The first authoritative history of hedge funds; from their rebel beginnings to their role in defining the future of finance.

China seems to want the yuan to dethrone the dollar as the global reserve currency. But don't expect China's currency to take over anytime soon.

Drawing on some 200 interviews, including twenty hours of discussions with World Bank President James Wolfensohn, Washington Post editorial columnist and Director of the Council's Center for Geoeconomic Studies Sebastian Mallaby takes readers inside the world's premier development institution.

Sebastian Mallaby says that merits exist to the argument for "charter cities."

President Obama's State of the Union focused on spurring economic growth and innovation but fell short on deficit reduction, argues CFR's Sebastian Mallaby. The stress on domestic over foreign policy made sense, but national security challenges loom, says CFR's James Lindsay.

Sebastian Mallaby argues that investment banks are rife with potential conflicts that harm customers. The solution is to break banks into functional units, so that merger experts, marketmakers and proprietary traders no longer cohabit.

Sebastian Mallaby and Matthew Klein write that financial sector bailouts are corrosive to American capitalism and democracy.

Sebastian Mallaby says that the Federal Reserve's recent data dump is a reminder that, two years ago, too-big-to-fail financial institutions drove the world to the brink of a 1930s-style disaster. If regulators don't break them up or otherwise restrain them, they may do worse next time.

At a time when more and more nations are resorting to capital controls and currency intervention, India shows there is another way. Sebastian Mallaby discusses India's intriguing refusal to become a currency warrior.

Sebastian Mallaby writes that China is advancing so rapidly in terms of productivity that a compromise on currency might serve only to slow its rise as an export juggernaut.

The Federal Reserve's move to inject an added $600 billion into the banking system is bad policy, straining the international monetary order and U.S. credibility abroad, writes CFR's Sebastian Mallaby.

However cogent the case for reining in financial globalisation, sheer momentum will carry it forward, writes Sebastian Mallaby.

Sebastian Mallaby reviews Robert Reich's book "Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future."

Sebastian Mallaby says that high frequency trading has benefited savers by reducing transaction costs.

Featuring teaching notes by CFR Senior Fellow Sebastian Mallaby, author of the CFR book More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite, this academic module includes additional resources to supplement the teaching of the text in the classroom. In this book, Mr. Mallaby gives an insider's view on the origin and evolution of hedge funds in the broader context of the history of modern finance through extensive research and numerous case studies.

Obama's proposals to cut business taxes and boost infrastructure spending are worth a try, says CFR's Sebastian Mallaby, but more monetary stimulus by the Fed could "come back to bite."

Sebastian Mallaby says that when markets and the company are attacked simultaneously and sweepingly, reasonable people should remember: both assaults cannot be right.

Sebastian Mallaby argues that even though the odds of a double-dip or a bond-market rout may be roughly equal, bond-market trouble would probably have larger consequences. Therefore the prudent policy is to rein in the stimulus.

Sebastian Mallaby discusses Paul Romer's vision for development through foreign-run "charter cities."

Sebastian Mallaby argues that because hedge funds are small enough to fail, they represent an appealing alternative to too-big-to-fail banks. If the new Financial Stability Oversight Council were to burden hedge funds with oversight and hamper their growth, it would reduce the amount of risk that they absorb, paradoxically making the financial system less stable.