THOUGHT LEADERS

Capitalism Then and Now

Harold James

Is globalization reversible? Do currencies rise and fall like empires? How does culture influence economic development and performance? Is “authoritarian capitalism” in China and Russia viable? Can international institutions like the IMF really shape the world economy? Is globalization reversible? Do currencies rise and fall like empires? How does culture influence economic development and performance? Is “authoritarian capitalism” in China and Russia viable? Can international institutions like the IMF really shape the world economy?

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FEATURED COMMENTARIES

The Global Roots of Euro-Jitters

Harold James Series: Capitalism Then and Now

2010-03-04

It is too simplistic to explain the current wave of concern about the euro in terms of Greece’s problems. The euro’s current problems are, instead, a reflection of Europe-wide and global problems that have remained unresolved for the past 30 years. ... read

Comments: 2 Recommended: 0 Read: 3626

Back to the Future in Finance

Harold James Series: Capitalism Then and Now

2010-01-27

While former US Fed Chairman Paul Volcker provided the central inspiration for Barack Obama’s recent proposal for overhauling banking, he has also been a prominent critic of the dangers of currency volatility. Returning to fixed exchange rates would run counter to almost every argument of modern economics, but, at a moment when we are looking to the past for financial solutions, it is no longer unthinkable.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 3151

Why Big Banks Will Get Bigger

Harold James Series: Capitalism Then and Now

2010-01-05

From banks’ perspective, the most obvious lesson of the financial crisis was the need for a strong national government to bear the potential costs of a rescue. It is no longer best to be where the most favorable regulatory regime prevails, but to be where the state has the deepest pockets.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 1 Read: 3923

The Cycles of Economic Discontent

Harold James Series: Capitalism Then and Now

2009-12-04

Every ten years or so, we think that a particular model of growth is so broken that it cannot be resurrected. The world needed to be rethought in 1979, 1989, 1998, and 2008, with each wave of collapse breeding a greater degree of disillusion about particular institutions.... read

Comments: 3 Recommended: 0 Read: 5858

The New Monetary Disorder

Harold James Series: Capitalism Then and Now

2009-11-04

Currency chaos is back, highlighting demands for a revised international monetary order. The rapid decline of the dollar and the pound, but also of the renminbi – now more firmly tied to the dollar than ever – is fanning tensions, while some ghosts of the 1930’s also have returned, particularly the fear that competitive devaluation is creating unfair trade advantages. ... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 7332

Celebrating the German Model

Harold James Series: Capitalism Then and Now

2009-09-28

Princeton -- If anyone wanted evidence that we are not in the mental and political world of the interwar Great Depression, the German election result and its outcome – a stable government of the center-right - should be a clincher. In interwar Germany, the Depression destroyed German democracy and led to the rise to power of Hitler and the National Socialists; in today’s Germany, the most severe economic crisis since the Second World War produced the reelection of Frau Merkel. ... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 5050

The Coming Age of Financial Automation

Harold James Series: Capitalism Then and Now

2009-09-04

Thanks to automation, the “Monday morning car” – caused by early and error-prone production runs of new models – is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Its equivalent in the financial world should, and will, meet the same fate.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 6266

How to Waste a Crisis

Harold James Series: Capitalism Then and Now

2009-08-04

The global financial crisis is reaching a bottom, and yet political frustration is growing, because the low point of the collapse seems to offer a last opportunity to promote dramatic change, and that opportunity may be missed. In fact, missing the opportunity may well be more likely than not.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 6882

Germany’s Fiscal Follies

Harold James Series: Capitalism Then and Now

2009-07-03

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has taken a peculiarly aggressive line in attacking budget deficits and loose monetary policy worldwide and repudiating them at home. But, while that stance resonates deeply with German voters, it makes no sense economically, particularly given Germany's commitment to European integration.... read

Comments: 1 Recommended: 0 Read: 7662

Who is to Blame?	Harold James
Now that the economic crisis looks less threatening (at least for the moment), an ever more encompassing blame game is unfolding. But, because we are not sure quite who and what should be unmasked, the search for culprits has become like the late medieval and early modern search for witches: a way of making sense of a disorderly and hostile universe.... read

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The Great Depression Analogy

Harold James Series: Capitalism Then and Now

2009-05-04

Whenever today’s economic crisis is discussed, analogies to the Great Depression are never far away, with the year 1929 almost always taken as a reference point. But two completely different pathologies were manifest in the Great Depression; each called for different diagnoses – and different cures.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 10851

Banks, States, and Financial Crises

Harold James Series: Capitalism Then and Now

2009-02-04

There is a danger that in the push to nationalize banks as a consequence of the current financial crisis, governments will see it as their duty to implement strategies. Indeed, the strategic vision of a bank shaping a country's economic fortunes is as flawed as was the idea of central economic planning. ... read

Comments: 1 Recommended: 0 Read: 14218

Browser Wars II

Harold James Series: Capitalism Then and Now

2008-09-09

PRINCETON – Ten years after its birth, Google is threatening to re-open the “Browser Wars” of the 1990’s, when Microsoft’s Internet Explorer eliminated its rival, Netscape’s Navigator. This time, however, it is Google’s Chrome that promises to transform the economics underlying the entire software industry, and not only because of its technical innovation in linking very different kinds of software to an Internet browser. In doing so it eliminates the need for a program such as Windows, which previously controlled access to every kind of software.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 19713

The Geopolitical Consequences of the Financial Crisis

Harold James Series: Capitalism Then and Now

2008-09-18

PRINCETON – Worried investors and policymakers are becoming obsessed with Great Depression analogies. But the lesson of 1931 is only in part financial or economic. The 1931 crisis was so big and so destructive because it was a financial drama that played out on a geo-political stage.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 19599

The Art of Finance

Harold James Series: Capitalism Then and Now

2008-10-02

Great financial wealth has always been intimately related to the world of art, from Renaissance Florence to J.P. Morgan, Andrew Mellon, and Henry Frick. But, as the recent auction of works by Damian Hirst showed, when financial bubbles burst, acquiring art is no longer aimed at proving one's discernment to the broad public, but at securing an alternative store of value.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 16068

The Marx Renaissance

Harold James Series: Capitalism Then and Now

2008-12-25

Karl Marx has returned, if not quite from the grave then from history’s dustbin, as world leaders call for state-compelled credit provision. But, while the “Marxist” revival was probably an inevitable byproduct of the current crisis, its acolytes should reflect on the uniformly disastrous results of centralized credit provision in the past.... read

Comments: 2 Recommended: 0 Read: 14534

Banks, States, and Financial Crises

Harold James Series: Capitalism Then and Now

2009-02-04

Comments: 1 Recommended: 0 Read: 14218

A New Bretton Woods?

Harold James Series: Capitalism Then and Now

2008-11-06

The chaotic and costly international response to the world’s current financial disorder has prompted many world leaders to call for a new Bretton Woods Conference in order to design a new global financial system. But, while It is easy to see the appeal of scrapping today’s global financial architecture, we need a clear understanding of what a new agreement might provide.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 12885

Economic Crisis and Regional Integration

Harold James Series: Capitalism Then and Now

2009-03-04

In the 1930's, Germany and Japan resorted to forcible regional integration, not economic nationalism, in response to economic crisis. By contrast, in today's crisis, the largest members of the European Union, the best model and greatest hope for benign regionalism, have turned their backs on integration.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 11760

Deflation and Democracy

Harold James Series: Capitalism Then and Now

2009-01-13

The current financial crisis, like all those that preceded it, has undermined the sense that we can put an accurate price on assets. But, while many people are now convinced that this shortcoming is inherent in the financial system, uncertainties about value also expose deep problems in the political order. ... read

Comments: 2 Recommended: 0 Read: 11428

The Great Depression Analogy

Harold James Series: Capitalism Then and Now

2009-05-04

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 10851

Who is to Blame?	Harold James
Now that the economic crisis looks less threatening (at least for the moment), an ever more encompassing blame game is unfolding. But, because we are not sure quite who and what should be unmasked, the search for culprits has become like the late medieval and early modern search for witches: a way of making sense of a disorderly and hostile universe.... read
The Ghosts of Summits Past	Harold James
The upcoming G-20 summit bears an eerie resemblance to the 1933 World Economic Conference, which also met in London. Now, as then, governments in times of great economic difficulty are unwilling to make sacrifices that might entail a short-term cost, and are seeking a scapegoat for the failure of internationalism.... read

AUTHOR INFO

Harold James

Harold James is Professor of History and International Affairs at Princeton University and Marie Curie Professor of History at the European University Institute, Florence. His most recent book is The Creation and Destruction of Value: The Globalization Cycle.

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THOUGHT LEADERS

Capitalism Then and Now

Harold James

The Global Roots of Euro-Jitters

Back to the Future in Finance

Why Big Banks Will Get Bigger

The Cycles of Economic Discontent

The New Monetary Disorder

Celebrating the German Model

The Coming Age of Financial Automation

How to Waste a Crisis

Germany’s Fiscal Follies

The Great Depression Analogy

Banks, States, and Financial Crises

Browser Wars II

The Geopolitical Consequences of the Financial Crisis

The Art of Finance

The Marx Renaissance

Banks, States, and Financial Crises

A New Bretton Woods?

Economic Crisis and Regional Integration

Deflation and Democracy

The Great Depression Analogy

AUTHOR INFO

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