The G20 Agenda, Article Writing Example

 Introduction

Many people worldwide have experienced consequences related to economic downturns in recent years. The aim of this research is to investigate ways to address financial regulatory issues. In order to formulate such methods, it is incumbent upon researchers to understand the causes and effects of the trend. Only then, can we expect to devise an agenda to deal with the origins and impact of the crisis in such a way as to mitigate its consequences for individuals, institutions, and nations.

The Crisis

Hardly anyone in any country has not felt the financial crunch of the pending global economic downturn. Unfortunately, as with many socio-behavioral problems, most of those who have experienced the harshest consequences have been the middle, working, and lower classes. Interestingly, these groups tend to be the least knowledgeable about global economic trends and tend to think of the downturn in terms of their immediate environment and almost never outside the economic problems of their own country. Nevertheless, national economies are so interrelated that it is nearly impossible for financial behavior in one country not to affect the economy of another in some way.

The crisis as we know it has a starting point in the summer of 2007 and came to fruition by mid-2008, but conditions that existed prior to the actual downturn are blamed for triggering the severity of the current situation. For one, a lack of financial leadership made it easier for investment organizations to take extreme risks in hopes of gaining huge profits, but when the investments failed to return as hoped, it put the economy in double jeopardy – the first of which was sort of an organic (or naturally cyclical) downturn, the second of which was the momentum it gained from poor investment strategies on the part of financial powerhouses (G20-G8 France, 2011). Historically, regulatory institutions have attempted to head-off such snowballs with legislation that was aimed at limiting contamination between sectors, but because the system itself is geared toward crisis intervention rather than crisis prevention, measures that were in the works were insufficient to curb the trend (G20-G8 France, 2011). That is the second condition that allowed for the severity of the downturn. The third major condition that existed prior to the downturn was that the protections that did exist were unevenly applied within the marketplace (G20-G8 France, 2011). The fact that international financial crime went unregulated made economic imbalances more profound upsetting the equilibrium in global finance (G20-G8 France, 2011). These are the three main factors that contributed to behavior that predicated the global financial downturn as we know it. The really sad part of it is that the sector most affected was that of agriculture (EDHEC-Risk Institute, 2011). The impact of human greed has been so profound as to threaten the very food we need to live (Till, 2011). Furthermore, instead of mitigating the consequences of these behaviors, politics has aggravated them (Evenett, 2011).

Agenda

An agenda geared toward repairing the global economy and preventing the emergence of another crisis is outlined here. In terms of reparations, adherences to regulations that are already in place will help strengthen financial institutions as well as compensate those who have experienced compounded losses as a result of the recessionary economic events (G20-G8 France, 2011). To address a means of preventing another such similar occurrence, certain goals are iterated. First, increased regulation of the commodities market will lend stability to the agricultural market sectors (G20-G8 France, 2011). Next, marginalizing institutions that do not adhere to regulations will limit the impact of illicit activity in the financial sector (G20-G8 France, 2011). Furthermore, technology tends to warp impressions of economic health increasing the incidence of abuse (G20-G8 France, 2011). Measures geared toward preventing this phenomenon are another way of averting a future crisis with similar causal factors (G20-G8 France, 2011). Last, legislators should bolster regulations that protect the individual consumer from financial irresponsibility on part of institutions (G20-G8 France, 2011). Although these goals represent prevailing ideas about how to protect the market from another similar such occurrence, they are not necessarily the final word in mitigating the consequences of irresponsible financial behavior on part of financial institutions.

What cannot be accomplished in the realm of business law may be attainable through business ethics. Researchers contend that regulation of the financial industry is insufficient to curb the problem because attitudes that aggravated the crisis are entrenched in the thinking of financiers (Helleiner & Pagliari, 2011). Despite efforts by regulators to enforce rules that are aimed at preventing fiscal oversights, political, cultural, and economic agendas of individual actors and institutions may still contribute to global economic illness in the future (Helleiner & Pagliari, 2011). What really needs to happen is that people need to be committed to ethical conduct with respect to business in general. No matter the number of regulations that are cranked out by G20, the fact is that as long as profiteering is seen as acceptable behavior, the global market will never stabilize permanently. The ensuing imbalances will result in future crises, but if individuals may be convinced that ethical behavior precedes both profit and law, fair-dealing and responsible fiscal behavior will solidify an economic world where the figurative bottom-line exceeds the literal one; Otherwise, we will be caught in a cycle of legalism that is impotent to solve the underlying issues that create financial problems as they have been experienced in the preceding five years.

Conclusion

Although many people worldwide have experienced consequences related to economic downturns in recent years, the severity of it was caused by a relatively few people acting irresponsibly with financial power entrusted to them by the global marketplace. These isolatable factors had made for such profound disparity that the trend snowballed into a crisis of which there is no short-term solution. The aim of this research was to investigate ways to address financial regulatory issues. In order to formulate such methods, researchers sought to understand the causes and effects of the downturn in hopes of formulating an agenda to mitigate the impact for individuals, institutions, nations, and the world at large.

References

Evenett, S. J. (Ed.). (2011). Resolve falters as global prospects worsen: The 9th GTA report. London: Centre for Economic Policy Research.

G20-G8 France. (2011). Financial Regulation. New World New Ideas. Retrieved from http://www.g20-g8.com/g8-g20/g20/english/priorities-for-france/the-priorities-of-the-french-presidency/sheets/financial-regulation.338.html

Helleiner, E. & Pagliari, S. (2011). The end of an era in international financial regulation? A postcrisis research agenda. International Organization, 65: 169–200.

Till, H. (2011). A review of the G20 meeting on agriculture: Addressing price volatility in the food markets. EDHEC-Risk Institute.