OMFIF and the BSIA (Balsillie School of International Affairs)  jointly published on 16 September a piece authored by William White. He contends that the global economic system, and indeed the state of mankind more generally, is more precarious than is commonly understood. Prior to the pandemic, the economic, political and environmental systems that underpin our democratic and capitalist institutions were already highly stressed. The pandemic, the Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse, now threatens to trigger “tipping points”  that will not be easy to reverse. White remains optimistic that properly chosen policies can reduce these exposures, but they require answering a number of important questions. Not least, what past policies have contributed to the current, unsustainable state of affairs and should be avoided in the future? Spend and print is not a sustainable solution.

https://www.omfif.org/2020/09/unsustainable-policies-and-their-remedies/?utm_source=omfifupdate

The Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) recently published a Working Paper by William White. He argues that changes to international financial regulations, post the 2008 crisis,were undoubtedly useful but still fall short of taming global “boom-bust” credit cycles. A macrofinancial stability framework, in which both monetary and macroprudential instruments were used to “lean against the wind” of credit booms, would seem the minimum requirement to achieve the desired objective. This should likely be complemented by other measures designed to change the behaviour of market participants (including higher capital requirements)and also the structure of  markets themselves. White also notes the shortcomings of individual regulatory changes, and refers to concerns raised about their coherence as a package. The paper concludes with a brief overview of more radical solutions for change suggested in the literature (eg, Free Banking and Narrow Banking) and a final observation. The current International Monetary (Non)System imposes no international discipline to mitigate national tendencies to excessive credit creation.

https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/why-international-financial-regulation-still-falls-short

This article will be published shortly as a chapter in a book “New Approaches to Economic Challenges: The Financial System” , published by the OECD in Paris. It is argued in the chapter that economies are Complex, Adaptive Systems (CAS). Such systems are widespread in nature and society,have been well studied by other disciplines, and have many shared characteristics. This communality implies that insights from other disciplines might inform macroeconomic policies as well. Ironically, the embrace of complexity leads to at least ten lessons for policymakers that, while revolutionary,  are both simple and intensely practical.

On 19 August, prior to its publication by the OECD, the chapter was also published as an article in the Swiss financial newspaper “The Market”.

https://themarket.ch/english/simple-lessons-for-macro-policymakers-from-embracing-complexity-ld.2503