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The economic crisis and the reform of financial markets

Jesús Caldera - Stephany Griffith-Jones - Jeffrey Sachs -André Sapir - Nicholas Stern - Joseph Stiglitz

There is wide consensus today on the need to reform international financial markets. The financial sector has been the main factor leading to the current global economic crisis, which originated in the US financial system, to later spread across countries worldwide, finally turning into a crisis of the real economy, with a particular negative impact on Europe.

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The deficits of the EU financial reforms, by SOMO

Almost one year after financial market turmoil triggered
a financial and economic crisis in the countries of the
European Union (EU), many reforms of the financial sector
are still not in place and destabilising practices are continuing.
Political agreements at several high-level international and
European meetings still need to become legally binding
through EU directives and the subsequent incorporation
into national laws. Will the financial sector reforms currently
proposed at the EU level guarantee financial stability and
protect the real economy from financial speculators?
More importantly, will they create financial instruments at
the service of the public interest and sustainable societies,
and tackle the systemic causes that also are related to
the food, environmental and poverty crisis?

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POLITICS AND MARKETS: THE BREAKUP

Three years ago, the mother of all crises broke out ferociously. We still do not know how to explain it, but we are suffering its impact. Economic impact: recession and financial turmoil, together with major sacrifices due to fiscal adjustments, as unavoidable as they are unpopular. Social impact: rampant unemployment (especially among young people) and loss of purchasing power among the middle and lower classes. Political impact: the deep-rooted feeling that markets are governing politics and not the other way round.

The main conquest of the post-war 20th century was the Welfare State. The socio-economic pact—and the political pact made widespread by social democracy—underpinning the Welfare State for more than fifty years had national regulatory instruments. Mainly, public expenditure and progressive taxation.Financial globalization has broken that mould.

By Diego López Garrido

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Wall Street and the Financial Crisis: Anatomy of a Financial Collapse.

Senate Investigations Subcommittee Releases Levin-Coburn Report On the Financial Crisis.

Concluding a two-year bipartisan investigation, Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Senator Tom Coburn M.D., R-Okla., Chairman and Ranking Republican on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, today released a 635-page final report (PDF, 6MB) on their inquiry into key causes of the financial crisis. The report catalogs conflicts of interest, heedless risk-taking and failures of federal oversight that helped push the country into the deepest recession since the Great Depression.

A Systemic Approach to Financial Regulation: A European Perspective by Michel Aglietta and Laurence Scialom, June 2009 (FEPS)

Europeans and Americans for Financial Reforms: Summary of Financial Regulation Proposals by Sony Kapoor, September 2009 (FEPS)

Assessment of the Proposed AIFM Directive and Further Proposals for a Comprehensive Legal Framework, September 2009 (FEPS)

10 Priorities for 2009-2014: Deliverables for the new European Parliament and new European Commission (SOLIDAR)

The Economic Crisis and its Impact on Developing Countries (SOLIDAR)

More documents

Documents on the financial transaction tax

Documents On the regulation of Credit Rating agencies

Documents of our food regulation campaign

Documents on Managing Future Crises

Documents related to the regulation of Bonuses and remuneration

Documents on other financial regulation issues