Curriculum How Global Finance Works
How Global Finance Works
The plumbing of the world's money - how the global financial system fits together, offshore dollars, global imbalances, SWIFT and correspondent banks, Basel rules, shadow banking, carry trades, too-big-to-fail banks, financial centres, contagion, faster cross-border payments and the global safety net.
- A Map of the Global Financial System The main players and markets that move money around the world - central banks, commercial banks, investors, currency markets and international institutions - and how they connect. 📄 Read-aloud
- Offshore Dollars: The Eurodollar Market How US dollars held in banks outside the United States created a vast offshore market, why it grew, and why it matters in financial crises. 📄 Read-aloud
- Global Imbalances: Savers and Spenders Why some countries run persistent trade surpluses while others run deficits, how savings flow between them, and why economists worry about large imbalances. 📄 Read-aloud
- SWIFT and Correspondent Banking How international payments actually travel between banks, the role of the SWIFT messaging network, and how cutting countries off from SWIFT became a sanctions tool. 📄 Read-aloud
- The BIS and the Basel Rules How the Bank for International Settlements in Basel coordinates central banks, and how the Basel accords set global rules for how much capital banks must hold. 📄 Read-aloud
- Shadow Banking What shadow banks are, how they perform bank-like functions outside traditional bank regulation, and why they can be the source of crises, from 2008 to India's IL&FS. 📄 Read-aloud
- How Global Finance Works: Checkpoint 1 Quick checkpoint - five questions on the global financial system, eurodollars, imbalances, SWIFT and Basel rules. 5 questions
- The Carry Trade How investors borrow in low-interest currencies to invest in high-interest ones, why this can be profitable for long periods, and why it can unwind violently. 📄 Read-aloud
- Too Big to Fail Why some banks are so large and connected that governments feel they must rescue them, the moral hazard this creates, and reforms since 2008 including the Credit Suisse case. 📄 Read-aloud
- Global Financial Centres and GIFT City Why finance concentrates in cities like New York, London, Singapore and Dubai, what makes a financial centre succeed, and India's ambitions for GIFT City. 📄 Read-aloud
- Contagion: How Crises Spread How financial shocks spread from one country to others through trade, banks, investors and confidence, with examples from 1997, 2008 and the 2013 taper tantrum. 📄 Read-aloud
- Faster Cross-Border Payments How linking instant payment systems like UPI across countries, and projects like the BIS's Nexus, aim to make international transfers faster and cheaper. 📄 Read-aloud
- The Global Financial Safety Net The layers of protection countries can draw on in a crisis - their own reserves, central bank swap lines, regional arrangements and the IMF - plus a recap of the module. 📄 Read-aloud