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:Lessons of the Financial Crisis (Council Special Report, March 2009); 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
October 19, 2009
Interview
CFR's Benn Steil says the dollar's continuing decline could result in higher prices for major imports like energy and, in a worst-case scenario, might lead to higher inflation and interest rates.
See more in Financial Crises, Trade
October 19, 2009
Op-Ed
Financial News
In Benn Steil's October column in Dow Jones' Financial News, he shows that the U.S. only calls for floating exchange rates when it believes the dollar will float down rather than up, and argues that this self-interested inconsistency is encouraging China and America's other major creditors to move away from non-discriminatory multilateral trade as they seek to lessen their dependence on the dollar.
See more in Financial Crises, Trade
August 24, 2009
Op-Ed
Financial News
In the first of his new monthly columns for Financial News, Benn Steil argues that private as well as public sector defined benefit pension schemes are a major risk to taxpayers, and should be replaced by defined contribution schemes.
See more in Business & Foreign Policy, International Finance
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
Explore the international finance regime with a new interactive from CFR's program on International Institutions and Global Governance.
Identifying international threats and acting on them may be the most difficult job for U.S. policymakers. This report
provides an actionable road map for managing international threats before they erupt into crises and makes a strong case that preventive action is not a luxury but a necessity.
For more than a decade, the United States has mostly watched from the sidelines as Asian countries organize themselves into an alphabet soup of new multilateral groups. In this report, the authors review the relationship between pan-Asian and trans-Pacific institutions and suggest policy guidelines for a new U.S. approach to this new Asian landscape.
Complete list of Council Special Reports
Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
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.
Complete list of CFR Books
For more information on the David Rockefeller Studies Program, contact:
James M. Lindsay
Senior Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair
+1.212.434.9626 (NY); +1.202.509.8405 (DC)
jlindsay@cfr.org
Janine Hill
Deputy Director of Studies Administration
+1.212.434.9753
jhill@cfr.org
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