Finance

A long and winding road to global derivatives market reform

In September 2009, the Group of 20 Leaders, including President Barack Obama, announced their commitment to regulate the over-the-counter (OTC) commodity and financial derivatives market.

Parallel U.S. and EU delays in derivatives market regulation

A recent announcement by the European Commission has consequences for anyone affected by an interest rate, the price of oil or the price of wheat [read: everyone]. 

Seven ways to improve market regulation

If you want to reduce crime, you have to make sure there are enough cops on the beat. Something similar can be said for market regulation. We can’t expect markets to work if we don’t invest resources into making sure government agencies have the right regulatory tools at their disposal and have adequate resources to effectively implement and enforce the rules.

Making food aid work for those who need it (rather than those who profit from it)

IATP joins many NGOs, academics and policy experts today in celebrating a move that could make U.S. food aid more efficient and responsive to the world’s hungry. Obama’s budget for fiscal year 2014 proposes to shift close to half the food aid budget to procuring food aid from local and regional markets rather than the shipping U.S. grains on U.S. ships halfway around the world.

World Social Forum: Building a "Revolution for Dignity"

The Bardo Museum in Tunis, Tunisia has the largest collection of ancient mosaics in the world. Most of the mosaics, depicting Roman, Greek Phoenician and Nubian life, gods and royalty, are incomplete.

TPP: Doubling down on failed trade policy

The 16th round of negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) began this week in Singapore.

EU takes a crucial step toward market regulation

After the disastrous financial collapse in 2008, the commodity  and  financial market regulatory reform process on both sides of the Atlantic has been a series of promising but halting steps, all too often two steps forward and one step back.