The dilemma facing policymakers is how to combine the instruments they have available in the form of fiscal, monetary and exchange rate policy to achieve the targets of internal and external balance. Shortly before the global economic and financial crisis in 2008 most economies appeared to be...

To some, the G20 offers a representative, legitimate and effective forum for dealing with global economic issues, and represents a distinct improvement on the G8. To others it is seen as still lacking full legitimacy and as being an unlikely institutional vehicle for organising global economic...

The concept of ‘currency wars’ has come into popular use in recent years. This article examines various meanings of the phrase and its historical antecedents. It goes on to discuss why currency wars have become the focus of attention and the economic policy weapons that may be used...

The global reserve system has returned to the top of the agenda in debates about international monetary reform. Much of the contemporary discussion draws on familiar issues but it has been given a new relevance in the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008/09. One particular focus...

The financial and economic crisis in Greece in 2009/2010 has reawakened interest in the future of the euro and the eurozone. After briefly explaining its sources, this article focuses on the longer-term issues to which the crisis gives rise. It explores the underlying weaknesses of current...

The world economy has been experiencing a period of great and dramatic change. In part this has been associated with the rapid emergence of China, the BRICs and other newly industrialising economies. Evolution in the world economy is quickly changing the structure of global output and trade. It...

From a position some years ago where the euro was seen as set to challenge the dollar as the world’s leading currency, there are now serious concerns that the ongoing Eurozone crisis will lead to some countries eventually withdrawing from it, beginning a process of European monetary...

Following the global financial and economic crisis, and beginning in mid-2009, there has been a surge of capital into Asian and Latin American emerging economies. While capital inflows have a good side, they also have a bad side. This will be particularly pertinent when the increase in inflows...

From being widely seen in early 2008 as an institution in decline and irrelevant to many of the problems then facing the world economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has more recently been presented as an international financial institution that is of essential importance in the...