The Troubling Economics and Politics of Today's Global Financial System: Diagnosis and Suggestions for a Replacement"
This lecture explores the debate over the sustainability of the today’s international financial system. Some believe the system has structural similarities with the earlier Bretton Woods (1946 – 71) arrangements and that it is stable. Our Guest Speaker will argue that the comparison is misplaced and that today’s system is vulnerable to a crash.
The source of vulnerability is inadequacies on the system’s demand side, rather than lack of financing to cover the US trade deficit. The lecture will explore the politics that have promoted the current system, and examine the implications for the preeminence of the US dollar should the system confront a crisis. The Speaker will conclude with suggestions for a global system of managed exchange rates that should replace the current system.
A light lunch will be provided.
Speaker Bio
Dr. Thomas Palley is an economist living in Washington DC. He holds a B.A. degree from Oxford University, and a M.A. degree in International Relations and Ph.D. in Economics, both from Yale University. He has published in numerous academic journals, and written for The Atlantic Monthly, American Prospect and Nation magazines. Dr . Palley has recently started a project, Economics for Democratic & Open Societies. The goal of the project is to stimulate public discussion about what kinds of economic arrangements and conditions are needed to promote democracy and open society. Dr . Palley was formerly Chief Economist with the US – China Economic and Security Review Commission. Prior to joining the Commission he was Director of the Open Society Institute’s Globalization Reform Project, and before that he was Assistant Director of Public Policy at the AFL-CIO.