Feature
Why prevention is better than cure
Does delay in closing a bank make a crisis worse? Not necessarily so, says Charles Goodhart, who examines the case for and against with reference to recent financial crises and near-crises
How India manages its vast banknote circulation
Prabir Biswas explains how the Reserve Bank of India has stepped up risk management in the provision and distribution of cash
Bernanke sets out his stall
David Hale analyses the decisions Ben Bernanke has made and dilemmas he faces, as he begins to build his brand of monetary policy
Singapore notes
A round-up of talking points from this year's meetings of the IMF and World Bank
The new geography of international finance
Marc Uzan examines the implications of the shift on the IMF's voting rights
Three decades of fund memories
William Keegan looks back on 30 years of often-rancorous meetings of the Bretton Woods twins
Ian Macfarlane - a proud record
Stephen Bell spoke with the former governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia whose decade in charge cemented inflation targeting
Why monetary policies have not been too loose
A further global tightening of monetary policy in an attempt to manage asset-price volatility would be misguided, writes Bill Allen
Barbados sails on
A variety of policy instruments are needed for the central bank to meet the challenges of a small open economy, writes Bernard Codrington of the Central Bank of Barbados
How payment systems affect monetary policy
Payment systems provide the means for making monetary policy. Plans for reforms in one must consider effects on the other, writes Stefan W. Schmitz
How safe are your reserves?
A case before the English courts has highlighted concerns over whether sovereign immunity applies to central bank reserves, writes Charles Proctor.
How the People's Bank is shaping China's financial sector
Hui Feng explains how China's Central bank has become the leading force in the country's banking reform and financial restructuring
What to expect from Singapore
What will be the key talking points at the IMF's annual meeting in September? Marc Uzan, director of the Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee, explains
Policy coordination and future IMF surveillance
Alexander Swoboda analyses past attempts at international policy coordination, and asks what role a newly mandated IMF should play in unwinding global imbalances
How cashless payments will reshape Asian commerce
Sayan Pariwat makes the case for electronic payments in economies where cash is still king
More transparency may harm bond markets
More transparency in European bond markets may mean less liquidity according to a recent report
How the euro gives Britain a free ride
New research suggests Britain and other European countries that have not adopted the euro have nevertheless benefited from it nearly as much as insiders, without giving up policy autonomy
Kuroda's crusade for the ACU
What's behind the Asian development Bank's push for a single currency in Asia? Anthony Rowley reports
Eastern Europe's risky credit boom
Sky-rocketing lending is a real worry for policymakers, but with one eye on the euro, their options are limited writes Dubravko Mihaljek
Questions Governor Fukui still needs to answer
Unanswered questions arising from the Murakami affair still threaten the Bank of Japan's credibility, writes Hisashi Harui