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Benn Steil

Senior Fellow and Director of International Economics

Expertise

International finance; financial markets; economic policy.

Programs

Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies

Featured Publications

Book

Money, Markets, and Sovereignty

Authors: Benn Steil and Manuel Hinds

A fascinating intellectual history of monetary nationalism from the ancient world to the present exploring why, in its modern incarnation, it represents the single greatest threat to globalization.

See more in Economics

All Publications

Ask CFR Experts

How long will it take southern Europe to rebound from the eurozone crisis, and how will that affect the rest of Europe?

Asked by Jackson Ryan, from King HS

The debt crisis that has hammered southern Europe since 2010 will have long-lived economic effects, despite the moderation in Spanish and Italian government borrowing costs since the European Central Bank's "Outright Monetary Transactions" initiative last September.

Read full answer

See more in Western Europe, EU, Economics, Financial Crises, EU, IMF

Book

Money, Markets, and Sovereignty

Authors: Benn Steil and Manuel Hinds

A fascinating intellectual history of monetary nationalism from the ancient world to the present exploring why, in its modern incarnation, it represents the single greatest threat to globalization.

See more in Economics

Book

Technological Innovation and Economic Performance

Authors: Benn Steil, David G. Victor, and Richard R. Nelson

A seminal volume bringing together the research and critical thinking of many of the world's top macro- and micro-economists to provide a unique, multifaceted perspective on the causes of technological innovation and its relationship to economic performance. Through the use of detailed, up-to-date country and industry studies, Technological Innovation and Economic Performance provides the most authoritative and detailed analysis of this topic ever assembled.

See more in Economic Development, Technology Transfer

Book

Institutional Investors

Authors: Benn Steil and E. Philip Davis

Institutional Investors is the first and only comprehensive analysis of the global economic impact of the institutionalization of savings associated with the growth of pension funds, life insurance companies, and mutual funds. It charts the development and performance of the asset management industry and analyzes the implications of rising institutionalized saving for the development of the securities trading industry, the financial sector as a whole, and the wider economy.

See more in International Law

Book

Antitrust Goes Global

Leading experts elucidate the changing nature of antitrust enforcement on both sides of the Atlantic, with a keen eye to future multilateral, as well as bilateral, developments.

See more in Geoeconomics

Council Special Report No. 45

Lessons of the Financial Crisis

Author: Benn Steil

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. This report is also available in Arabic.

See more in Financial Crises, International Finance

Interview

Gauging the Dollar Decline

Interview by: Benn Steil and Roya Wolverson

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

Op-Ed

Would a New 'Bretton Woods' Save the Global Economy?

Author: Benn Steil
PBS NewsHour

Benn Steil's op-ed for Paul Solman's PBS The Business Desk site looks critically at calls for "a new Bretton Woods." He argues that many of the critical precepts behind the 1944 American Bretton Woods blueprint were overturned by the Truman Administration a mere three years later, and that the operation of the Bretton Woods monetary system was far briefer and more troubled than is typically reckoned.

See more in Economics, Geoeconomics, International Finance

Op-Ed

Bernanke Should Follow the Advice He Gave to Japan

Authors: Benn Steil and Dinah Walker
Wall Street Journal

Benn Steil and Dinah Walker explain why the Fed's massive holdings of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) are distorting its thinking about the conduct of monetary policy going forward. They propose a novel plan to rectify this, in which the Fed swaps its MBS with the Treasury in return for Treasury securities, which the Fed can sell as part of a normal "exit" from monetary stimulus.

See more in United States, Economics, Financial Crises

Op-Ed

The BoE Is Getting "Libored"

Authors: Benn Steil and Dinah Walker
Wall Street Journal Europe

Benn Steil's Wall Street Journal Europe op-ed, co-authored with Dinah Walker, argues that the Bank of England is getting "Libored"—that is, misled and manipulated—by the banks benefiting from its Funding for Lending Scheme. The Fed, which has shown interest in the scheme, should beware.

See more in United States, U.K., Capital Markets, Financial Crises, Geoeconomics, International Finance