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Volcker, Lagarde, Rees-Mogg and the Ikon
Why a monetary standard is needed
Lord Rees-Mogg, former editor of The Times, London and doyen of British commentators, has called for a reform of the global financial system (GFS). Rees-Mogg quotes Paul Volcker, who in a recent interview described the present period as one of the most difficult in history: “This is a recession on top of a complete financial…
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The IMF gets radical
Inadequate, slow and badly-designed reforms
To some people’s surprise, the IMF under Christine Lagarde is pushing governments and stamping its authority on financial sector issues in ways that it has seldom done before. Following my prediction of another financial crisis (RP’s Diary, 23 September), the IMF today argues that banking reforms do not go nearly far enough. The reforms have…
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Towards the next crash
The next financial crisis can’t come fast enough.
The political tide is backing off the banks. Few politicians in Europe or the US are willing to support moves for more radical reform. They just want to get the banks lending again. In practice, that means pressing banks to accept the risk of big bad debts down the road…and so set the stage for…
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Did unethical conduct cause the crisis?
RP's Diary
Dropped in to the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) to hear a talk by Dr Elaine Sternberg (she is the author of “Just Business: Business Ethics in Action”, a research fellow of the Centre for Business and Professional Ethics at Leeds University and IEA’s corporate governance guru; not many philosophers have also been entrepeneurs…
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Even before today’s job ad in The Economist, it is clear who will win the race. GOD, in the shape of Baron Augustine O’Donnell, former head of the British civil service, is set to be the next governor of the Bank of England. For a start, the job spec indicated that only superhumans need apply….
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Come on guys!
RP's Diary
Hello! Back to the grindstone after the holidays. This Diary entry draws on evidence I submitted last week to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards. It examines the link between the failure of money and continuing economic weakness. How long will it take governments to realise that we will never get a lasting recovery without…
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The financial crisis that began on this date in August 2007 has not ended. It continues, and will continue so long as policy-makers and economists fail to learn its lessons. Instead, what we have is a mountain of hypocrisy. Almost everybody is being economical with the truth. This applies to central bankers, financial regulators and…
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Picking up on Robert’s last story, we must look to the ECB to restore trust in financial intermediation. Yes, the developed world faces another year of stagnation and interacting imbalances that amplify risk aversion and spread the fear of spending. But there is no surprise in the new setback. With budgets in disarray and rising…
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Draghi plays a trump card
The ECB tries to find a way out of the money trap
My book argues that the euro crisis illustrates the dilemmas confronting all countries in a global economy. It is not at heart the euro but the global financial system that is the source of these dilemmas. The chances for the survival of an integrated world financial and economic system are at stake in the battle…
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The world needs a new currency
RP's Diary
The following article by Robert Pringle was published by The Christian Science Monitor on July 27. The financial crisis, the 2008/09 recession, the banking scandals that have followed, and today’s limping recovery are all linked. The common factor is the absence of a real international monetary and banking order. Only when such an order is restored will…
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