Over the past three decades, the global financial system has become more dynamic and interconnected, more concentrated and complicated than ever before. Financial engineering seems to know no limits to creating new instruments that link institutions in new ways. more

Officials in the Obama administration confidently predict that few, if any, states will opt out of the expansion of Medicaid that health care reform allows. Opponents say most of them will. more

The recent scandals at Barclays PLC, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and other banks might give the impression that the financial sector has some serious morality problems. Unfortunately, it’s worse than that: We are dealing with a drop in ethical standards throughout the business world, and our graduate schools are partly to blame. more

To the editor: According to PBN’s July 12 Morning Call e-newsletter, Providence Mayor Angel Taveras wants to borrow $40 million to fix city streets. Clearly, that’s bad financial management for a city already deeply in debt. Worse, it avoids dealing with the serious underlying issues. Providence is in a fiscal and infrastructure mess because of: more

While I do not ever profess to having the be all and end all of solutions to major as well as minor social issues, I am never afraid to think outside the box and put my ideas in front of you for what hopefully shall be constructive evaluation and refining. more

Wall Street has pulled off the greatest scam of all-time. I am not talking about the TARP plan, QE 1, 2 and soon 3, or even the transfer of trillions of dollars to the world’s banks through negative real interest rates set by the Fed. Rather, the extraordinary sleight of hand that Wall Street has pulled off is the transfer of risk from virtually all forms of investing to the government. more

Watching Democrats and Republicans hash out their differences in the public arena, it’s easy to get the impression that there’s a deep disagreement among reasonable people about how to manage the U.S. economy. more

The recent event hosted by Rep. James R. Langevin, D-R.I., and the Rhode Island Small Business Development Center on June 25 at the Johnson & Wales University Culinary Arts Museum to help small businesses was an excellent effort to highlight and spur the development of new, innovative business ideas. more

Around the country, and right here in Rhode Island, the voices that support adult education and workforce development as an integral part of an overall strategy to improve the national and local economy cannot be ignored. more

The mathematical insight that turned Google Inc. into a multibillion-dollar company has the potential to help the world avert the next financial crisis. If only banks made public the data required to do the job. more