATE Proponents of the theory that emerging markets are decoupling from the West’s economies have had a tough year. Their vision may yet be coming true, though.   If the United States sneezes, the rest of the world ...

ANNUAL REPORT Emerging markets didn’t start this fire, but they may be the best hope for putting it out.   The global financial crisis was clearly stamped “Made in USA,” but the outlook for growth in emerging economies is being ...

  CAPITALIZING ON THE CRISIS RETURN OF THE IMF As crippled nations beat a path to its door, the IMF is enjoying a dramatic return from near-irrelevance. How it wields its revived power and influence will determine its long-term future. ...

GLOBAL       Brown: A vocal advocate for global financial regulation. After the recent meeting of the Group of 20 countries in Washington, DC, in mid-November, the likelihood of the creation of a new, more international regulatory system for ...

FOCUS / ECONOMIC NATIONALISM As if the global credit squeeze were not enough, multinationals, particularly in the commodities industries, are also facing a surge in resource nationalism.   Horne: Companies are investing in riskier areas. Fueled in part by soaring ...

GREEN FINANCE   Despite the drumbeat of headlines about the troubled banking and finance industries, one area is coming up green.       With global financial markets languishing in the doldrums, “green financing” is emerging as a key lever ...

LESSONS FROM EUROPE   Corporate comprehension of the benefits of going green is far more advanced in Europe than in the US. But America’s businesses could easily catch up.   Stark differences: Europe and the US have taken very different ...

CENTRAL BANKERS PERSPECTIVES     Central bankers deserve much of the credit for the financial world’s ability to ride out tumultuous market conditions. Global Finance asked the central bankers who were awarded “A” grades in our recent central banker report ...

A NEW DAWN     “O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world That has such people in’t!” —William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Act V, Scene I.       From the ...