Created by the implosion of the US financial system, the last of the “bubbles” – that of the housing market – is the culmination of over a decade of shortsighted American monetary policies and an inadequate monitoring system. The situation is particularly grave, with forecasts that world growth will fall from 5% in 2007 to little more than 1% in 2009. As yet, it is not possible to predict how long the recession will last.
The Conference discussion focused on the overall international scenario that may emerge after the worst of the economic crisis has passed. A fundamental question arises concerning the nature of the restructure currently in progress. Does it represent a new paradigm for global capitalism or, less ambitiously, is it just a partial reorganization based on more cautious attitudes and expectations?
The participants at this roundtable were deeply critical of the lack of transparency in the international financial system, the product of an out-of-control laissez-faire capitalism and a global lex mercatoria that has swept aside traditional capitalist organizational forms and the regulatory functions of public authorities.
The discussions at this roundtable event got underway with the acknowledgement that the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) is an indicator which provides a snapshot of a country’s investment attractiveness and its competitiveness.
At the May 2009 Aspen Seminars for Leaders, leading representatives from financial institutions and public authorities discussed the financial crisis and the emerging challenges in the structure and dynamics of international financial markets.
The financial markets are in great difficulty and the world economy is going through troubled times. The current crisis has brought about profound social and cultural change. Never in the past have people and nations with histories and cultures so diverse expressed the same desire for certainty and called for a shared system of rules.
