Barry Eichengreen’s paper pushed me to take a different look at the crisis and I encourage everyone to read the paper carefully . I will separate these very brief remarks into three parts . First, I will review his basic observations, concentrating on what I see as his more novel points . Next I will present one picture that informs my thinking on the role of global imbalances in the crisis . F...

Two prominent American specialists on the Russian economy present a fundamental analysis of basic economic factors explaining how the global financial crisis has played out in Russia and its implications for the country’s future. More specifically, the authors examine the consequences of Russia’s dependence on and addiction to resource (oil and gas) rents and of the management system put in pla...

This paper discusses recent steps China has taken to open its capital account and presents empirical evidence on asset market linkages between China and Asia. We find only weak crosscountry linkages in longer-term interest rates, but much stronger linkages in equity markets. Moreover, we find that the strength of the correlation of equity prices changes between China and other Asia countries in...

This paper examines two interrelated aspects of Asian economic dynamism and the management of external shocks, in the context of outward foreign direct investment (FDI) from developing East Asia. Outward FDI from these economies has been growing rapidly, driven by deeper economic integration, more open FDI regimes, growing technological and financial sophistication, and rising savings levels. T...

Gordon Clark is surely right when he declares that ‘people are often unable to conceptualize immediate circumstances against market forces that operate beyond the boundaries of current experience and at levels or scales that appear abstract rather than material to the interests of those involved’. In this commentary, I claim that the description of the interactions between behavioral predisposi...

Longitudinal data collected between 2005 and 2009, i.e., before and during the outset of the Global Financial Crisis, is analyzed to investigate the interplay of trajectories of perceived demands in the domains of work and family. Quadratic latent growth curve models were used to mimic the increase of demands in N = 1,296 young adults from Germany as structural uncertainty increased in the seco...

In June 2008 Justin Yifu Lin was appointed chief economist of the World Bank, right before the eruption of the worst global financial and economic crisis since theGreat Depression. Drawing on experience from his privileged position, Lin offers unique reflections on the cause of the crisis, why it was so serious and widespread, and its likely evolution. Arguing that conventional theories provide...

Recently, a heated debate has emerged in the economic literature, focusing on the major factors driving the global financial crisis. Among the many theories proposed, the global saving glut hypothesis is widely received, yet highly controversial. This paper provides evidence to further assess the validity of the global saving glut assumption. According to the empirical and historical evidence p...

In this article, we interrogate the policy response of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to the global financial crisis, and discuss the likely global health implications, especially in low-income countries. In doing so, we ask if the IMF has meaningfully loosened its fiscal deficit targets in light of the economic challenges posed by the financial crisis and adjusted its macro-economic pol...