Amazon.com description: Product Description: An urgent argument for an international body that will foster a more stable, viable global financial system. In Global Finance at Risk, two acclaimed economists propose a bold and necessary solution to the financial crises that threaten us all: a World Financial Authority with powers to establish best-practice financial regulation and risk management everywhere. Expansion of finance in industrialized economies, including nineteenth-century America, saw exactly the same kind of turbulence now afflicting Asia, Russia, and Latin America. Then, the solution was to establish national banking and securities regulators, deposit insurance, and lenders of last resort. But in our increasingly globalized world, the savings or checking account you open at your local bank can be based on bad debt from anywhere in the world--including places outside the jurisdiction of those national agencies. And when banks fail, it's not just their account-holders who suffer, but all of us. This is why, argue John Eatwell and Lance Taylor in this timely and urgent book, effective regulation of the international financial system is crucial for the economic health of the nation--and the world. Global Finance at Risk offers a workable solution for today. It will be the subject of serious debate here and in Europe.