home > the cfr think tank > experts > benn steil
Senior Fellow and Director of International Economics
Contact Info:
Phone: +1-212-434-9622
E-mail: mholden@cfr.org
Location:
New York, NY
Media downloads:
One-page bio (PDF, 56K)
Award-winning writer, and editor of the scholarly journal International Finance. His most recent book Money, Markets, and Sovereignty analyzes the historical relationship between money and national sovereignty and its importance in understanding contemporary globalization.
Expertise:Financial markets; securities trading; international finance.
Experience:Cofounder and managing member, Efficient Frontiers LLC, financial markets consultancy (current); Editor, International Finance (current); Director, International Economics Programme, Royal Institute of International Affairs (1992-98).
Languages:French (familiar).
Honors:Fellow, British-American Project.
Selected Publications:Money, Markets, and Sovereignty (Yale University Press, 2009); Financial Statecraft (Yale University Press, 2006); Building a Transatlantic Securities Market, A Council Report (Council on Foreign Relations Press, 2002); Technological Innovation and Economic Performance (coeditor, Princeton University Press, 2002); Institutional Investors (coauthor, MIT Press, 2001); Antitrust Goes Global: What Future for Transatlantic Cooperation? (coeditor, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 2000); “Automation, Trading Costs, and the Structure of the Securities Trading Industry,” Brookings-Wharton Papers on Financial Services (coauthor, January 1999); The European Equity Markets (Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1996); International Financial Market Regulation (John Wiley & Sons, 1994); numerous articles in journals and periodicals such as Economica, Foreign Affairs, Wall Street Journal, and Financial Times.
Current Research Projects
Past Research Projects
May 15, 2009
Op-Ed
Forbes Online
Benn Steil argues that Keynes's general theory demonstrably misapprehends the nature of money and the monetary system, and that shorn of its theoretical foundation, "fiscal stimulus" cannot be considered a harmless remedy.
See more in Economics, Financial Crises, U.S. Strategy and Politics
May 14, 2009, New York
Transcript
CFR experts Benn Steil and Sebastian Mallaby discuss the lessons learned from the current financial crisis.
See more in Financial Crises
May 14, 2009
Audio
Listen to CFR experts Benn Steil and Sebastian Mallaby discuss the lessons learned from the current financial crisis.
See more in Financial Crises
May 12, 2009
Video
Watch experts examine steps taken to regulate financial markets and debate whether more should be done or if some actions should be undone.
This session was part of the Stephen C. Freidheim Symposium on Global Economics: Financial Turbulence and U.S. Power, which was made possible through the generous support of Stephen C. Freidheim.
See more in Financial Crises, International Finance
May 12, 2009
Audio
Listen to experts examine steps taken to regulate financial markets and debate whether more should be done or if some actions should be undone.
This session was part of the Stephen C. Freidheim Symposium on Global Economics: Financial Turbulence and U.S. Power, which was made possible through the generous support of Stephen C. Freidheim.
See more in Financial Crises, International Finance
April 20, 2009
Audio
Listen to Benn Steil, CFR Senior Fellow and Director of International Economics, as he speaks about his new book, Money, Markets, and Sovereignty, and the implications of monetary nationalism for today’s global economy.
See more in Economics, International Finance, Trade
April 2, 2009
Transcript
The following is a transcription from a Council on Foreign Relations meeting on the Group of 20 (G-20).
See more in EU, Economics, International Organizations
April 1, 2009
Video
Watch experts remark on what is at stake at the G-20 London summit and outline possible policy options for member countries.
See more in Financial Crises, Geoeconomics, Trade
April 1, 2009
Audio
Listen to experts remark on what is at stake at the G-20 London summit and outline possible policy options for member countries.
See more in Financial Crises, Geoeconomics, Trade
March 2009
Book
In this keenly argued book, the authors present a fascinating intellectual history of monetary nationalism from the ancient world to the present and explore why, in its modern incarnation, it represents the single greatest threat to globalization.
See more in Economics
March 30, 2009
Audio
Listen to experts give a historical analysis of the 1920s and the causes of the Great Depression, including monetary policy and the stock market crash in 1929.
This session was part of the CFR-New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business symposium: A Second Look at the Great Depression, which was made possible through the generous support of the Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University, and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
See more in Economics, Financial Crises
March 30, 2009
Video
Watch experts give a historical analysis of the 1920s and the causes of the Great Depression, including monetary policy and the stock market crash in 1929.
This session was part of the CFR-New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business symposium: A Second Look at the Great Depression, which was made possible through the generous support of the Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University, and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
See more in Economics, Financial Crises
March 30, 2009, New York
Transcript
Session One of a Council on Foreign Relations Symposium on a Second Look at the Great Depression and the New Deal. A panel focusing on what occurred economically during the 1920s that contributed to the Crash in 1929.
See more in United States, Economics
Winter 2009
Article
Harvard International Review
Benn Steil argues that the world has no attractive alternatives to the current dollar-based international monetary system, but that the dollar's days of coasting on the accomplishments of the Volcker Fed are over. The Fed must demonstrate to the world anew that the dollar is a reliable long-term store of value.
See more in Financial Crises, International Finance
March 2009
Council Special Report No. 45
Council Special Report
In this report, Benn Steil shows that the financial crisis is the inevitable bust of a classic credit boom, and explains how monetary, taxation, and home ownership promotion policy combined with other features of the financial system to fuel an unsustainable buildup in debt. He recommends significant reforms to reverse the debt financing bias and make the system more resilient to falls in asset prices.
See more in Financial Crises, International Finance
March 10, 2009
Audio
Listen to Benn Steil, senior fellow and director of international economics at CFR, discuss his new book, Money, Markets, and Sovereignty, which he coauthored with Manuel Hinds, former finance mininster of El Salvador.
See more in Economics, Financial Crises, Geoeconomics
February 6, 2009
Op-Ed
Financial Times
In this Financial Times op-ed, Benn Steil takes a critical look at economists invoking the authority of Keynes in support of adding another trillion dollars to the federal debt.
See more in Economics, Financial Crises
January 12, 2009
Transcript
Experts look to past financial crises for insights on necessary policy changes and likely government interventions into financial markets, in a meeting in the McKinsey Executive Roundtable Series in International Economics.
See more in Financial Crises, International Finance
January 12, 2009
Audio
Listen to experts discuss lessons learned from the history of banking and finance that can be applied to the current global financial crisis.
See more in Financial Crises, Geoeconomics, International Finance
January 12, 2009
Video
Watch experts discuss lessons learned from the history of banking and finance that can be applied to the current global financial crisis.
See more in Financial Crises, Geoeconomics, International Finance
Explore international efforts to curb nuclear proliferation with a new interactive from CFR's program on International Institutions and Global Governance.
The Canadian oil sands present an important challenge to policymakers: they promise energy security benefits but present climate change problems. Michael A. Levi assesses the energy security and climate change effects of the oil sands and makes recommendations for U.S. policymakers within the context of broader bilateral relations with Canada.
This report explores an important element of the maritime policy regime: the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Author Scott G. Borgerson examines the international negotiations that led to the convention, the history of debates in the United States over whether to join it, and the strategic importance of the oceans for U.S. foreign policy today.
Complete list of Council Special Reports
In War of Necessity, War of Choice, Richard N. Haass contrasts the decisions that shaped the conduct of two wars between the United States and Iraq involving the two presidents Bush and Saddam Hussein, and writes an authoritative, personal account of how U.S. foreign policy is made, what it should seek, and how it should be pursued.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba’s unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
As Ray Takeyh shows in Guardians of the Revolution, behind the famous personalities and extremist slogans of Iran is a nation that is far more pragmatic—and complex—than many in the West have been led to believe.
Complete list of CFR Books
For more information on the David Rockefeller Studies Program, contact:
Sebastian Mallaby
Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for
Geoeconomic Studies, Deputy Director of Studies, and Paul A. Volcker Senior
Fellow for International Economics
smallaby@cfr.org
Janine Hill
Deputy Director of Studies Administration
+1.212.434.9753
jhill@cfr.org
Copyright 2009 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.