Globalisation and Finance at the Crossroads

Globalisation and the governance of the international financial system have arrived at the crossroads, where either a coherent level playing field for the cross-border activities of banks and multinational enterprises is settled upon, or the risk of another crisis will build up again. This book will explore the underlying problems alongside inconsistent economic and financial trends as a guide for researchers, advanced students and professionals to think about the interconnectedness of the factors involved. Readers will gain insights drawn from recent developments in economic theory and empirical research—a toolkit to help them in their future careers in economics and finance—illustrated with an analysis of the 2008 crisis and its aftermath. 

Adrian Blundell-Wignall is Adjunct Professor at the University of Sydney (School of Economics), and the former Director of Financial and Enterprise Affairs at the OECD (and special advisor to the OECD's Secretary General). He is an Australian citizen and obtained a PhD in Economics from Cambridge University, UK. He is the author of extensive publications on financial markets and monetary policy in learned journals and books. Prior to the OECD he was Head of Research Department at the Reserve Bank of Australia, and spent 15 years working in financial markets, most of it as a portfolio manager and Head of Asset Allocation at BT Funds Management in Sydney. He is founder and chairman of The Anika Foundation that raises and invests an endowment fund to provide research scholarships into the issue of adolescent depression and suicide.

Paul Atkinson is a former Deputy Director of the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry and for many years editor of OECD Economic Outlook. He is a US national who received his Ph.D. from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom.  He has worked extensively on international macroeconomic, monetary and financial issues at the New Zealand Treasury and the Institute of International Finance as well as the OECD, where he continues to act as a consultant on an intermittent basis.

Caroline Roulet is an economist and analyst in the OECD Directorate of Financial and Enterprise Affairs. She is a French national who received her Ph.D. from University of Limoges in France. She is working extensively on international finance, banking and corporate finance issues. 

“It now seems to be commonly believed that post crisis  regulatory reforms have made a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis extremely unlikely. In this book, it is convincingly argued that this belief is not only wrong but dangerously wrong. “Still more of the same” regulatory tinkering is not the key to financial stability. Rather, the authors conclude that more fundamental reform is required, with their specific proposals amply supported by both compelling logic and solid empirical analysis. Above all, the book succeeds admirably in mounting a significant challenge to the current complacency. What if their views are right? ” (William White, former Chief Economist of the Bank for International Settlements, UK)

“An excellent analysis of the financial crisis of 2008 by authors equipped to look broadly at the forces at work and focus deeply on the critical factors.  The questions they raise concerning how far we have removed ourselves from the risk of a repeat are sobering, and their proposals for dealing more effectively with systemic risk than policymakers have to date are worth careful consideration.” (Jeffrey R Shafer, former vice Chairman of Citigroup’s Global Banking and Head of Economic and Political Strategies, USA)