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November 14, 2008
G-20 Economic Summit to assess global financial crisis
The U.S. sub-prime crisis has shaken the global financial system and prompted questions about the abilities of the regulatory architecture -- known as the Bretton Woods institutions -- to monitor and balance the global financial system. To address both the current financial crisis and assess the capacity of the global regulatory system, the Group of 20, composed of world leaders, gathered in Washington, D.C. on November 15th.
During the past few months, a lot has been written about whether the Bretton Woods institutions are still relevant and have the correct mandates. The November 15th Summit was the first of what is expected to be a series of high-level meetings that are being compared to the historic Bretton Woods summit. Established in 1944 at an international summit held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, these institutions were created to manage the post-World War II global economy. Today, key governments have raised expectations that could potentially lead to changes at the Bretton Woods institutions.
Mott grantees -- supported through the Environment Program’s strategy to reform international financial institutions (IFIs) -- are keenly interested in the Group of 20 gathering held in Washington, D.C. For 20 years, grantees have monitored these institutions and advocated for changes to make them more transparent and accountable. As a way to share the insights and analyses of Mott grantees, as well as more general background information from a broad array of public information sources, the Foundation has created this space to share a collection of position papers, news articles, and other related materials.
Press clippings and background information
Grantee and other NGO Analyses and Position Papers
- Bank Information Center (media release) - The IMF is back in business
- Bank Information Center (signed by a coalition of 630 organizations from 104 countries) – New undemocratic ‘Washington Consensus’ won’t fix global crisis, state over 630 groups from 104 countries
- Bretton Woods Project (staff analysis) - G20 heads of state meeting 15th November 2008: Summary and analysis of Washington meeting
- Bretton Woods Project (Package of materials, including a seminar report, video, presentations, and background papers) - UK seminar: A coherent civil society response to the financial crisis
- The Brookings Institution (a new report by Brookings researchers) - The G-20 Financial Summit: Seven Issues at Stake
- Centre for Economic Policy Research (collection of essays edited by Barry Eichengreen and Richard Baldwin)
What G20 leaders must do to stabilize our economy and fix the financial system
- Center for Global Development (Q & A with Nancy Birdsall) - G-20 Summit and the International Financial Institutions
- Center for Global Development (by Nancy Lee, Guillermo Perry, and Nancy Birdsall) - The Age of Turbulence and Poor Countries: The Case for MDB Help with Risk Management
- Center for Economic and Policy Research (by Mark Weisbrot) - South America: Recession can be avoided [Secured author’s permission to post here.] [Spanish version]
- Corner House (by Nicholas Hildyard) – A crumbling wall of money: Financial bricolage, derivatives and power
- Corner House (by Kavaljit Singh) – Taking it private: Consequences of the global growth of private equity
- Council on Foreign Relations (by Julia Sweig and Shannon K. O’Neil) - Latin America: Not so insulated after all
- Latin American Center for Social Ecology (by Eduardo Gudynas) - After globalization cannibalizes itself [Note: This article discusses the root causes of the financial crisis and the potential impact of the crisis on Latin America. Spanish only.]
- Latin American Information Agency (by Julio Gambino) - On the Washington Summit [Spanish only]
- Latin American Information Agency (by Eduardo Gudynas) - The Crisis of market ideology and the return of environmental policy [Spanish only]
- Latin American Trade Network (by Kevin P. Gallagher) The global financial crisis and foreign direct investment in Latin America
- Oxfam America - If Not Now, When? Three actions the G20 must take now to protect the world’s poor from the economic crisis and build a new political and economic governance system
- Oxfam America - If Not Now, When? Three actions the G20 must take now to protect the world’s poor from the economic crisis and build a new political and economic governance system [Spanish only]
- World Economy, Ecology & development (WEED) (by Peter Wahl) - With Realistic Radicalism: Which approach to the upcoming era of reforms?
Links to the Web sites of three major IFIs