Events, Verisoph

4 April 1994 Founding of Netscape 0 cit. Jim Clark and Marc Andreessen found the company behind the Navigator web browser. Its 1995 IPO ignites the dot-com boom, and its loss of the browser war to Microsoft becomes a defining antitrust case. economy / technology ●●●

5 July 1994 Founding of Amazon 0 cit. Jeff Bezos founds Amazon in a Bellevue garage as an online bookstore. It grows into the dominant force in e-commerce and, through Amazon Web Services, invents the cloud computing industry. economy / technology ●●●●

December 1994 to 1995 The Mexican peso crisis 0 cit. A sudden devaluation of the peso triggered capital flight and a financial panic dubbed the Tequila crisis. A large US and IMF rescue package stabilized Mexico but revived debate over who bears the cost of such bailouts. economy / politics ●●●

1994 Amazon is named after the warrior women of Greek myth 0 cit. Jeff Bezos named his 1994 online bookstore after the Amazon River, the world's largest. Spanish explorers had named that river for the Amazons, the warrior women of Greek mythology. economy / religion / war ●●●

1994 Delphi is named for the ancient Greek oracle site 0 cit. Delphi, the auto-parts company spun off from General Motors in 1994, is named after Delphi, the ancient Greek sanctuary of Apollo and home of its famous oracle. economy / religion / technology ●

30 June 1994 Voucher privatization phase ends 0 cit. The mass voucher phase of privatization closed, having transferred roughly two-thirds of Russian industrial enterprises out of state hands. Ownership had concentrated heavily among enterprise managers, bank-linked investment funds, and early speculators rather than being widely dispersed among ordinary citizens. economy ●●

12 January 1994 The CFA franc is devalued fifty percent 0 cit. France and the CFA franc zone's member governments devalued the currency by 50 percent against the French franc, the first devaluation since 1948, after years of an overvalued peg had made CFA exports uncompetitive. The decision was negotiated primarily between the French Treasury, the IMF, and a small group of African finance ministers, with the change announced to the wider public largely as a fait accompli, and it remains the most cited single event illustrating that core CFA monetary decisions were made outside the member states themselves. economy ●●●

c. 1994 The revolving door between the Pentagon and defense contractors draws scrutiny 0 cit. Studies and congressional reports through the 1990s document a steady flow of senior US military and defense officials into executive roles at defense contractors, and vice versa, after they leave public office. Analysts including former officials warn this revolving door can shape procurement decisions and threat assessments in favor of industry, a documented dynamic distinct from claims of a single controlling cabal. economy / politics ●●

12 January 1994 The 1994 CFA franc devaluation 0 cit. Under pressure from France and the IMF, the CFA franc is cut in half overnight, doubling the local price of imports across the zone. Member governments had little say in a decision made largely in Paris. For critics the episode showed who really controlled the currency; for defenders it corrected an overvalued peg. economy / politics ●●

1994 The tracking cookie is born 0 cit. A young engineer at Netscape invented the web cookie, a small file that let a site remember a visitor. Advertisers soon turned third-party cookies into a way to follow people from site to site and build profiles of their interests. This quiet piece of code became the foundation of the tracking economy that funds much of the internet. economy / technology ●●

12 January 1994 The CFA franc is devalued by half from Paris 0 cit. France and the franc zone finance ministers cut the value of the CFA franc in half overnight, from 50 to 100 CFA per French franc. The decision, driven from Paris, doubled the local price of imports and hit household incomes across fourteen countries. It showed that a currency used by tens of millions of Africans could be reset by French policy. economy / society ●●●

c. 1994 The Elf oil company is exposed as a political slush fund 0 cit. French magistrates open an investigation that reveals the state oil company Elf Aquitaine as a tool of foreign policy and a source of secret money. Elf channeled funds to African leaders in Gabon, Congo and elsewhere and to French politicians. The case exposed how oil deals and political control were fused in Francafrique. economy / politics ●●●

8 December 1994 Kenya joins the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa 0 cit. The COMESA treaty enters into force and Kenya becomes a founding member of the bloc, which succeeds the earlier Preferential Trade Area. Kenya joins the COMESA Free Trade Area at its launch in 2000, giving duty-free access across member markets. The overlap of COMESA, EAC, and later continental commitments creates layered and sometimes competing trade obligations. diplomacy / economy ●●

c. 1994 Second-hand clothes undercut the textile mills 0 cit. As trade opened, cheap imported second-hand clothes, known as mitumba, flooded the market in the 1990s. Local textile firms such as Rivatex and Kicomi could not compete and shut down or scaled back. The collapse is cited by critics of adjustment as evidence of its cost, while others attribute it to weak management and outdated plants. economy / society ●●

1 January 1995 Founding of the World Trade Organization 0 cit. The WTO begins operation under the 1994 Marrakesh Agreement, replacing the GATT framework with a permanent organization to govern world trade rules and settle trade disputes. diplomacy / economy ●●●●

26 February 1995 Collapse of Barings Bank 0 cit. Britain's oldest merchant bank fails after Singapore-based trader Nick Leeson hides 827 million pounds of losses on unauthorized derivatives trades. The 233-year-old bank is sold to ING for one pound. economy ●●●●

1 January 1995 World Trade Organization established 0 cit. The World Trade Organization began operating as the successor to the GATT, with binding rules and a dispute settlement system. It became the central body governing international trade. economy ●●●●●

c. 1995 Richard Werner coins 'quantitative easing' 0 cit. The German economist Richard Werner introduces the term quantitative easing (ryoteki kanwa) in Japan, arguing the central bank should expand credit creation directly rather than only cut interest rates. economy ●●●●

c. March 1995 Potanin proposes loans-for-shares scheme 0 cit. Banker Vladimir Potanin proposed that a group of private banks lend money to the cash-strapped Russian government in exchange for the right to manage, and eventually acquire, shares in major state-owned companies if the loans went unpaid. The Yeltsin government, facing a budget crisis and needing funds ahead of the 1996 election, adopted the plan. economy / politics ●●●

3 November 1995 Loans-for-shares auctions held 0 cit. A series of auctions transferred controlling stakes in some of Russia's largest oil, metals, and telecommunications firms to a small group of politically connected banks and businessmen, often at prices far below market value. The auctions were widely criticized as rigged, since the same banks running the auctions were frequently the only qualifying bidders. economy / politics ●●●

17 November 1995 Norilsk Nickel auctioned to Potanin's group 0 cit. A controlling stake in Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest producer of nickel and palladium, was auctioned to Vladimir Potanin's Uneximbank for around 170 million dollars, a fraction of independent estimates of the company's worth. Potanin's own bank had organized the auction on the government's behalf. economy ●●

8 December 1995 Yukos oil company acquired by Khodorkovsky's Menatep 0 cit. Mikhail Khodorkovsky's Bank Menatep won control of Yukos, one of Russia's largest oil producers, at a loans-for-shares auction for roughly 309 million dollars. Khodorkovsky would build Yukos into Russia's most profitable and, by the early 2000s, most transparent oil company. economy ●●●

28 December 1995 Sibneft created and acquired by Berezovsky and Abramovich 0 cit. The newly formed oil company Sibneft was auctioned to a consortium linked to Boris Berezovsky and Roman Abramovich for about 100 million dollars, again well under independent valuations. The deal cemented Abramovich's rise from Berezovsky's junior business partner into one of Russia's wealthiest men. economy ●●●

November 1995 Russia's loans-for-shares auctions 0 cit. A group of Russian banks controlled by emerging oligarchs lent the cash-strapped Russian government money in exchange for the right to hold shares of major state enterprises as collateral, with the understanding that the government would default and the banks would keep the shares. The auctions, engineered largely by banker Vladimir Potanin and backed by President Boris Yeltsin's government ahead of the 1996 election, transferred some of the country's most valuable industrial and energy assets to a small circle of insiders at prices far below market value. The scheme is widely regarded, including by many Russian economists, as the decisive moment that created the post-Soviet oligarch class. economy / politics ●●●

November 1995 Potanin's Uneximbank wins Norilsk Nickel in loans-for-shares auction 0 cit. Vladimir Potanin's Uneximbank won a controlling stake in Norilsk Nickel, one of the world's largest nickel and palladium producers, through a loans-for-shares auction that Potanin himself had helped design as an advisor to the Russian government. The auction was widely criticized, including by Western observers and later by some Russian officials, as effectively rigged in favor of the bank running it, since Uneximbank both organized the bidding and won the asset. Norilsk Nickel became one of the emblematic cases of Soviet industrial assets passing into private oligarch hands for a fraction of their underlying value. economy / politics ●●

December 1995 Khodorkovsky's Menatep group wins Yukos in loans-for-shares auction 0 cit. A bank controlled by Mikhail Khodorkovsky won control of Yukos, one of Russia's largest oil companies, through the loans-for-shares auction program, paying a sum far below the company's later market value. Khodorkovsky built Yukos into Russia's most valuable oil company over the following years before his 2003 arrest and the company's eventual dismantling by the Russian state. Yukos became one of the most cited examples worldwide of 1990s Russian privatization transferring state industrial wealth to a small number of politically connected businessmen at bargain prices. economy / politics ●●●

1995 Sachs and Warner link resource wealth to slow growth 0 cit. Economists Jeffrey Sachs and Andrew Warner published a widely cited study finding that economies with high ratios of natural-resource exports tended to grow more slowly from 1970 to 1990. Their work gave the resource curse a statistical backbone and set off decades of research. Critics later argued the result depended on how you measure resource dependence and that good institutions can break the pattern. economy / science ●●

10 November 1995 Nigeria executes Ken Saro-Wiwa 0 cit. The Abacha regime hanged writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists after a trial widely condemned as rigged. They had led protests against oil pollution in the Niger Delta and the role of Royal Dutch Shell, the main operator there. Shell denied responsibility for the deaths but in 2009 paid a 15.5 million dollar settlement in a US lawsuit without admitting liability, in a case that came to symbolize oil, repression, and pollution in the delta. economy / politics / society ●●●

c. 1995 The Celtic Tiger and its crash 0 cit. From the mid-1990s Ireland boomed, earning the nickname the Celtic Tiger through foreign investment, low corporate tax and a property surge. The bubble burst in the 2008 financial crisis, and a bank bailout forced Ireland into a 2010 rescue by the EU and IMF with harsh austerity. The economy later recovered, though heavy reliance on multinational firms remains a point of debate. economy / society ●●

1995 The Cali cartel and its downfall 0 cit. As Medellín fell, the quieter and more corporate Cali cartel took over most of the cocaine trade, running it like a business and buying deep influence in Colombian politics. Colombian forces arrested its leaders in 1995, but the trade again shifted rather than stopped. economy / politics ●●

1995 Sam Moyo documents Zimbabwe's unfinished land question 0 cit. Zimbabwean scholar Sam Moyo publishes The Land Question in Zimbabwe, tracing how the willing-seller model slowed redistribution and left ownership concentrated. His work frames land as the central unresolved issue of a negotiated decolonization. Moyo's research becomes a key reference for critics who argue that market-based transfer could not undo colonial land theft. economy / politics ●●

1 January 1995 Kenya becomes a founding member of the World Trade Organization 0 cit. Kenya, a GATT contracting party since 1964, becomes a founding member of the World Trade Organization when it begins operating. Membership binds Kenya to WTO rules on tariffs, services, and intellectual property, enforceable through the dispute settlement system. Supporters frame this as secured access to a rules-based trading system, while dependency scholars argue the rules lock in terms set largely by wealthier economies. diplomacy / economy ●●

1 January 1995 WTO TRIPS Agreement sets global minimum standards for patents 0 cit. The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights entered into force with the World Trade Organization, binding members to minimum standards of patent, copyright and plant-variety protection. Article 27.3(b) required members to protect plant varieties by patents or an effective alternative system. Critics including dependency scholars argue TRIPS locked developing countries into rules written for industrialized economies; defenders call it a uniform framework that rewards innovation. diplomacy / economy / politics ●●●

1995 William Reno describes the 'shadow state' 0 cit. Studying Sierra Leone, political scientist William Reno argues that some rulers deliberately weaken formal state institutions because a working bureaucracy would limit their control over rents from diamonds and other resources. In this 'shadow state', personal networks and disorder serve the ruler better than a strong administration. Reno presents this as an account of specific regimes, and it fits some cases better than others. economy / politics ●●

c. 1995 Werner coins 'quantitative easing' as a way out 0 cit. Richard Werner coined the term quantitative easing in Japan, arguing the central bank should expand credit creation directly rather than only cut interest rates. He meant something broader than what the term later came to describe. The Bank of Japan formally adopted a policy under that name in March 2001, the first major central bank to do so. economy ●●●

8 February 1996 Telecommunications Act of 1996 and media consolidation 0 cit. The Telecommunications Act loosened ownership limits across radio, television and telephone. It set off a wave of mergers that concentrated media in fewer large companies. economy / technology ●●●●

9 September 1996 Membership expands to central banks worldwide 0 cit. The BIS opened its membership to many more institutions, bringing in the central banks of large emerging economies including China, India, and Russia. Membership grew past 60 central banks and monetary authorities, well beyond the original European and American core. economy / politics ●●●

October 1996 The Wolfensohn anti-corruption turn 0 cit. World Bank president James Wolfensohn broke a taboo by naming the cancer of corruption as a core development problem. It marked a shift toward governance conditions, though critics said the Bank's own projects had long ignored graft. economy / politics ●●●

1996 to 2000 The Jubilee 2000 debt campaign 0 cit. A broad coalition of churches, charities, and activists demanded cancellation of unpayable poor-country debt by the year 2000. The campaign gathered millions of signatures and pushed debt relief onto the agenda of the world's richest governments. economy / society ●●●●

September 1996 The HIPC debt relief initiative 0 cit. The IMF and World Bank launched the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative to reduce the debts of the poorest nations to sustainable levels. It was the first framework to offer coordinated relief on multilateral debt. economy / politics ●●●●

1996 Osiris Shoes is named for the Egyptian god of the afterlife 0 cit. The skateboarding footwear brand Osiris, founded in San Diego in 1996, is named after Osiris, the ancient Egyptian god of the afterlife and resurrection. culture / economy / religion ●

c. January 1996 Semibankirshchina, the 'seven bankers', named in the press 0 cit. Russian media coined the term Semibankirshchina, a play on a historical term for boyar rule, to describe seven bankers and businessmen, including Berezovsky, Khodorkovsky, Gusinsky, Potanin, Smolensky, Fridman, and Vinogradov, whose combined wealth and media holdings gave them outsized influence over the Russian state. Berezovsky himself boasted in a 1996 interview that the group controlled roughly half the Russian economy. economy / politics ●●

c. February 1996 Davos pact among oligarchs to back Yeltsin 0 cit. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, leading Russian bankers and businessmen, alarmed by Communist candidate Gennady Zyuganov's strong poll numbers, agreed informally to pool their financial and media resources to secure Yeltsin's re-election. The pact marked the point at which the new business elite openly acted as a unified political bloc. economy / politics ●●

September 1996 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative launched 0 cit. The IMF and World Bank launched the HIPC Initiative to provide debt relief to the poorest, most indebted countries, most of them former colonies in Africa, in exchange for continued adherence to structural adjustment-style economic reforms. Over 30 countries eventually qualified, and while it reduced debt-service burdens, relief remained conditioned on approved fiscal and monetary policies set largely by the same lending institutions. economy ●●

1996 The HIPC Initiative offers conditional debt relief 0 cit. The IMF and World Bank launch the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative to cut the debts of the poorest states, mostly in Africa. Relief came only after years of meeting policy conditions, which critics said kept the same adjustment model in place. Supporters credited it with freeing money for health and schooling in countries that qualified. diplomacy / economy ●●

December 1996 The Oil-for-Food program becomes a corruption scandal 0 cit. The UN ran a program letting sanctioned Iraq sell oil to buy food and medicine, but Saddam Hussein's government skimmed billions through kickbacks and manipulation. An independent inquiry led by Paul Volcker found mismanagement inside the UN and implicated officials and companies worldwide. The scandal became a lasting emblem of the organization's weakness in policing its own operations. economy / politics ●●

4 February 1996 Jeffrey Wigand exposes the tobacco industry 0 cit. Former Brown and Williamson executive Jeffrey Wigand told CBS's 60 Minutes that his company had knowingly manipulated nicotine to keep smokers addicted. CBS at first withheld the interview under legal pressure before airing it in February 1996. His account helped states win a landmark settlement with tobacco makers. economy / society ●●●

1996 Section 25, the property clause of the 1996 Constitution 0 cit. The final Constitution includes Section 25, which protects existing property while also obliging the state to pursue land reform, restitution, and more equitable access to land. Expropriation is allowed for a public purpose against compensation that is just and equitable. The clause holds two aims in tension: securing current owners and enabling redistribution. economy / politics ●●●

1 July 1997 Handover of Hong Kong 0 cit. Britain returns Hong Kong to China under the one country, two systems formula, which preserves the territory's separate currency, courts and financial rules. The arrangement keeps Hong Kong operating as China's international financial gateway. economy / politics ●●●

29 August 1997 Founding of Netflix 0 cit. Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph found Netflix as a DVD-by-mail service. Its shift to streaming in 2007 upends television and the film industry worldwide. culture / economy / technology ●●●

17 November 1997 Luxor massacre 0 cit. Gunmen from al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya attacked tourists at the Temple of Hatshepsut in Luxor, killing 62 people, most of them foreign visitors. The attack badly damaged Egypt's tourism industry. economy / religion ●●●

1997 to 1998 IMF conditionality in the Asian crisis 0 cit. The IMF required high interest rates, tight budgets, and structural reforms in return for its Asian rescue loans. Critics including Joseph Stiglitz argued these measures deepened the recessions and worsened unemployment and poverty. economy / politics ●●●●●

1997 to 1998 Indonesia's crisis and the fall of Suharto 0 cit. Indonesia's economy collapsed during the Asian crisis as the currency lost most of its value under an IMF program. Deep hardship and protests contributed to the fall of President Suharto in 1998, whose decades of rule were marked by extensive corruption. economy / politics ●●●●

3 December 1997 South Korea's IMF bailout 0 cit. South Korea accepted a record IMF rescue package with sweeping conditions, an episode still remembered by many Koreans as a national humiliation. The economy recovered relatively quickly, fueling debate over whether the harsh terms were necessary. economy / politics ●●●

1997 to 2004 The SAPRIN civil-society review 0 cit. The Structural Adjustment Participatory Review Initiative brought together civil-society groups and the World Bank to assess adjustment in several countries. Its report concluded the programs had often deepened poverty and inequality, findings the Bank disputed. economy / society ●●●●

c. January 1997 Berezovsky and Abramovich's consortium wins Sibneft 0 cit. A consortium linked to Boris Berezovsky and Roman Abramovich won control of the oil company Sibneft, formed in 1995 out of state oil production and refining assets, through the loans-for-shares privatization process. As with Yukos and Norilsk Nickel, the price paid was widely reported to be far below the company's underlying value, and the winning bidders had close ties to the officials running the auction. Abramovich later sold his stake in Sibneft to the state-controlled Gazprom in 2005 for several billion dollars, a sale often cited as showing how much value had been transferred cheaply in the original privatization. economy / politics ●●

c. 1997 1033 Program authorizes military surplus transfers to police 0 cit. The National Defense Authorization Act permanently established what became known as the 1033 Program, letting the Department of Defense transfer surplus military equipment, including armored vehicles, rifles, and aircraft, to state and local police departments at little or no cost. The program built on smaller pilot transfer authorities from the late 1980s and 1990s and grew into one of the main channels by which American police forces acquired military-grade hardware. economy / politics ●●

c. 1997 Colombia's paramilitary umbrella, the AUC 0 cit. In 1997 regional anti-guerrilla militias in Colombia joined into the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, a paramilitary federation that fought leftist rebels while funding itself through the drug trade. Investigations and later confessions under the Justice and Peace process documented massacres and links between paramilitary commanders and politicians, a scandal known as parapolitics. The AUC formally demobilized in the mid-2000s, though successor armed groups remained. economy / politics / war ●●

c. 1997 Chiquita pays Colombian paramilitaries 0 cit. Over roughly seven years, Chiquita's Colombian operation made payments totaling about 1.7 million dollars to the AUC, a right-wing paramilitary group later designated a terrorist organization by the United States. The company said it paid under threat to protect its workers, while critics saw it as funding violence in a region wracked by massacres. The payments echoed the old pattern of the fruit business entangled with armed power. economy / society / war ●●●

1997 Karl publishes "The Paradox of Plenty" 0 cit. Political scientist Terry Lynn Karl's book "The Paradox of Plenty" studied oil states like Venezuela and Nigeria and argued that oil booms build weak, dependent institutions. She showed how petro-states hollow out their tax systems, bloat their bureaucracies, and become fragile when prices fall. The "paradox of plenty" phrase became shorthand for wealth that produces dysfunction rather than development. economy / politics ●●

c. 1997 The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists is founded 0 cit. The Center for Public Integrity launched the ICIJ as a global network of reporters working across borders on corruption and accountability. It later became the coordinating body behind the largest financial leaks, including the Panama, Paradise, and Pandora Papers. The consortium became an independent organization in 2017. economy / society ●●●

c. 1997 Nike and the anti-sweatshop campaigns 0 cit. Through the late 1990s, activists and journalists exposed low pay and harsh conditions in the overseas factories that made Nike shoes and other branded goods. The campaigns forced Nike to acknowledge problems and adopt monitoring, and made global supply chains a public issue. They marked a shift in the reckoning, holding brand-owning multinationals responsible for conditions in contractors far from home. economy / society ●●

1997 Willing-buyer, willing-seller becomes the policy 0 cit. The 1997 White Paper on South African Land Policy sets redistribution on a willing-buyer, willing-seller footing: the state buys farms from owners who choose to sell and passes them to black beneficiaries. As in Kenya and Zimbabwe, land is recovered by purchase at market price rather than restored. Progress depends on how much land owners offer and how much the state can afford to buy. economy / politics ●●●

1997 Mobutu's fortune leaves Zaire 0 cit. Mobutu Sese Seko ruled Zaire from 1965 to 1997 while much of the country sank into poverty. Investigators and scholars have estimated he moved as much as several billion dollars into Swiss accounts and European property, though the exact sum is disputed. After he was overthrown in 1997, Switzerland froze his accounts but found only a few million dollars, showing how hard looted money is to trace. economy / politics ●●

November 1997 A banking crisis leaves zombie banks and firms 0 cit. The crash saddled banks with huge bad loans backed by land that was now worth far less. In late 1997 Hokkaido Takushoku Bank and Yamaichi Securities failed, and the Long-Term Credit Bank was nationalized the next year. Weak banks kept lending to insolvent borrowers to hide losses, creating zombie banks and firms that starved healthy business of credit. economy ●●●●

1 June 1998 Founding of the European Central Bank 0 cit. The ECB is established in Frankfurt to run monetary policy for the coming single currency, launched in 1999. It becomes the central bank for the euro, the money of some twenty European countries. economy / politics ●●●●●

4 September 1998 Founding of Google 0 cit. Stanford students Larry Page and Sergey Brin incorporate Google in a Menlo Park garage. Its PageRank search engine and advertising model make it the gateway to the web and one of history's most profitable companies. economy / technology ●●●●

11 November 1998 Founding of Tencent 0 cit. Pony Ma and partners found Tencent in Shenzhen, launching the QQ messenger. Its WeChat super-app and games business make it China's most valuable technology company. economy / technology ●●●●

4 September 1998 Google founded 0 cit. Larry Page and Sergey Brin incorporated Google on 4 September 1998. Its search engine became the main gateway to online information and a dominant force in digital advertising. economy / technology ●●●●

17 August 1998 1998 Russian Financial Default 0 cit. Russia defaulted on its debt and devalued the ruble amid falling oil prices and fiscal strain. The crisis wiped out savings and deepened public anger at the reforms of the 1990s. economy / politics ●●●

c. 1998 Central bank independence becomes standard 0 cit. Through the late twentieth century many countries gave their central banks legal independence to set interest rates and target inflation without direct political control. The founding of the European Central Bank reflected this widely adopted model. economy / politics ●●●

1998 PayPal and online payments 0 cit. PayPal grew out of a startup founded in 1998 and let people send money by email, which made online commerce practical for individuals and small sellers. It became a leading way to pay on the early internet. economy / technology ●●●

17 August 1998 The Russian default 0 cit. Russia devalued the ruble and defaulted on domestic debt despite IMF support, deepening doubts about the Fund's crisis response. The episode also fed criticism that Western-backed shock reforms had fueled corruption and oligarchy. economy / politics ●●●

c. 1998 The one-size-fits-all critique 0 cit. Stiglitz and others charged that the IMF applied a standard austerity and liberalization template regardless of local conditions. Supporters replied that core principles of sound money and open markets apply broadly. economy / politics ●●●

c. 1998 The debate over whether conditionality worked 0 cit. Decades of studies reach mixed conclusions on whether Bank and Fund conditions improved growth and stability or deepened downturns. The evidence supports neither a clean success story nor a simple tale of harm. economy / politics ●●●

December 1998 Global Witness report exposes the diamond trade's role in African wars 0 cit. The advocacy group Global Witness published 'A Rough Trade,' documenting how diamonds mined in rebel-held Angola were being sold through De Beers's buying network and financing UNITA's war effort. The report was widely credited with putting the term 'conflict diamonds' into public use and pressuring the industry toward reform. economy / war ●●

December 1998 Confinity founded 0 cit. Max Levchin, Peter Thiel, and Luke Nosek founded Confinity, a company built initially around cryptography for handheld devices. Confinity soon pivoted to a money-transfer product that became PayPal. economy / technology ●●

17 August 1998 Russian financial crisis and sovereign default 0 cit. The Russian government devalued the ruble and defaulted on its domestic debt, triggering a banking collapse and a further collapse in ordinary living standards. The crisis discredited the economic team associated with the 1990s reforms and deepened public disillusionment with the market transition and the businessmen who had prospered from it. economy ●●●

December 1998 The Salt Lake City bid bribery scandal breaks 0 cit. Reports reveal that Salt Lake City's bid committee gave IOC members cash, scholarships, medical care, and gifts worth over a million dollars to win the 2002 Winter Games. The scandal led to the expulsion or resignation of ten IOC members and forced the first major reform of Olympic bidding rules. economy / politics ●●●

21 May 1998 Suharto resigns amid the Asian crisis 0 cit. After the Asian financial crisis wrecked Indonesia's economy and mass protests filled the streets, Suharto steps down after more than three decades in power. His fall opened the way for democratic reform and, later, independence for East Timor. Investigations put the wealth taken by his family and circle among the largest of any modern ruler. economy / politics ●●

c. 1998 The Jubilee 2000 campaign for debt cancellation 0 cit. A global coalition of churches, charities, and activists demands cancellation of unpayable poor-country debt by the year 2000, drawing on the biblical idea of a jubilee. Mass petitions and a human chain around a G8 summit pushed leaders to widen relief and helped shape the enhanced HIPC scheme. Campaigners argued that much of the debt was odious and had already been repaid many times over in interest. economy / religion ●●

c. 1998 The Big Eight shrink to the Big Four 0 cit. A wave of mergers cut the world's leading audit firms from eight to five, and the criminal collapse of Arthur Andersen after Enron in 2002 left four. Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG came to audit nearly every large public company on earth, a concentration that regulators warn leaves the system dangerously dependent on a handful of firms. economy ●●●

1998 Abacha's billions surface in foreign banks 0 cit. After Nigerian military ruler Sani Abacha died in 1998, investigators traced an estimated 2 to 5 billion dollars in stolen state funds into accounts in Switzerland, Britain, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and Jersey. The exact total remains an estimate, but the trail through named banks is documented. Switzerland and other countries have since returned more than a billion dollars to Nigeria in stages. economy / politics ●●

12 August 1998 Swiss banks settle the dormant-accounts claims 0 cit. After years of pressure over Holocaust-era accounts left dormant and heirs turned away, Switzerland's two largest banks agreed to pay 1.25 billion dollars to settle claims brought by survivors and their families. The scandal exposed how the country's banking secrecy had also buried the assets of the murdered. The settlement was one of the first large financial reckonings with Switzerland's wartime conduct. economy / society ●●●

c. 1998 Deflation and stagnation define the lost decades 0 cit. From the late 1990s Japan slid into mild but persistent deflation, with falling prices, weak demand, and near-zero growth. What was first called the lost decade stretched into two and then three. Government stimulus and public debt piled up while output barely moved. economy / society ●●●●

26 September 1999 Founding of the G20 0 cit. G7 finance ministers announce a new Group of Twenty of major advanced and emerging economies after the Asian financial crisis, with an inaugural meeting in Berlin that December. It became a leaders' summit in 2008. diplomacy / economy / politics ●●●

1 January 1999 Launch of the euro 0 cit. Eleven European Union countries fix their currencies to the new euro, managed by the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. The single currency creates the world's second most important monetary area. economy / politics ●●●

28 June 1999 Founding of Alibaba 0 cit. Former English teacher Jack Ma and 17 co-founders launch Alibaba from his Hangzhou apartment. Its Taobao and Tmall marketplaces make it the dominant force in Chinese e-commerce, and its 2014 IPO is then the largest ever. economy / technology ●●●●

30 November 1999 Formation of ExxonMobil 0 cit. Exxon and Mobil, the two largest fragments of Standard Oil, complete an 81 billion dollar merger. It reunites much of Rockefeller's empire and creates what is then the world's largest company. economy ●●●

12 November 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act repeals Glass-Steagall 0 cit. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act removed the wall between commercial and investment banking set up in 1933. It allowed large financial conglomerates that combined banking, securities and insurance. economy / politics ●●●●

26 September 1999 Group of Twenty founded 0 cit. Finance ministers and central bankers of major advanced and emerging economies formed the G20 in the wake of financial crises. It broadened economic coordination beyond the wealthy G7 nations. economy / politics ●●●

1 January 1999 The euro is introduced 0 cit. Eleven European countries adopted the euro as an accounting currency, fixing their exchange rates and pooling monetary policy under the European Central Bank. It was the largest voluntary currency union in modern history. economy / politics ●●●●

1999 Krupp merges with Thyssen to form ThyssenKrupp 0 cit. In 1999 the Krupp group merged with rival Thyssen to create the industrial company ThyssenKrupp. The deal ended Krupp's separate existence after nearly two centuries. economy ●●●

c. 1999 The sovereignty and policy-space critique contested 0 cit. Critics argue that detailed loan conditions strip borrowing governments of room to choose their own economic path, from tariffs to public ownership. Defenders say countries remain free to decline the loans and their terms. economy / politics ●●●

1999 The enhanced HIPC initiative 0 cit. Under pressure from the Jubilee campaign, the G7 and the two institutions widened and sped up HIPC relief and tied it to poverty-reduction spending. Critics still faulted the slow pace and the conditions attached. economy / politics ●●●

1999 Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers replace adjustment 0 cit. The Bank and Fund replaced structural adjustment loans with Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers meant to be written by borrowing countries themselves. Critics argued the underlying policy conditions changed less than the language did. economy / politics ●●●

c. 1999 The post-Asian-crisis rethink 0 cit. After the Asian crisis the IMF faced sustained criticism, including from within, and began to soften its stance on rapid capital-account liberalization. The episode marked the start of a slow reassessment of the Washington Consensus. economy / politics ●●●

1999 NYX Cosmetics is named for the Greek goddess of night 0 cit. NYX Cosmetics, founded in Los Angeles in 1999, is named after Nyx, the Greek goddess of the night. culture / economy / religion ●●

1999 LUNA bars are named for the Roman goddess of the moon 0 cit. Clif Bar launched its LUNA nutrition bar for women in 1999, named after Luna, the Roman goddess who personified the moon. culture / economy / religion ●

March 1999 X.com founded by Elon Musk 0 cit. Elon Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services and email-payments company, using proceeds from the earlier sale of his company Zip2. X.com set out to build a full online bank. economy / technology ●●