The Global Financial Crisis was the worst financial crisis and deepest recession in two generations. Massive government intervention prevented it turning into a depression.

Prof. Stockhammer will comment on the policy reactions to the crisis, changes to financial regulation and developments in the economics discipline. Dr Ivanova will then discuss how ten years after the Crash the United States and the global economy exhibit various signs of fundamental fragility reminiscent of those that preceded the crisis. She will argue that some of the earlier problems have been magnified by the very policies used to combat the effects and consequences of the Great Recession. The so-called unconventional monetary policy implemented by the Federal Reserve and then replicated by multiple central banks around the world, in particular, have caused significant distortions of asset prices domestically and globally, further aggravating the imbalances in the global economy. Proferssor Wade will then discuss the relentless rise of income concentration and how it should be curbed. He will illustrate bulldozer upward trends in class and location inequality, and then speak to: “what is to be done?” – tax policies, institutional innovations to change allocation of profits, and macroeconomic policies. A fourth speaker (TBC) will finally assess the current economic and political situation in Latin America, with a focus on the results of the Brazilian elections.

 

Speakers:

Maria N. Ivanova teaches international economics and political economy at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her main research interests include the political economy of the United States, international political economy, money and finance, and social theory.

Engelbert Stockhammer is Professor of International Political Economy at King's College London. He has worked on financialization, distribution and growth and on economic policy in Europe. He published more than 60 articles in peer-refereed journals including the Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, International Review of Applied Economics, Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Environment and Planning A, and New Political Economy. Recent books include Wage-Led Growth: An Equitable Strategy for Economic Recovery.

Robert Wade is professor of global political economy at LSE. He was awarded the Leotnief Prize for Expanding the Frontiers of Economic Thought in 2008, and his book, Governing the Market, was awarded the American Political Science Association's prize for Best Book or Article in Political Economy for 1989-91.