William White participated in a panel, organized by the American Enterprise Institute, that also included Don Kohn and Kevin Warsh (both ex Fed) and Desmond Lachman of the AEI. White expressed concern about a plausible future combination of negative supply shocks and a strong need for increased investment. These two could only be combined, without more inflation, if consumption could be reduced to free up resources. Fiscal restraint, especially higher taxes, seemed a better instrument for reducing consumption than monetary restraint, especially given the current fragility of the financial system. However, in the current political climate, tax increases seem unlikely.

White’s speaking notes and the video can be found below.

https://www.aei.org/events/the-federal-reserves-big-inflation-fight/

William White made the opening presentation at an international conference which took place in Reykjavik, Iceland on 1-2 September. Borrowing from earlier presentations, White suggested that realizing the joint objectives of sustainable, inclusive growth in  a free society required each of a variety of interdependent systems to function well. He worried in particular that negative supply shocks could cause global economic problems that might well pose dangers to democratic political systems that were already showing worrisome signs of instability.

William White made a presentation on  May 3 at the Institute for International Economic Policy at George Washington University in Washington DC. He contended that the global economic and financial system has been showing increasing signs of stress for many years, raising the likelihood of harmful “tipping points”. In large part, this has been due to the unintended consequences of well-meaning macroeconomic and regulatory policies. Now we must also confront negative supply shocks that will lower real growth and exacerbate inflationary tendencies over a number of years. Unfortunately, over recent years, many democratic countries have also developed political “fault lines” that could now threaten the future of democracy itself. Since history provides many examples of political regime change –  triggered by environmental crises, pandemics, and above all economic and financial crises – there are legitimate reasons for concern.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW-h7V6OkWA