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Curated by Project Syndicate

Emerging Market Meltdown

14 commentaries

Fears over China's economic slowdown, together with a looming increase in US interest rates and growing political instability, have sent investors scurrying out of emerging markets. Is this merely a momentary reversal, or have emerging markets become a bad long-term bet?

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  1. The Great Emerging-Market Bubble
    India flood  house submerged Prabhat Kumar Verma/ZumaPress

    The Great Emerging-Market Bubble

    Aug 17, 2015 Bill Emmott identifies weak political institutions as the main culprit behind economic stagnation.

  2. Oil’s New Normal
    Shale crude oil pipeline Paul Edmondson/ZumaPress

    Oil’s New Normal

    Aug 14, 2015 Mohamed A. El-Erian takes stock of an energy market that must adjust to a new swing producer.

  3. Back to Fundamentals in Emerging Markets
    India children slum school Ritesh Shukla/ZumaPress

    Back to Fundamentals in Emerging Markets

    Aug 13, 2015 Dani Rodrik advises investors to distinguish among economies that, for 15 years, were wrongly lumped together.

  4. The Future for Emerging Markets
    bright future Alex Abian/Flickr

    The Future for Emerging Markets

    Jun 30, 2015 Laura Tyson explains why investors should look past recent poor performance in emerging market economies.

  5. Emerging Markets After the Fed Hikes Rates
    Fed chair Janet Yellen Yin Bogu/ZumaPress

    Emerging Markets After the Fed Hikes Rates

    Jun 29, 2015 Nouriel Roubini believes that most countries are resilient enough to withstand US monetary-policy tightening.

  6. Will Fed Tightening Choke Emerging Markets?
    Dollar currency bundle Xinhua/ZumaPress

    Will Fed Tightening Choke Emerging Markets?

    Mar 23, 2015 Jeffrey Frankel shows which countries are most vulnerable to capital-flow reversal when US interest rates rise.

  1. rajan82_BRENDAN SMIALOWSKIPOOLAFP via Getty Images_jeromepowell Brendan Smialowski/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

    The Fed’s Role in the Bank Failures

    Raghuram G. Rajan & Viral V. Acharya

    There are four reasons to worry that the latest banking crisis could be systemic. For many years, periodic bouts of quantitative easing have expanded bank balance sheets and stuffed them with more uninsured deposits, making the banks increasingly vulnerable to changes in monetary policy and financial conditions.

    show how the US central bank's liquidity policies created the conditions for runs on uninsured deposits.
  2. velasco135_Nancy LaneMediaNews GroupBoston Herald via Getty Images_bank run Nancy Lane/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images

    Policymakers Keep Solving the Wrong Banking Problem

    Andrés Velasco

    When a bank fails, the first response by policymakers and the public is to blame risk-loving speculators, greedy investors, or regulators asleep at the wheel. But quenching our thirst for moral adjudication is a poor basis for policy, because the truth is both simpler and more troubling.

    argues that recent market turmoil has revealed that the sector’s main vulnerability is unavoidable.
  3. ito25_Chip SomodevillaGetty Images_yellen Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

    An Insolvency Iceberg?

    Takatoshi Ito considers the risk that other banks will experience liquidity problems as interest rates continue to rise.
  4. skidelsky185_Wiktor SzymanowiczAnadolu Agency via Getty Images_jeremyhunt Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

    Can Governments Still Steer the Economy?

    Robert Skidelsky explains why international finance and geopolitics make it harder to influence major performance indicators.
  5. sinn109_ DANIEL ROLANDAFP via Getty Images_financial crisis DANIEL ROLAND/AFP via Getty Images

    Accounting for Casino Capitalism

    Hans-Werner Sinn draws parallels between recent bank collapses and the late-nineteenth-century “founders’ crash.”
  6. zadek25_ FABRICE COFFRINIAFP via Getty Images_creditsuisseUBS Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images

    Who Should Be Bailed Out Next?

    Simon Zadek urges rich-country governments to aid debt-distressed poor countries as urgently as they have their failing banks.
  7. callegari1_Getty Images_crowd population Getty Images

    The Population Boon

    Beniamino Callegari & Per Espen Stoknes correct popular myths about the threat of demographic growth to sustainable development.
  8. songwe8_NIPAH DENNISAFP via Getty Images_ghana NIPAH DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images

    Where Is the Global South’s Rescue Brigade?

    Vera Songwe decries the unequal responses to liquidity crises in Silicon Valley compared to the developing world.
  9. slaughter96_melitasGetty Images_cooperative melitas/Getty Images

    Beyond Industrial Policy

    Anne-Marie Slaughter & Elizabeth Garlow make the case for an economic strategy that prioritizes shared prosperity over competition.

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