The guys who make the economic decisions

Source: http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article7540.html

Answering to Silvia´s demand, I´m going to include some links about the institutions that make a big amount of the economic decisions that influence the life of billions of people in the world

- The G-20 was created in 1999 as a response of the financial crises of the 90s. The countries that belong to this group are the following: France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, Russia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, USA, Mexico, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, South Korea, South Africa and Australia. The European Union is also a represented in this group. This is the reason why the representatives of Spain participated in some of the last summits of the G-20. More information on this link:

http://www.g20.org/about_what_is_g20.aspx

- The G-8 is formed by the most industrialized countries of the world: the USA, Japan, Canada, Russia, Italy, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. The representatives of the European Union attend the annual meetings as well, but they cannot vote. On the links below you can learn more about the G-8:

http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/g8/about-apropos/members-membres.aspx?menu_id=23&menu=L

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G8

- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was created at the end of World War 2 to supervise the world financial system. Nowadays they defend free market economy and promote measures of liberalization and deregulation of the economies. This policy has received a lot of critics, because of the sacrifices that liberalization entails for many people.

http://www.imf.org/external/about/overview.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Monetary_Fund

- The World Bank (WB) was also created at the end of World War 2. Its goal was to finance the development of countries, by providing loans at low interest. The policies of the World Bank have been criticised by many NGOs as well:

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTABOUTUS/0,,pagePK:50004410~piPK:36602~theSitePK:29708,00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Bank

- The World Economic Forum is a private organization that celebrates an annual meeting in the city of Davos in Switzerland. Every January many influent people go to Davos to discuss and promote initiatives to improve the world. These meetings in Davos have been criticised as well, because of their defense of liberalization and globalization.

http://www.weforum.org/en/index.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Economic_Forum

- The Federal Reserve is the central bank of the USA. His president, Ben Bernanke, is one of the most powerful men in the world. His decisions of increasing or reducing the value of the dollar can change the lives of millions of people, not only in the USA. Bernanke is an expert in the Great Depression of the 1930s and he has declared that he will avoid a new economic depression, even if he has to print millions of dollars and drop them  from a helicopter over Manhattan Island. This is why he is called “Helicopter Ben”.

http://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/default.htm

Source: http://humanosphere.kplu.org/2010/11/g20-accomplishes-little-of-substance/

- The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central bank of the European Union. It´s presided by Jean Claude Trichet and  has an important role in the economic policy of the European Union. For example, they decide on the interests of mortgages.

http://www.ecb.int/home/html/index.en.html