The global economy looks for an off-ramp, or at least a safety net, as concerns over oil prices, credit, and inflation escalate.

U.S. politicians are scrambling to deal with the impact of $3-per-gallon gasoline, but some of the main causes for the recent spikes lay beyond U.S. shores—or control.

Joshua Kurlantzick explores why the "Beijing Consensus" has attracted so many admirers in recent years in this excerpt from his new book Democracy in Retreat.

Terra Lawson-Remer examine the impact of collective fisheries ownership on household income and food consumption in Fiji

Leslie H. Gelb argues that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent remarks to the Economic Club of New York should compel foreign policy experts and political leaders to face the new 21st-century reality: that gross domestic product matters more than military might.

David Abraham and Ira Wolf say that changing consumer habits in Japan are making its economy more attractive to multinationals.

Brad W. Setser writes about the United States' dependency on China as its largest creditor. He argues that the U.S. government should look to transition to a world in which more U.S. investment is financed by the United States' own savings.

Richard Haass says that businesses have much to learn from government as they compete in an increasingly complex global landscape.

The China Investment Corporation’s $5 billion investment in Morgan Stanley, its $3 billion investment in Blackstone and the China Development Bank’s likely $2b investment in Citigroup have attracted an enormous amount of attention.  In this paper for RGE Monitor, Brad Setser examines the unprecedented growth in China ’s foreign assets, the key institutions managing these assets, and the composition of China's aggregate external portfolio.

Newspaper and magazine stories refer to a "loss of nerve", even a "loss of faith" in free trade by economists. When presidential candidates are challenged by free trade proponents, they typically say: "Ah, but economists no longer have a consensus on free trade." But the truth of the matter is that free trade is alive. The analytical arguments in favor of trade have hardly been dented by its critics, such as Alan Blinder, arrayed against it.

Outside of a humanitarian crisis—such as a famine or a natural disaster—it is hard to make the case that any country deserves another's economic support. To paraphrase Britain's Lord Palmerston, countries do not have permanent friends, only permanent interests.

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To date, Chinese officials have asserted that their interest in Gwadar is strictly a commercial effort to provide another energy corridor for Middle East oil, and Pakistani government officials stridently affirm this position. New Delhi, on the other hand, has expressed "concern" about the true motivations in developing Gwadar, suspecting that it is a Sino-Pak effort at encirclement.

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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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Jose Alvarez, Herbert and Rose Rubin professor of international law at New York University School of Law, discusses the growth and distributional effects and the human rights implications of global economic governance through bilateral investment treaties, with a focus on the global south.

Economist Paul Romer describes the concept of charter cities as "special reform zones that allow governments to quickly adopt innovative new systems of rules," in order to "create opportunities for millions of people to…lead safer, healthier, and more prosperous lives."

Experts analyze the current state of the global economy.

This series is presented by the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies.

The WTO's Pascal Lamy discusses global trade and the state of the international economy.

Sebastian Mallaby, director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of More Money than God, discusses his book and the role of hedge funds in the financial system.