Global Risk Insights's Contributions

China’s central bank is considering regulations that would curb the development of China’s Internet banking innovation. Facing rising domestic financial risks, Chinese policy makers seem to be liberalizing the financial market with great caution.

Russian leaders may celebrate annexing Crimea, but it will cost the Russian economy. Already weak, this latest move threatens to send the country into recession.

US labor market slack, the unused part of economic production capacity, is an important economic indicator used by the Federal Reserve to determine forward guidance. The question is how much slack the FOMC thinks there is.

The past weeks in Ukraine have once again shown a close correlation between extreme political volatility and energy markets. As an immediate consequence of the Russian intervention in the Crimea...

A recent US federal government recall of tainted beef illustrates the complexity and pressing risks of the global food supply chain. Managing these risks is critical to agribusiness, the well-being of billions of people and the global economy.

Armed conflicts in the 21st century are less common than before, or at least that is what conflict focused databases have shown in the last few years. However, other forms of threats, ranging from physical violence to cyber risks, are spreading, affecting governments and private firms alike.

Raising the US minimum wage is a powerful political idea that will increase both sales and labor costs for businesses.

Guest blogger Frederik Vitting Hermann looks at the more widespread use of China’s currency around the globe. Conditions in the domestic market and the Chinese incremental reform style of monetary authorities make full internationalization within the next ten years implausible.

In the last couple of weeks, the Chinese yuan has lost nearly half of its 2013 appreciation against the US dollar. Investor speculation and central bank monetary policy may both be responsible for fund outflows.

The Volcker Rule is designed to address conflicts of interest in proprietary trading, as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Proprietary trading, where banks trade for their own account and not on behalf of any client...

Turkey has bought oil from the Kurdish region in northern Iraq before, but oil transfer was carried out by trucks, which kept the amount of exports at a minimal level. Construction of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline between Turkey and the semiautonomous region of northern Iraq...

Developing the Northeast Passage could revitalize Arctic regions, allow the shipping industry to bypass politically unstable areas and reduce travel costs and carbon emissions. But the project is dependent on huge investments, better regulations and political will.

Food availability, affordability and quality drive food security problems in the world. The drought in California threatens to exacerbate food security problems in all three issue areas.

Violence in Ukraine has greatly escalated in recent weeks. The death toll has climbed to 28, while over 200 people have been injured. In order to understand the chaos in Ukraine, it is important to understand the historical context.

Capital account convertibility has many advantages. But does it make sense to link up domestic financial markets tightly with international ones?

The recent rout of emerging markets prompt worries over a new emerging market crisis like those of the 1990s and early 2000s. While significant downside risks exist, differentiation is likely to take over as markets calm and investors pinpoint those countries with strong fundamentals and growth potential.

A US federal court recently ruled that the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) 2010 regulations enforcing net neutrality overstepped its legal authority. Here is what to make of the ruling.

The United States’ monetary policy has far-reaching, sometimes unintended consequences, and these past few years have seen unprecedented liquidity injections from the Fed.

China seeks energy security through its territorial claim to the possibly ‘natural resource rich’ areas of the South China Sea, jeopardizing diplomatic relations with the remaining five countries, who also claim conflicting territorial rights.

Low-interest rates in the US enabled the 2013 bull market but have also created the conditions for another credit bubble. Covenant-lite loans, the latest financial innovation, could spell trouble.