Signs of life in stock markets around the globe stirred hopes this spring that the world may have dodged a catastrophic financial bullet. But a long, hard road to recovery lies ahead, experts say, and the casualties of the meltdown are still being counted. Chief among them is the version of laissez-faire, self-policing market capitalism that held sway for a quarter-century. That model crashed in 2008 after raging global speculation in volatile, debt-financed securities raced through the poorly regulated "shadow" banking system that links financial centers in the United States, Europe and Asia. "Freewheeling capitalism" is dead, concludes British Finance Minister Alistair Darling. But a debate has just begun over what might take its place. World leaders have assembled for summit meetings. Studies have flown off presses. But there is only limited agreement on goals for financial and banking reforms, and as yet no prospect for binding international market rules.

Peter Behr recently retired from The Washington Post, where he was the principal reporter on energy issues and served as business editor from 1987-1992. A former Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, Behr worked at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars and is working on a book about the history of the U.S. electric power grid.