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The International Monetary Fund published an analysis of the global economic recession on Thursday saying that the downturn will be long and severe. The lending institution also stated that recovery would be sluggish as recessions based on a financial crisis are more difficult to emerge from. Ahead of releasing its World Economic Outlook report this week, the IMF suggested that the financial sectors of the global economy be stabilized through ambitious fiscal and monetary policies. At the present, world economies are still feeling the effects of the recession as a reduction in demand resulted in a record drop of 18.4% in the industrial output of the Eurozone. The economy of China posted its lowest rate of growth since 1992 in the first quarter of 2009. “Meltdown: The End of the Age of Greed,” by Paul Mason, the economics editor of BBC Newsnight is an up-to-date account of how the global economy descended into its present situation. Tracking deregulatory policies, high-risk finance, and credit crunches, Mason concludes that the era of neoliberalism as an ideology and economic model is over. The choice facing the developed economies of the world, including the U.S., is either to enter a new paradigm of hyper-regulation, or face prolonging the current global slump.

GUEST: Paul Mason, author of “Meltdown: The End of the Age of Greed,” (Verso Books) economics editor of BBC Newsnight.

For more information, visit www.meltdowntheendoftheageofgreed.com.