Beyond Globalization

The former Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, once said that “banks are global in life, and national in death.” Nearly a decade after the onset of the Global Financial Crisis, international financial markets have roared back, but many national economies are still struggling. The top-heavy recovery has caused rolling regional political and humanitarian crises, prompting renewed criticism of the Washington Consensus model of privatization, deregulation, and austerity.

This seminar explores the relationship between domestic and global economic conditions, and the role of national policymaking in structuring the international financial system. Questions to be addressed include:

• What is necessary or desirable for sustainable economic development - Monetary sovereignty? Foreign investment? Export-led growth?
• What are the major determinants of cross-border capital flows?
• What is the role of transnational regulation, especially with respect to labor and the environment?
• Under what conditions, if any, is “free trade” desirable?