Against the Consensus - Reflections on the Great Recession

Guest lecture by Professor Justin Lin

In June 2008, Professor Justin Yifu Lin was appointed Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank, right before the eruption of the worst global financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression. Drawing on experience from his privileged position, Lin has – after his return to the China Center for Economic Research (CCER) – published a thought provoking book with Cambridge University Press. It offers unique reflections on the cause of the crisis, why it was so serious and widespread, and its likely evolution. Arguing that conventional theories provide inadequate solutions, Lin proposes new initiatives for achieving global stability and avoiding the recurrence of similar crises in the future. He suggests that the crisis and the global imbalances both originated with the excess liquidity created by US financial deregulation and loose monetary policy, and recommends the creation of a global Marshall Plan and a new supranational global reserve currency. His book and this lecture will appeal to academics, graduate students, policy makers, and anyone interested in the global economy.

Time: 9 October 2013, 1:15pm-3:00pm

Place: CSS, Øster Farimagsgade 5, (35.2.01), 1353 Kbh K

Organiser: Development Economics Research Group (DERG), Department of Economics, UCPH