Thinking the unthinkable – The global financial crisis as an opportunity for transformative and systemic change?
The role of the UN in addressing the crisis - Recommendations from the UN Commission of Experts
Dr. José Antonio Ocampo, Director, Program in Economic and Political Development, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University and member of the Commission of Experts of the President of the UN General Assembly on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System.
Impacts of the crisis and expanding the agenda for change
Jomo K. Sundaram, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations
Causes of, and responses to, the global financial crisis
Chuck Freedman, Co-Director, Centre for Monetary and Financial Economics, Carleton University.
Thinking the unthinkable – The global financial crisis as an opportunity for transformative and systemic change?
Welcome and introduction to the panel.
Moderator: Kari Polanyi Levitt, Emerita Professor of Economics, McGill University
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| KEY NOTE: Thinking the unthinkable – The global financial crisis as an opportunity for transformative and systemic change? | Podcast | |
| Causes of, and responses to, the global financial crisis - Chuck Freedman, Co-Director, Centre for Monetary and Financial Economics, Carleton University |
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Since September 2008, when the financial crisis took on global dimensions, the Group of Twenty has met three times at the level of Heads of State, and with a seeminly impressive array of commitments on tax issues, emergency finance, trade finance, global governance, regulating private capital, and redefining new roles for existing and new global institutions. But what is missing in their response to the global crisis? Who are the real winners and losers? What has really changed, and what hasn't? And are the levels of change commensurate with the tectonic shifts taking place in the global economy and with the degree of impact on the ground? Perhaps more importantly, are these the type of changes to ensure a crisis like this never happens again? What: What's missing in the response ot the global financial crisis? Who: Organized by the Halifax Initiative Coalition; co-hosted by The North-South Institute and the University of Ottawa. When: October 19 - 20, 2009. Why: The conference will look at current responses to the financial crisis, identify where those responses are falling short, and propose some policy alternatives ahead of Canada hosting the Group of Eight Summit in 2010. |
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Introduction
When US financial powerhouse Lehman Brothers collapsed last fall, the world saw the start of an unprecedented collapse in global stock markets, bringing with it the loss of billions of dollars of investment around the world and severely shaking the foundations of the international banking system. Gloomy economic forecasts, a loss of investor confidence, and mass capital flight have all contributed to the worsening of the current global financial crisis. A decade ago, a similar situation unfolded in East Asia when market speculation sparked investors to pull out billions of dollars of capital, inflating debt and destabilizing markets in the region. In response, the Chiang Mai Initiative emerged in an effort to protect Asian markets from future crises. But has it stood up to today’s global economic collapse? And is an Asian Monetary Fund on the horizon? This brief explores these, and other, issues.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44504
FINANCE: NGOs Call for Radical Reforms as IMF Offers New Loans
By Jim Lobe
World Social Forum - Porto Alegre - Jan 25-30, 2001
Robin Round
Policy Analyst
Halifax Initiative Coalition
We use money everyday. Money is a tool; a means to simplify transactions in an economy based on the exchange of goods and services. But the way most of us use money is old fashioned, out of date. Money is no longer a means of exchange but an end in itself. We live in the era of the commodification of money, an era where money has become divorced from the real economy it was originally designed to serve.
