21st Century Challenges

Making Capitalism more creative by Bill Gates

Capitalism has improved the lives of billions of people — something that's easy to forget at a time of great economic uncertainty. But it has left out billions more.

Is Capitalism dead?

As financial panic spread across the globe and governments scrambled to contain the damage, reality seemed to announce the doom of U.S.-style free markets and President Bush's ideology.

Rethinking Capitalism’s Contours

A planned international summit on the financial crisis is turning into a debate over the future shape of capitalism, with European leaders favoring greater international oversight of markets, and U.S. officials preferring the current model of national regulation.

Gordon Brown to warn Barack Obama on dangers of protectionism

Mr Brown will urge the rejection of "beggar-thy-neighbour protectionism that has been a feature in transforming past crises into deep recessions".

The future shape of Capitalism

G20 urged to reject protectionism

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has urged leaders of the G20 developed and emerging economies to resist calls for protectionism.

Meet the Capitalism panel

Read the biographies of Vince Cable MP,
Shadow Chancellor, Liberal Democrats,
John Micklethwait, Editor-in-Chief of
The Economist and BBC broadcaster Evan Davis.

Protectionism on the Rise in Europe?

Now is the time for a revolution in economic thought

Anatole Kaletsky outlines some of the unorthodox approaches to economics which conventional economists have ignored and which might have helped to avert the present crisis

What is protectionism?

A guide to protectionism, also known as economic nationalism // Are we seeing a return to these practices?

David Cameron urges faith in Capitalism

Conservative leader David Cameron has said people's "faith in capitalism and free enterprise" must be restored despite the global downturn

China exports at lowest level in a decade

Chinese exports dropped 17.5 per cent in January compared with the same month the year before, the biggest decline in more than a decade as the impact on the economy from the global slump gathered pace.

Learn the right lessons from the Depression

This crisis is not a total failure of world capitalism and nothing will be achieved by a retreat into narrow nationalism

Great clean-up - can economic rescue plans also save planet?

Campaigners hope huge spending packages aimed at easing the slump will spell the first serious attempt to tackle climate change. But are they as green as billed?

RBS record loss means new £25bn public bill

The UK taxpayer is to inject a further £25 bilion into the Royal Bank of Scotland, the ailing bank revealed today, bringing its total bailout cash to more than £45 billion.

EU ‘consensus’ to tackle crisis

EU leaders have ended an emergency summit in Brussels saying they are determined to avoid protectionist moves in response to the economic crisis.

Brown to engage Obama on global scale

Gordon Brown’s meeting with Barack Obama this week is being portrayed by British officials as a make-or-break opportunity to ­persuade the new US administration to engage in international efforts to tackle the recession.

Brown to tackle US on protectionism

Gordon Brown will on Wednesday challenge Democrats on Capitol Hill to resist protectionism

Gordon Brown to warn US against economic protectionism

Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister, is preparing to use a speech to the US Congress in Washington to urge American politicians to avoid retreating to economic protectionism.

Brown says US bond ‘unbreakable’

In Gordon Brown's speech to both Houses on Capitol Hill, he states that neither nation should "succumb" to protectionism "which protects no-one", but seize opportunities ahead.

Bank of England to start pumping money into UK economy

The financial crisis will enter a new phase today when the Bank of England announces that it will fight the economic downturn by pumping hundreds of billions of pounds into the economy.

So much for capitalism

For two decades, in the 1980s and 1990s, China pushed forward a series of economic reforms that came at a vast cost, exceeded only by their vaster rewards. Now, as the financial crisis sweeps across the world, those reforms are going into reverse. It is a sign of how hard governments find it to shake off the habit of ownership.

The Future of Capitalism

The Financial Times have started a new series 'The Future of Capitalism'

50 people who will frame the debate on the Future of Capitalism

50 people who will frame the debate on the Future of Capitalism

Japanese economy shrinks 3.2%

Japan's economy shrank 3.2% in the final three months of last year, figures out today showed, confirming fears that the country is mired in its deepest recession since the second world war.

China’s industrial growth slows as exports slump at record pace

China's industrial growth slid at the start of the year as exports slumped at a record pace, according to official figures.

A guide to the G20

Read a quick guide to the Group-of-Twenty (G20) meeting in London, April 2009

Britain showing signs of heading towards 1930s-style depression, says Bank

The country is displaying early symptoms of being trapped in a so-called “debt deflation trap” where families find themselves pushed further and further into the red every month, according to a Bank report published today.

Recovery timing ‘depends on G20’

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has steered clear of echoing the chairman of the US central bank's prediction that the economic recovery will begin next year.

Have your say - The future shape of Capitalism

Tell us what you thought of 'The future shape of Capitalism' event. Discuss the issues raised on the night by our panel.

Ahead of G20 summit, report says: promote sustainability over growth

The pursuit of economic growth was one of the root causes of the financial crisis, and governments should respond to the recession by abandoning growth at all costs in favour of a more sustainable, greener system, says a report out today.

On eve of G20 summit, new blow to Gordon Brown

Ministers were struggling to maintain momentum for the G20 summit last night after it emerged that any spending decisions would be deferred to a later meeting, further narrowing the scope of this week's London talks, which have been plagued by divisions between European leaders and Gordon Brown.

New world order emerges from chaos

Slowly the shape of the world after the financial flood is beginning to emerge.

Prosperity without growth? Prof Tim Jackson

Professor of Sustainable Development in the Centre for Environmental Strategy (CES) at the University of Surrey.

Education in Britain

An 60 second guide to education in Britain