In an Aug. 15 op-ed published in The New York Times Global Edition, Harvard Law School Professor Hal Scott weighs in on the European economic crisis and the need for international action in resolving it. Scott is the director of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, which in May 2009 released a comprehensive report entitled “The Global Financial Crisis: A Plan for Regulatory Reform.” He is also co-chair of the Council on Global Financial Regulation and director of the Program on International Financial Systems at Harvard Law School. His books include the law school textbook “International Finance: Transactions, Policy and Regulation” (Foundation Press, 17th ed., 2010); and “The Global Financial Crisis” (Foundation Press, 2009).
The Global (Not Euro-Zone) Crisis
by Hal S. Scott
The euro-zone crisis has striking parallels with our experience in two world wars, when the United States mistakenly calculated that Europe could solve its own foreign policy problems and that Americans were immune from the consequences of the Continent’s failure to do so.
Europe’s failure twice plunged the world into war. In today’s globalized economic world, Europe’s failure to resolve its financial crisis could plunge the world into economic chaos. This is a global crisis — not a euro-zone crisis — and we must take international action to deal with it. … Read the full op-ed on NYTimes.com »