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featured Economic Studies, Productivity & Performance article, Global capital markets: Entering a new era

September 2009 

Global capital markets: Entering a new era

A new report by the McKinsey Global Institute highlights the impact of the global financial crisis on global capital flows.

Recent Thinking

The Archive

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

  • December 2004 

    Encouraging consumer spending in China

    Weak consumer spending in China is emerging as a big obstacle to the country’s sustained growth.

  • December 2004 

    The landlocked continent

    Europe's land-use policies limit productivity. Changing them could create jobs and boost competition.

  • November 2004 

    How Germany can win from offshoring

    Offshoring could create new wealth for Germany, but only if it adopts the structural reforms needed to reemploy its displaced workers.

  • August 2004 

    Governing globalization

    The public and private sectors must collaborate closely to ensure that all workers benefit from the global economic integration.

  • August 2004 

    Helping Britons work smarter

    UK workers aren’t as productive as their counterparts in other leading developed nations. It will take more than innovation to close the gap.

  • August 2004 

    The hidden dangers of the informal economy

    Governments suppose that the gray market creates jobs and relieves social tensions. Academics think it will disappear of its own accord. Neither idea stands up to scrutiny.

    Includes: Audio

  • August 2004 

    The high price of success

    The Bay Area’s steep cost of living has started to hamper its nascent recovery.

  • August 2004 

    What makes a city a financial hub?

    Up-and-coming cities in Asia and Eastern Europe are eager to know how to attract multinational financial-services companies.

  • July 2004 

    A richer future for India

    Two industries have shown what can be achieved when the country opens itself up to the world. Now the rest of the economy should follow suit.

  • July 2004 

    Exploding the myths of offshoring

    Far from damaging the economy of the United States, offshoring should enable its companies to direct resources to next-generation technologies and ideas—if public policy doesn't get in the way.

  • July 2004 

    Getting our readers' take on the world

    The Quarterly's latest survey of global executives finds their optimism tempered somewhat, but bullish on India, China hiring, and IT spending.

  • July 2004 

    The McKinsey Global Survey of Business Executives , July 2004

    The second McKinsey Global Survey of Business Executives finds that corporate leaders are still confident—especially about hiring, IT spending, China, and India—though they’ve tempered their earlier enthusiasm.

  • May 2004 

    The power of productivity

    Poor countries should put their consumers first.

  • March 2004 

    The McKinsey Global Survey of Business Executives , March 2004

    Executives around the world voice cautious optimism on the economy. They’re bullish on outsourcing and Asia but concerned about talent and capital.

  • February 2004 

    The truth about foreign direct investment in emerging markets

    Developing countries think they must not only offer incentives to attract foreign direct investment but also protect their local economies by restricting the way multinationals operate. Are these countries wrong on both counts?

2003

  • December 2003 

    Educating global workers

    Poor education in the developing world is not a barrier to improving productivity there. But economic growth is needed before education can progress.

  • December 2003 

    Who wins in offshoring

    By moving service industry work to countries with lower labor costs, US companies can focus on creating higher-value jobs.

  • November 2003 

    What high tech can learn from slow-growth industries

    To drive productivity, high-tech executives should focus not just on technological innovation but also on business process innovation.

  • February 2003 

    French and German banking: Showing IT's strength

    All three drivers of productivity—innovation, demand, and consolidation—must be exploited to achieve the full benefit of each.

  • February 2003 

    French and German trucking: IT for the long haul

    Continued consolidation is needed but won’t be enough—only IT-enabled innovation can help road freight companies enjoy productivity growth rates like those of the late ‘90s.

  • February 2003 

    Reviving French and German productivity

    Differences in IT spending are not the root cause of the gap between US and European productivity. Europe's basic problem is inappropriate regulation that hinders innovation.

  • February 2003 

    Telecom: Advantage, France and Germany

    The United States still leads the pack in fixed-line services. But France and Germany have the advantage in mobile ones.

2002

  • November 2002 

    How good management raises productivity

    Effective management has long been thought to make companies more efficient. Here’s proof.

  • August 2002 

    What Germans really think

    The people are ready for change and for the tough decisions needed to push the economy. Their leaders now have a chance to engage them in a serious dialogue about economic reform and revival.

  • June 2002 

    Preparing for a financial crisis

    Companies can do much to avoid falling victim to sudden national financial emergencies. Although the tally of such events is rising, many businesses remain unprepared for them.

  • February 2002 

    Banking: The IT paradox

    Despite much higher IT outlays by the retail-banking industry, its labor productivity growth rates have actually dropped. What went wrong?

  • February 2002 

    Computers: Why the party's over

    Higher sales of more powerful computers propelled the industry’s success in the late 1990s. But the tide may have turned for the worse—at least for computer manufacturers.

  • February 2002 

    Retail: The Wal-Mart effect

    Information technology isn’t the whole story behind productivity.

  • February 2002 

    Still productive after all these years

    The US economy, though not immune from unforeseen shocks, is fairly well prepared to cope with them.

  • February 2002 

    What's right with the US economy

    The secret behind the new economy isn’t information technology but old-fashioned competition and managerial innovation.

2001

  • December 2001 

    Mobilizing South Korea's women

    If South Korea is to become one of the world’s most economically advanced nations, educated women will have to play a larger role in its workforce. The first step is getting the government to take childcare more seriously.

  • December 2001 

    Revitalizing India’s banks

    Indian banks urgently need capital. To make sure that they get it, the government must ease up on regulation and welcome foreign investment.

  • November 2001 

    Better UK productivity: An inside job

    Poor labor productivity may turn UK manufacturing companies into easy targets for foreign buyers. Modern management techniques could be the answer.

  • November 2001 

    Chicago thinks small

    The Windy City should put more wind in the sails of its start-ups.

  • November 2001 

    The promised economy

    US investment in Israel has fallen sharply since the NASDAQ crash, but Asian and European companies and investors may fill the breach—to everyone’s benefit.

  • August 2001 

    Asia's performance challenge

    Asian companies still rely too heavily on shared values to motivate employees, but cultural and other barriers to a performance culture are falling.

  • July 2001 

    A plan for German job creation

    A partnership between Volkswagen and the regional government in Wolfsburg, Germany, shows how to build an economic cluster.

  • May 2001 

    In defense of the US current-account deficit

    Technological change generated both prosperity and the trade gap. Neither its continuation nor its decline would be likely to have catastrophic effects.

2000

  • December 2000 

    A case for Asian bond markets

    Without a reliable yield curve based on traded government debt and a well-developed infrastructure, stunted Asian capital markets have been hobbling local businesses.

  • December 2000 

    Taking stock

    World markets are revaluing Asia. So too should the rest of us.

  • November 2000 

    The end of monetary sovereignty

    As markets integrate and globalize, national currencies should become fewer and stronger.

  • August 2000 

    Value in Argentina

    Argentina has recently made great economic progress, but a McKinsey study, described in “Value in Argentina,” found that three-fourths of 22 leading Argentine companies were destroying value, mostly because of the high cost of capital and the heavy investments of the 1990s.

  • June 2000 

    An American lesson for France

    The French economy is much stronger than people think. France should aim to create jobs, not to protect them.

  • June 2000 

    Rethinking Dutch healthcare

    McKinsey’s Amsterdam office teamed up with health care experts to find a way of preserving the quality of Holland’s health care system while easing the great strains it faces.

  • June 2000 

    Sustaining Poland’s hard-won prosperity

    If deregulation, privatization, and openness to outside investment continue—and the government steers clear of regulatory traps—Poland will continue to show that economic “shock therapy” can create a flourishing economy.

  • June 2000 

    The German road to innovation

    Germany has an entrepreneurship gap. A new culture is emerging to close it.

  • May 2000 

    What the WTO really means for China

    Membership in the World Trade Organization will make China more open to multinationals. Though industries such as banking and insurance may be transformed, in many sectors China’s accession to the WTO will have little effect. Nor is membership a done deal—in either China or the United States.

  • February 2000 

    The Bay leads the way

    The San Francisco Bay area, including Silicon Valley, has completed the transformation from an industrial economy into a predominantly knowledge-based one that ranks among the most productive in the world.

1998

1997

1996

  • November 1996 

    The productivity of healthcare systems

    Doctors and hospitals respond predictably and consistently to their economic incentives. As a result, there are wide variations in how patients get treated in the US, Germany, and the UK.

  • August 1996 

    Capital productivity: Why the US leads and why it matters

    Higher capital returns can compensate for lower savings. German and Japanese managers need to make better decisions about asset investment and capacity utilization. Buying local can mean a 60 percent premium.

1995

  • November 1995 

    Sweden: The enemy is within

    Why has GDP growth fallen? Because 75 percent of its economy—mostly services—is protected. But not trucks, software, and banking, which are world class.

  • August 1995 

    The enemy is the mindset

    Headlines focus us on trade of manufactured goods. The reality of the global economy: local production of locally consumed services. Transferring best management practices would raise standards of living 25 percent.

1994

1993

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