The failed WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancún could prove to be a watershed for the global trade system. After this debacle, the WTO faces an uncertain future. The United States are unabashedly pointing out the alternatives, in particular bilateral free trade agreements. If a plethora of new...

Liberalization of international capital transactions has increased the options available to investors. Today the local bank is no longer the only place to keep money; savers can choose between a wealth of options in international financial markets. One side-effect of the internationalization of...

The World Trade Organization, the WTO, was established more than 10 years ago and at first glance the utility of this multilateral organization is beyond question. Since 1996 it has added 35 new member states and an additional 30 countries are preparing for membership. At the same time, however,...

The model of a largely unregulated banking and financial services industry subject only to loose controls has been discredited by the current crisis. The American government sees itself obliged to put together rescue packages worth billions of dollars to prevent the collapse of the financial...

Since the world financial crisis gained momentum in recent weeks, politicians have developed a surprising level of activity, considering that OECD-countries have been ignoring the problems in international finance for years. Neither the large capital flows to the United States nor the weakening...

The members of the European Union could use the current crisis as an opportunity to exert considerable influence over future restructuring of the financial markets. How-ever, they can only do this if their crisis management transcends national boundaries. But since the crisis deepened in...

On 2 April, the leaders of the G20 will meet in London to discuss reforms of the inter-national financial architecture and to agree on co-ordinated measures to deal with the global economic crisis. EU countries have already made suggestions concerning the future stabilisation of financial...

A good year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the heads of state and government of the G20 meet in Pittsburgh at the end of September 2009. Amidst signs of global economic recovery - astonishingly fast in the eyes of many observers - the focus is shifting away from acute crisis management...

The financial crisis that hit Greece in early 2010 has demonstrated a fundamental weakness in the construction of the eurozone. The assumption that the criteria of Maastricht for fiscal policy would be sufficient to exclude liquidity crises has been proven false. The eurozone needs a lender of...

Even after the successful restructuring of Greek's sovereign debt in March 2012, most economic problems of the country remain unsolved. The non-competitive economy of the EU member country requires a comprehensive transformation. Many observers agree that a fundamental restructuring of the Greek...