The Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive multilateral trade agreement now in the works that focuses on the Asia-Pacific region, could add billions of dollars to the U.S. economy and solidify Washington's commitment to the Pacific. But if the Obama administration fails to calm critics of the deal, there is a growing possibility that it could collapse.

In 2007, the World Bank was in crisis. Some saw conflicts over its leadership. Others blamed the institution itself.

Many economists argue that global financial imbalances fueled the recent recession. To prevent future crises, world leaders are trying to even out the balance sheet.

The economic crisis is hurting the world's top currency. But the pound, the yen, the euro, the renminbi, and the IMF's accounting currency are no match for the dollar. At least for now.

Across the world, the free market is being overtaken by state capitalism, a system in which the state is the leading economic actor. How should the United States respond?

Global financial instability has sparked a surge in "monetary nationalism" -- the idea that countries must make and control their own currencies. But globalization and monetary nationalism are a dangerous combination, a cause of financial crises and geopolitical tension. The world needs to abandon unwanted currencies, replacing them with dollars, euros, and multinational currencies as yet unborn.

As trade flows expanded and trade agreements proliferated after World War II, governments—most notably the United States—increasingly came to use their power over imports and exports to influence the behavior of other countries.  But trade is not the only way in which nations interact economically. Over the past two decades, another form of economic exchange has risen to a level of vastly greater significance and political concern: the purchase and sale of financial assets across borders.

While Greece has failed to meet the budget requirements mandated by the EU and the IMF, experts say eurozone leaders will likely continue to bailout the country because the costs of letting it go are far greater.

While a last-minute deal was able to raise the U.S. debt ceiling ahead of default, global investors are frustrated by the unnecessary brush with crisis and by the culture of U.S. political brinkmanship. The long-term impact on U.S. treasuries is unclear.

With the deadline looming for resolving the U.S. debt standoff, concern is rising among international creditors and markets about the largest economy and home of the world's reserve currency.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called for a global rebalancing and sought to reassure China, the largest holder of U.S. debt, about the health of the dollar. Experts say this shift is needed but some Chinese remain skeptical about the U.S. currency.

Swine flu has already shaken markets. While the scope of the current outbreak remains unknown, experts say a severe pandemic could drive productivity losses, dampen trade, and lower product demand at a time of preexisting economic frailty.

As the effects of the financial crisis stretch beyond America and Europe, the world's emerging markets start to wobble and analysts wonder just how hard China, India, and other major developing nations will be hit.

CFR.org provides a collection of resources on financial policy.

A surge in the U.S. dollar and Japanese yen comes as investors pull money from commodities and emerging markets. The trend, and particularly the spike in the yen, poses another problem for financial markets.

The financial meltdown of 2008 has thrown the liberal economic model into question. Debate among international policymakers could result in regulatory tweaks or efforts to scuttle free-market orthodoxy altogether.

U.S. financial regulators could draw some lessons from Japan's experience of the 1990s, when the implosion of a real estate bubble led to a systemic crisis in the country's banking sector.

The impact of U.S. economic woes on foreign policy and national security programs is not yet clear, but sectors from defense to development aid are bracing for tighter budgets.

With financial firestorms erupting left and right in Europe, the global credit crisis takes a new dimension. Analysts say it might be time for coordinated interest rate cuts.