About The Conference

Criticism of global capitalism has proliferated since the onset of the Asian financial crisis in 1997. The International Monetary Fund's interventions in Asia, Russia, and Brazil-ostensibly intended to bolster the free market-have contributed to the notion that capitalism has somehow failed.

Plans for redesigning the world's financial architecture abound, but is global capitalism in crisis?

Experts from four continents will gather at this conference to discuss why recurring financial turmoil should provide a warning to countries that would move away from the free market. Participants will also talk about the struggle between state corporatism in its various forms and laissez faire, and caution would-be architects against trying to implement an assortment of new international regulatory and institutional schemes.

Are hot money flows a blessing or a curse? What is the record of Asian reform? What are the risks of creating an international lender of last resort? How can creditors and borrowers manage debt obligations without official bailouts? How is the market creating international standards for investment? As financial officials of the industrialized nations prepare for the annual G-7 meetings, this event will address those and other important questions.

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