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ForewordThis report grows out of research carried out under the auspices of the project Politics,Economics and Global Governance: The European Dimensions (PEGGED) fundedby the European Union’s Framework Programme. The project, as initially conceived,involved four workstreams: the governance of international macroeconomic relations;globalization, financial stability and global financial regulation; the global trade regime;and international migration and the mobility of labour.This research agenda was conceived in the spring of 2007. Less than five years havepassed since then, but the economic and political landscape has shifted enormously, andthe early years of the millennium now seem rather distant and remote. Celebrations ofthe Great Moderation, arguments for the desirability of independent central banks andthe virtues of markets and the discipline now seem not so much incorrect as somewhatbeside the point.Faced with this seismic shift, PEGGED responded in a sensible and pragmatic way,adapting its research agenda to the needs of policymakers as they grappled first withthe turmoil in US subprime markets, then the growing disruption in global financialmarkets, and then the collapse of institutions at the heart of the financial system, suchas AIG and Lehman. The output was disseminated through PEGGED working papersfor the most part, but the urgency of the crisis and the need to deliver relevant researchimmediately to policymakers meant that new tools were needed. Fortunately, RichardBaldwin and CEPR had created just the right tool in the summer of 2007 – VoxEU.VoxEU columns and eBooks proved to be the right way to deliver key research resultsin real time. Although VoxEU is a separate venture, independent of PEGGED, VoxEUhas been supported by DG Education and Culture, a happy synergy between EU fundingprogrammes.vii