On November 7, 2024, William White was interviewed on the David Lin Report. He again made the case that rising debt levels, particularly of sovereigns in advanced countries, made the prospect of some kind of financial crisis more likely. Whereas White in the past had recommended rather tighter monetary policies to lean against debt accumulation, that accumulation was now so large that such tightening could have dangerous implications. Also, given the likelihood of further stagflationary shocks going forward, White felt that policymakers might be forced to accept higher inflation and also to introduce instruments of financial repression. On international cooperation, White worried that conflict between China and the US would impede cooperation for many years. This would have negative effects on financial stability, environmental change, public health and elsewhere.

https://youtu.be/UWT_zFTPYkw

William White was interviewed on 15 September by Paul Buitink of “Reinventing Money”. They covered current concerns including the sustainability of sovereign debt service in a number of advanced countries. White also reflected on the dymanics of “boom bust” cycles and how debt overhang problems might be dealt with. In this latter regard, he concluded there were currently only bad options available. A fuller description of the contents is provided at the beginning of the recording.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDWkIRFbEXU

William White and Douglas Laxton, director of the Better Policy Project, had a discussion on 3 September focussed on how money is created in a modern economy. White stressed his strong support for the school of endogenous money that recognizes that banks create money out of nothing by making loans (a bank asset) and then crediting the borrowers deposit account with an equivelant amount of money (a bank liability). This capacity underlies the recurrent observation of costly boom and bust credit cycles, and the cumulative build up of debt and other economic imbalances that now threaten economic and financial  stability. Laxton then led a discussion of how AI might, or might not, lead to significant increases in productivity that might alleviate such problems.

William White recently gave an interview to Gold Republic Global, who summarized the conversation as follows. “Former top central banker at BIS William White breaks down the dangerous consequences of decades of ultra-easy money. From exploding debt and central bank paralysis to inflationary threats, financial repression, and the return of gold—this conversation reveals why the global financial system is reaching a breaking point. White breaks down the growing risks of financial and fiscal dominance, the fragility of the current debt-laden system, and the historic forces driving us from an “age of plenty” to an “age of scarcity.” From malinvestment and financial repression to the rising role of gold and the BRICS monetary pivot, this episode offers a rare insider perspective on where the global economy is heading.”