| |
| |
wiiw Seminar Series
'Crisis Management in Central, East and Southeast Europe: What is
to be done?' |
|
| Informal
introductory talk to the new seminar series: |
|
 |
Adam
S. Posen, Deputy Director of the Peterson Institute for
International Economics, Washington DC
The Perplexing Aspects of a Truly Global Financial Crisis
15 May 2009, 1:30 p.m. |
| |
|
|
If this
crisis had been just a hard landing of the US (and UK, Spain,
et al.), then we would have greater comprehension of what happened.
If this crisis had largely spared those countries whose regulatory
structures were more a priori sensible, then we would have better
guidance for future regulation. If this crisis had spared those
who securitized, unjustly or not, then we would be justified
in forcing banks to hold more of their loans. If this crisis
had led to a drop in trade no more than commensurate with the
decline in demand, then we would understand the real transmission
mechanism. If this crisis had truly been based on 'excess liquidity',
then global markets should have been more synchronized before
the crisis and less synchronized after it hit. In short, the
more carefully one examines this crisis, the more perplexing
it becomes, when taking a cross-national perspective.
Adam Posen is Deputy Director of the Peterson Institute for
International Economics in Washington DC, where he has been
a Senior Fellow since 1997. His research covers macroeconomic
and financial policies, European and Japanese political economy,
and central banking issues. Dr. Posen is the author a number
of books, including The Euro at Five: Ready for a Global
Role?; Inflation Targeting: Lessons from the International
Experience (with B. Bernanke et al.); Restoring Japan’s
Economic Growth, and has published a number of widely-cited
studies in monetary economics and political economy. The Institute
will publish his new book, Reforming a Rich Country: Germany
and the future of capitalism, in 2009. Previously, he was
an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (1994–97)
and Okun Memorial Fellow at the Brookings Institution (1993–94),
and he received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. He has been
a consultant to the US Council of Economic Advisers, Departments
of State and of Treasury, the European Commission, the International
Monetary Fund, and to central banks and leading investors worldwide.
During 2006, he was on sabbatical as Houblon-Norman Senior Fellow
at the Bank of England. Dr. Posen is a frequent contributor
to opinion page of the world’s financial press and is a columnist
for The International Economy magazine. As PIIE’s Deputy
Director, he oversees finances, fundraising, administration,
outreach, publications, and recruitment for the Institute’s
budget and 50-person staff. |
| |
|
|
