In the decade since the financial crisis began in August 2007, the contours of global finance have shifted dramatically. The total value of cross-border capital flows has shrunk by 65% over the last ten years, a decline that reflects, in particular, the sharp reduction in international banking activities. The question for us is what figures like these can tell us about the health of global finance today. Are they evidence that “financial globalization” – the international movement of capital – has lurched into reverse? And if it has, would that be such a bad thing? The current retrenchment reflects greater risk ... (full story)