• WSJ Women in the Economy Conference

    The Wall Street Journal's Women in the Economy conference is underway. Yesterday, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, World Bank President Robert Zoellick and Wei Sun Christianson of Morgan Stanley led off the conference with a discussion on the challenges for women in the workplace today, and the challenge for companies working to bring more women into the office, and into the boardroom.

  • Considering a New Gold Standard

    As G20 leaders meet this week, fluctuating currencies will be at the center of a lot of discussions. World Bank president Robert Zoellick suggests that they consider some sort of updated gold standard . While that proposal seems unlikely to get serious consideration, Slate 's Christopher Beam "entertain(s) the possibility," in order to explain just what Zoellick's modest proposal would mean. First, the government would have to decide what the price of gold is. That's a lot harder than it sounds. In theory, there's an ideal rate at which to peg currency against gold. We just don't know what it is. Gold is notoriously volatile-its price has doubled over the last two years. If the Federal Reserve were to simply fix the dollar to the price of gold on a given day, and demand for gold changed drastically, it would wreak havoc on the economy. If the Fed pegs the rate too high, for example, people would want to trade their dollars for gold, forcing the Fed to raise interest rates in order to make dollars more attractive. Even if the Fed were to pick the rate correctly, it would still have to make adjustments based on the economies of the United States' trading partners. If the dollar is growing in value, but another country's currency is decreasing in value, yet both currencies are pegged to gold, something has to give-either one of the currencies has to inflate or deflate, or the exchange rate has to be adjusted. Once the Fed set the price of gold, it would then have to keep the currency fixed, leaving the economy subject to the vicissitudes of the gold index. If the price of gold goes up, the United States would have to raise interest rates, which could lead to tighter credit. Which might be OK, except that gold is a primary indicator of economic uncertainty: When the economy is bad, the price of gold goes up. So the Fed would be tightening credit just when people need it most. The result: a deflationary spiral that drives the economy even deeper into recession. Read Gold Rush here Meanwhile, Harvard Kennedy School Economist Jeff Frankel takes Zoellick's proposal less literally, and briefly explains the core idea of shifting the global monetary system off of being pegged to one currency: the dollar. Read Gold: A Rival for the Dollar here .

  • World Bank President Warns of 'Human Catastrophe'

    World Bank President Robert Zoellick says the global economic crisis is already putting a major strain on development and aid efforts, and the World Bank, the IMF , and global leaders need to act now to "prevent a human catastrophe." Zoellick made the remarks at the close of the World Bank's spring meeting. At the press conference, the World Bank's Development Committee outlined the following initiatives to help alleviate the economic challenges in developing countries: • To protect the poorest, the Bank has set up the Vulnerability Financing Facility, including the Global Food Crisis Response Program and the new Rapid Social Response Program. IFC (International Finance Corporation) has also created the Microfinance Enhancement Facility to help poor borrowers. • To reinvigorate trade finance, IFC has expanded its Global Trade Finance Program from $1 billion to $3 billion, and has also launched its Global Trade Liquidity Program, expected to support up to $50 billion of trade over the next three years. • To maintain infrastructure development and create jobs, the Bank has established the Infrastructure Recovery and Assets Platform. The Bank will lend up to $15 billion a year for infrastructure, while IFC has launched the Infrastructure Crisis Facility. • To help support the financial sector , IFC has created the Capitalization Fund, to provide additional capital for developing country banks. MIGA has extended guarantees to loans to Eastern Europe for coverage of $500 million. You can read Zoellick's remarks here , and watch the full Development Committee news conference here .