As a response to the global financial and economic crisis that began in 2008, many developing and emerging-market economies undertook resolute countercyclical monetary and fiscal actions, which paralleled those of the developed countries. These policy responses contributed significantly to the recovery of the world economy in 2010 and 2011. In particular, the strong and fast responses of Brazil, China and India helped mitigate deflationary risks and avoid a repetition of the Great Depression of the early 1930s. On the other hand, reforms of financial regulation and supervision are taking time to advance, and little progress has been achieved so far in implementing measures to reduce global imbalances and to avoid a malfunctioning of the international exchange-rate system. These would contribute to greater coherence between the international trading and financial systems, and to creating a more stable international economic environment for development. This is a collection of papers that contribute to the debate on these topics, putting the South at centre stage. It examines how the countries of the South were affected by the global economic and financial crisis, and how they responded to it.