Neil Irwin, economic columnist for the Washington Post, discusses his take on the 2008 financial crisis.

A major stock market sell-off would have grave negative consequences for all parts of the U.S. economy, but specifically for the individual consumer, businesses, and the government.

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Examines data including GDP, household debt, and industrial production to show the weakness of the current recovery compared to previous postwar rebounds.

Michael Spence argues that, although research suggests high debt levels have a negative effect on long-term growth, countries cannot restore growth through austerity measures alone.

Generally, for advanced countries with deep and liquid capital markets like the United States, the best policy is to allow these markets to determine exchange rates.

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Andrew Kohut and Michael Dimock discuss the findings of their new Renewing America Working Paper.

Jeffrey M. Lacker discusses "too big to fail" protection for financial institutions and credible alternatives to this policy.

Jeffrey M. Lacker discusses "too big to fail" protection for financial institutions and credible alternatives to this policy.

Despite an extended period of economic difficulty, Pew pollsters Andrew Kohut and Michael Dimock show that Americans' core values and beliefs about economic opportunity remain largely optimistic and unchanged.

The prospective challenge of containing inflation, buttressing a collapsed housing market, and normalizing the Federal Reserve's bloated balance sheet has created an "exit strategy" dilemma for Chairman Ben Bernanke. CFR Director of International Economics Benn Steil urges the Federal Reserve to swap mortgage-backed securities with the U.S. Treasury in exchange for Treasury securities, which the Fed can then sell as part of a normal process of monetary tightening.

CFR Director of International Economics Benn Steil urges the Federal Reserve to swap mortgage-backed securities with the U.S. Treasury in exchange for Treasury securities, which the Fed can then sell as part of a normal process of monetary tightening as a solution for the prospective challenge of containing inflation, buttressing a collapsed housing market, and normalizing its bloated balance sheet.

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.

Recent developments in Portugal provide yet another example of the growing political strength of anti-austerity forces in Europe.

The results of Europe's experiment with austerity are in and they're clear: it doesn't work. Here's how such a flawed idea became the West's default response to financial crises.

Nobel Laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz discusses how the lack of financial regulation creates market instability which results in inequality, and addresses ways to strengthen both the U.S. and international economy, to prevent further collapse.

Shannon O'Neil reflects on the early years of her "twenty-year relationship with Mexico."

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.

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The IMF launched this report in March 2002, in order "to provide a regular assessment of global financial markets and to identify potential systemic weaknesses that could lead to crises."

The Brazilian government faces a number of challenges and opportunities concerning its economic forecast in the coming years. After peaking at 7.5 percent growth in 2010, Brazil's recent economic slowdown has caused worry that the dream of a new high-growth economy had slipped out of reach.

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Peter Orszag argues that low interest rates and high unemployment make today an ideal time to repair deteriorating U.S. infrastructure.