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All over the world, more and more people work for Western-style companies, study at Western-style universities, vote for Western-style governments, take Western medicines, wear Western clothes, and even work Western hours. Historian Niall Ferguson looks at Western civilization’s rise to global predominance in Civilization: The West and the Rest, he argues that, beginning in the fifteenth century, the West developed six concepts that the rest lacked: competition, science, the rule of law, consumerism, modern medicine, and the work ethic.

All over the world, more and more people work for Western-style companies, study at Western-style universities, vote for Western-style governments, take Western medicines, wear Western clothes, and even work Western hours. Historian Niall Ferguson looks at Western civilization’s rise to global predominance in Civilization: The West and the Rest, he argues that, beginning in the fifteenth century, the West developed six concepts that the rest lacked: competition, science, the rule of law, consumerism, modern medicine, and the work ethic.

One of the consequences of the 2007 global financial crisis has been an acceleration in the shift away from the traditional 19th and 20th century industrial powers toward a new emerging center of economic power in the world. The debt heavy and slow growth economies of Europe and the U.S. are now dependant on investments and exports from the emerging economies of the so-called BRIC nations — Brazil, Russia, India and China. That shift is reflected in the influence China and India are having at this week's G20 Summit in Cannes, France. The U.S. is no longer the grand mediator in global affairs, and the era of the single superpower ushered in at the end of the Cold War in 1989 now appears to be over.

Yesterday, U.S. Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner spoke by phone with his Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier Wang Qishan, to discuss the challenges facing global markets after a tumultuous week for the U.S. economy. China's stock market plunged on Monday (along with the U.S.'s), following the news that Standard and Poor downgraded America's credit rating. Chinese investors are concerned that the current poor economic climate in the U.S. will lead to decreased demand for Chinese exports. China is the largest U.S. foreign creditor, but over the weekend on Chinese websites many people were calling for China to invest less money in the U.S.

Niall Ferguson, Harvard professor and Newsweek columnist, asks whether an economic plunge will ruin the Arab Spring.

Twenty years ago, the Berlin Wall came tumbling down in what seemed to be a victorious day for capitalism. We look back 20 years while countries around the world today continue capitalist experiments and attempt to weather the current economic crisis. Meanwhile, a new BBC World Service poll says that only the U.S. and Pakistan believe capitalism is working today. We speak to Harvard history professor Niall Ferguson, author of "The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World."

Renowned historian Niall Ferguson looks into the history of money and how it makes the world turn. In The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World, he tells the human story behind the evolution of the world’s financial system, from its origins in Mesopotamia to the latest ...

Our guest, Niall Ferguson, once coined the term "Chimerica" to describe the American-Chinese relationship. What did he mean, and where does he think this weeks' talks between U.S. and Chinese officials will lead? Niall Ferguson, a Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University and William Ziegler Professor at Harvard Business School, joins us.

Niall Ferguson, professor of History at Harvard University and the author of The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World (Penguin Press HC, 2008), and Peniel Joseph, associate professor of African-American Studies and History at Brandeis University, contributor to The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and ...

Unemployment during the Great Depression was 25 percent. So, just how does the current economic crisis stack up against history's other bubble-bursting periods? Niall Ferguson, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University and the author of The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World, places ...

Niall Ferguson, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University, senior research fellow of Jesus College, Oxford University, a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and the author of The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World, places the current financial crisis in ...

We continue our conversation about the U.S. and “empire” with Niall Ferguson, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University, a senior research fellow of Jesus College, Oxford University, and a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. The author of Empire: The Rise and Demise of ...