Americans should start saving more, while their Asian counterparts should do just the opposite and ease off their thrifty ways to consume more of the world's goods. But that drastic shift is easier said than done.

Financial markets need more regulatory oversight -- but nothing that might inhibit their ability to be nimble, dynamic and creative. And nations must develop a framework for cooperating better on big economic issues instead of jealously guarding their national autonomy.

At the International Women's Forum Thursday in Miami Beach, these were just a few of the big ideas tossed about by Muriel Siebert, president of Muriel Siebert & Co. and the first women to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange; Doris Grimm, head of international monetary affairs for Germany's central bank, Deutsch Bundesbank, and Dame Clara Furse, former chief executive of the London Stock Exchange.

The women spoke on a panel that kicked off the IWF's 2009 World Leadership Conference at the Loews Hotel. The event runs through Friday.

Women business leaders from around the globe -- including Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean -- gathered for the forum, which painted the world as a place forever changed by the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Siebert, a Wall Street legend, sees financial literacy and education as a key to deterring future meltdowns.

Through her foundation, she has developed programs to educate young people about the ABCs of money.

``The people signing the mortgages did not know the questions to ask,'' Siebert said of the U.S. housing crisis.

``We must give them the basics of financial literacy.''

For her part, Furse, of Great Britain, said banks and hedge funds have gotten a bad rap in the recent downturn.

``We shouldn't be demonizing the whole financial services sector,'' she said. ``We must not allow regulatory backlash to damage markets,'' which ``provide the lifeblood for economic growth.''

Grimm, of Germany, touted the positives of her nation's social market economy, which focuses on what she called ``long-termism.''

``We think stable and sustainable long-term growth is better served by a certain social and economic cohesion of society, including incomes,'' she said. ``Inequality and poverty can also be a constraint on growth, as the United States is currently discovering.''

The IWF's Friday sessions will examine issues such as how the economic upheaval has affected fundamental beliefs and what the future holds for women in leadership.