Weather Update: Winter Continues in Fargo, North Dakota And Lviv, Ukraine, Future European Union

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Photo credits: (c) Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press via New York Times; Lviv main train station [1905](c) Lviv.biz. Copyright controlled.

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Financial Regulation after the Subprime and Credit Crisis

by Morris Goldstein

Forthcoming • 144 pp. ISBN Paper 978-0-88132-421-1

The recent subprime mortgage and credit crisis has impacted nearly all Americans. It is too late to prevent this crisis, but it is not too early to look at what caused it and what can be done to avert similar situations in the future.

Financial Regulation after the Subprime and Credit Crisis presents an insightful analysis of the crisis' catalysts, and most importantly advances a practical plan to overcome the deficiencies of the existing regulatory regime.

What lessons have we learned about regulatory reform, models of securitization, and liquidity requirements? This book addresses issues central to the debate for strengthening regulatory design through a reduction of home foreclosures, an imperative to improve the performance of credit-rating agencies, and an agreement on executive compensation. By identifying strategies for modification within the market, Goldstein proposes workable reforms that respond appropriately to current financial vulnerabilities and minimize the likelihood of a future crisis.

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How Ukraine Became a Market Economy
and Democracy

by Anders Åslund • March 2009 • 248 pp. ISBN 978-0-88132-427-3

Ukraine has been one of the hardest hit economies during the current global financial crisis. Its embattled currency, the hryvnia, suffered one of the worst depreciations in the world. The stock market has fallen precipitously, and the country has sought emergency assistance from the International Monetary Fund to help stabilize the financial sector. Ukraine’s large steel industry—­the heart of the economy—is facing a major structural predicament, and many of the existing big corporations will undoubtedly go under. …

At this juncture, it is critical that the United States continue to play an important and positive role in the life of independent Ukraine. Only the United States can guarantee Ukraine’s security, and it has committed itself to doing so in multiple agreements on Ukraine’s denuclearization. The United States should also catch up with the European Union and offer Ukraine a bilateral free trade agreement to favor economic integration between the two countries. Ukraine needs to develop a new elite, and the United States can help by offering a large number of student scholarships [1,000 per annum] at American universities. Finally, the United States should facilitate visa regulations for Ukrainians, all the more so as Ukraine allows all American citizens to enter Ukraine without a visa [unlike the Russian Federation and Belarus which require visas of American citizens].