William White participated in a panel discussion at the American Enterprise Institute on November 12th.  In his prepared presentation (from 48 minute mark), White suggested that the economies of the advanced countries  were on an ever narrowing path, with high inflation threatening on one side and  a dangerous deflation on the other.  Central banks had inadvertently contributed to this growing exposure  through the pursuit of policies that were generally unnecessary, increasingly ineffective and ultimately dangerous.  White felt that the root cause was the failure of central banks to recognize the essential nature of a modern economy; it is complex and adaptive, not simple and static. When asked how similar mistakes might be avoided in the future, White provided a number of practical suggestions. However, before “building back better” we need to recognize the damage left over from the previous regime. It would be best to deal with the overhang of unserviceable debt through explicit debt restructuring.

https://www.aei.org/events/monetary-policy-and-the-everything-asset-price-bubble/

The NAEC group at the OECD  inaugurated on 4 November a new international network of government officials to question conventional approaches to policy making. William White participated in an inaugural panel chaired by Rana Foroohar (of the Financial Times) and Jo Swinson (previous leader of the Liberal Democratic Party in the UK). White (1 hour, 2 minutes in) highlighted the problem of groupthink in government and the unwillingness of many to “speak truth to power”. This new network could encourage individuals in national capitals to speak out, knowing that their views were shared by others, and could also be an independent source of new ideas within governments. White finished by noting that there were many false beliefs about how the economy works that needed to be challenged.

https://oecdtv.webtv-solution.com/7ecd0c8a9324cf24afbe096945a14d83/or/naec_meeting_genesys.html

At the 2021 AGM of the Council on Economic Polices, William White introduced a discussion of how central banks and financial regulators might contribute more concretely to meeting sustainability objectives both within the financial sector and in other systems. He described what a more “ideal” financial system might look like, and discussed some of the impediments to getting there from where we are now.

“Stand Easy” is a website, directed by Mark Saint-Pierre of the Canadian Armed Forces, whose content is directed to National Security Professionals in democratic countries. His interview with William White was posted on 19 September 2021. White reviewed many of the issues raised in his earlier publications (eg “The four horsemen of the apocalypse”, published in The International Economy), with particular emphasis on the implications for national security when vital systems (economic, political, environmental or health) fail. An important challenge in democracies is getting popular support for “unpalatable” policies that might be required to avoid “disastrous” outcomes, sometimes the unintended consequence of previous policies. An associated danger, seen many times in history, is the rise of demagogues promising easy solutions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFDgI8SsdzM

In a webinar on 26 July, William White presented a paper originally prepared for the Council on Economic Policies (see Publications). However, his comments differed from that text in that they emphasized the primacy of preserving a healthy political system in support of policies to strengthen economic, environmental and public health systems. Without popular support, these other policies will be very hard to implement.