A remarkably deft work of storytelling that reveals how the blueprint for the postwar economic order was actually drawn.

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.

Over the past two decades, another form of economic exchange besides imports and exports has risen to a level of vastly greater significance and political concern: the purchase and sale of financial assets across borders.

Benn Steil's June column in Dow Jones' Financial News, co-authored with Paul Swartz, shows how mass Russian and Chinese selling of Fannie and Freddie debt in 2008 severely exacerbated the financial crisis.  Contrary to the arguments of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and others, they show that there are very real dangers inherent in America's outsized reliance on foreign government financing.

Benn Steil's April column in Dow Jones' Financial News argues that blaming the euro for Greece's woes is misguided.  Greece has been in constant trouble with foreign creditors since its independence in 1832, even under the reign of the "sovereign" drachma.  Since Greece's debt was predominantly euro-denominated even before it joined the eurozone, staying outside it would only have brought the crisis to a head earlier - as with Iceland.

Benn Steil's March column in Dow Jones' Financial News argues that the way we tax banks is at odds with how we wish them to behave, and new proposed bank taxes only make it worse.

Benn Steil and Peter Wallison argue that trying alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed before the military commission established by Congress is better than the Obama administration pretending that it accepts the legal implications of acquittal by a civilian court.

Benn Steil's January column in Dow Jones' Financial News argues that the monetary forces behind the crashes of 1929 and 2008 were very similar.  In the 1920s, as in the mid-2000s, Fed officials mistakenly thought that they had found, in the practice of trying to stabilize a price index, the holy grail of monetary policy. In consequence, central bankers are once again grasping for a new orthodoxy.

Benn Steil argues that the U.S. is relying dangerously on massive government spending and lending to paper over its real problem--distorted incentives in the debt-encumbered banking system.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In this Financial Times op-ed, Benn Steil argues that we need a "safe-fail" approach to preventing financial crises, aimed at limiting systemic damage after financial institutions fail.

CFR's Benn Steil analyzes the financial rescue plan under debate on Capitol Hill and suggests adjustments that he says would make it more effective and less risky for the federal government.

In this Wall Street Journal op-ed, Benn Steil argues that the U.S Federal Reserve has seriously damaged the credibility of the policy framework its chairman has long championed, inflation targeting, by pursuing other objectives inconsistent with price stability.

In this testimony, Benn Steil argues that the rise in financial speculation in commodities reflects the collapse of a "currency bubble," as investors react to the re-emergence of inflation and the decline of the dollar.

In this Financial Times op-ed, Benn Steil argues that the Fed's aggressive monetary expansion threatens to undermine its unique powers among central banks, and, if continued, will have damaging consequences for America's future prosperity and global political influence.

CFR’s Benn Steil examines proposals for a regulatory overhaul of the U.S. financial system put forth by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.