February 15, 1999

Ben Brantley reviews Classic Stage Co performance of Martin Crimp's adaptation of Moliere's play The Misanthrope, directed by Barry Edelstein; Uma Thurman and Roger Rees star; photo (M)

Thoroughbred and harness racing interests in New Jersey battle for the lion's share of the bonanza to be gained from introduction of off-track betting and telephone wagering; fight may keep them from seeing the money anytime soon; the two sides worked well together in November to win voter support for expanded betting; photo (M)

Police Officer Matthew Dziergowski is killed when his patrol car is struck on West Shore Expressway in Staten Island by a sports utility vehicle that plowed past flares and cones placed to warn oncoming cars away from an accident; police say SUV's driver, Creida Franklin, was drunk; Dziergowski's partner and two officers in another vehicle are injured; Franklin is charged with criminally negligent homicide, assault and driving while intoxicated; photo; drawing (M)

First article in series, Global Contagion: A Narrative, on causes and effects of global financial crisis; crisis has occurred in changing economic landscape, in which pool of international investments has grown to dwarf sums that governments can muster or handle, with money zipping around globe faster than ever before making it more prosperous, but also more wobbly; while it fits neatly into long history of financial manias and panics, there are new elements that make current global economy very different from one of century ago, or even decade ago; in typical day, total amount of money changing hands in world's foreign exchange markets alone is $1.5 trillion--eight-fold increase since 1986 and almost incomprehensible sum equivalent to total world trade for four months; amount of investment capital has exploded, with institutional investors controlling $20 trillion by 1995; far more wealth than ever before is stateless, circulating wherever owner can find highest return; new technologies have vastly reduced importance of physical distance; investments are increasingly leveraged and public funds are increasingly used to bail out losers; despite their dazzling size and complexity, suspicion has grown that financial system as it has operated since 1990's is basically unstable; many experts say it may not be operating with intelligence that matches its scale, leaving investors worldwide prey to emotions and panics; there no longer is sense that real economy drives financial markets, but that financial markets drive real economy; photos; charts; graph (L)

Profile and interview with Bobby Valentine, New York Mets' manager; photo at his restaurant and bar in Stamford, Connecticut (M)