The Obama administration has, however, introduced a new concept too big to be financially restructured.

Were the measures taken two weeks ago to shore up the financial system simply wrong?

First, the measures put in place earlier to repair the financial system must be refined and consolidated.

Fiscal austerity, while necessary, means a deeper recession in the short term.

Moreover, what little action has been taken has been aimed at shoring up the financial system.

Alternatives to a debt restructuring are fast disappearing.

Greece is struggling to breathe, and European austerity measures are deeply unpopular.

In addition, appropriate mechanisms and institutional arrangements should be established for adaptation, financial support and technology transfer.

Initial conditions matter in economic restructuring

The Lethal Deferral of Greek Debt Restructuring

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, the United Nations Commission of Experts on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System urged that we design an efficient and fair system for the restructuring of sovereign debt.

The safe assumption is that it will kiss good bye to any thought of further financial opening or restructuring and, instead, move sharply into reverse.

Waiting to restructure unsustainable debts would only lead to disorderly workouts and severe haircuts for some private creditors.

Calls for immediate debt restructuring went unheeded.

A country drowning in debt needs debt restructuring.

Vol.

It makes no sense for banks to foreclose on homes when there are workout options whereby people could stay in their homes and banks could recover far more money.

The lesson that confidence building measures averted a crash in 2000 was precisely the lesson that the financial system did not need to learn.

The very mention of debt restructuring was considered inadmissible and a cause for ridiculing those of us who dared suggest its inevitability.

Engineering Financial Stability

The Mirage of the Financial Singularity

But, as we know from experience, there is life after debt restructuring.

Transitional measures

Take action.

Take action.

The whole point of restructuring was to discharge debt and make the remainder more manageable. If the bonds were acceptable as collateral before the restructuring, surely they were safer after the restructuring, and thus equally acceptable.

If the bonds were acceptable as collateral before the restructuring, surely they were safer after the restructuring, and thus equally acceptable.

The European Central Bank clearly has the technical and analytical capacity to take on general supervision of European banks, using the member central banks as information conduits. The fiscal problem could be dealt with by issuing generally guaranteed European bonds, which might be a temporary measure, restricted to the financial emergency.

Other measures say, capital insurance, or reform of the boundaries within the financial industry, à la Paul Volcker are worth considering.

The fiscal problem could be dealt with by issuing generally guaranteed European bonds, which might be a temporary measure, restricted to the financial emergency.

It is certainly the case that contagion will rage after any Greek restructuring.

Testing America s Financial Stability

The Coming Age of Financial Automation

The Crooked Path of Financial Reform

The Dark Matter of Financial Globalization

The False Promise of Financial Liberalization

Remittances are drying up.

The simplistic equation of financial liberalization with financial deregulation was at the root of Asia s crisis.

Having reached the epiphany that financial restructuring must be avoided at all costs, the governments of the world have in turn cast a huge safety net over banks (and whole countries in Eastern Europe), woven from taxpayer dollars.

These restructuring efforts created the ideal conditions for the introduction of new technologies.

Measures against corruption

Border measures

Immediate measures are needed.

Take precautions.

Take precautions.