Capital Controls

Despite their proven effectiveness in many cases, these policy tools are prohibited by U.S. trade and investment policies. Particularly in the wake of the worst financial crisis in 80 years, it's an embarrassingly outmoded position.

Governments have five tools to adjust to capital flows: monetary policy, fiscal policy, foreign exchange intervention, prudential tools, and capital controls. The challenge is to find, for each case, the right combination.

We've slipped well beyond a year and the financial system is still flirting with danger. Durable financial stability has, so far, proven elusive.

The need for careful design of economic policies at the national level, and coordination at the global level, may be as important today as they were at the peak of the crisis two years ago.

The current international monetary system has certainly delivered a lot. But it also has flaws that need to be fixed, especially if the next phase of globalization is to succeed in bringing a strong and broad-based rise in living standards.

We've entered a brave new world in the wake of the crisis; a very different world in terms of policy making and we just have to accept it.

Reform of the international monetary system is wide-ranging and complex. Global debate is only just starting. But we must all recognize that this is not something academic or abstract. We need concrete ideas.

Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Capital controls are a 'legitimate' tool in some cases for governments facing surges in investment that threaten to destabilize...

In our highly globalized economy, large and rapid flows of money across borders are here to stay. The challenge for emerging economies is to find ways to manage these flows so that they don't exacerbate boom-bust cycles.