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The budgetary crises of state and local governments have started to receive more attention, leading some to declare that the municipal market may be ground zero for the next financial crisis. Gresham Partners examines the root causes of these concerns and attempts to determine the likelihood that continuing credit pressures will cascade into the next broad financial crisis.

Greece may have been ahead of the pack with its debt crisis, but other nations, including the UK and the US, are on the same path, according to analysis by CTC Consulting. This paper provides an overview of sovereign debt and its impact on major nations, considers historical results of debt and inflation, and explores six possible scenarios for countries currently at risk.

Domestic demand is increasing across Asia, but the continent still relies heavily on exports for its growth. A report from Aberdeen Asset Management Asia Ltd. considers factors related to Asian domestic demand, such as the effect of China's recent move to revalue its currency and the region's use of exchange rate management as its key policy management tool.

Most institutional investors plan to increase their allocations to alternative investments over the next three years, increasing their influence over the sector, while the funds' managers and administrators view regulation and governance as the industry's most important challenges during the same period. These are just two of the key findings of a worldwide survey by KPMG International.

Confronted by the effects of the most significant economic downturn in the post-war era, angel investors want more certainty and earlier exits. In this paper, Landmark Angels discusses a strategy to increase the success of angel venture investments and the likelihood of better and earlier returns.

We believe the reason many bond investors are maintaining high balances in low-yielding money markets right now is because they've been scared into thinking the value of their investment will decline sharply if interest rates rise. They may well be right. They may be wrong. We do not know with certainty. However, we do know with certainty that approach has been dead wrong over the last 12-18 months and it may continue to be the wrong strategy for another 12-18 months.

Coller Capital's annual survey tracks private equity trends in emerging markets and investors' plans related to those markets. Among this year's findings: Investors expect their new commitment to emerging market private equity to accelerate over the next two years, and most of these investors expect this sector to outperform private equity as a whole.

We believe that the problems associated with government indebtedness are more serious than on previous occasions when government debt was at similar levels because of poor demographics; the extent of private sector leverage; the global nature of the recession; independent central banks and the absence of capital controls, which make it more difficult to "inflate" away debt.