Interviews

On 19 March, William White was interviewed by BNN, the Canadian business network associated with Bloomberg. He pointed out how this prospective economic downturn differs from that experienced in 2008-9, and laid out some alternative scenarios as to how events might unfold. While generally praising the prompt and significant response of central banks and governments to date, he noted that unfolding events might yet call for more action. The interview can also be found on the website of the C D Howe Institute, where Mr. White is a Senior Fellow.

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/video/economist-who-predicted-the-last-financial-crisis-warns-of-a-debt-bubble-pop-amid-the-covid-19~1924800

William White was interviewed on March 16 (see 4 minute mark) by “7:30”, Australia’s TV News and  Current Affairs flagship. He suggested that the global economy had been an accident waiting to  happen, due to the many “imbalances” that had been allowed to build up over many years. If the prices of financial assets were to fall significantly, it was very likely that house prices would also be affected. It was unrealistic to think that marginally lower interest rates could suffice to sort out these deep seated problems.

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/governments-and-the-reserve-bank-working-on-new/12065060

In an interview in early December 2019, William White suggested that central banks had given too much importance to the pursuit of price stability in recent decades. There are no costs associated with declining prices when the underlying cause is increases in productivity. Moreover, resisting disinflationary pressures with monetary easing, cycle after cycle, leads to a buildup of  debt and other economic imbalances that do more to threaten sustainable growth than to sustain it. Accordingly, more reliance should be put on fiscal policy in the next economic downturn. Indeed, it was a mistake not to have done so earlier.

Jonathan Roth, an associate of John Mauldin,  interviewed William White and Grant Williams (a co-founder of Real Vision) on October 9, 2020.  Both agreed, for a whole host of reasons, that negative policy rates were not a good idea. They were unlikely to stimulate aggregate demand as desired, and could have undesirable and unintended side effects.

https://vimeo.com/user93524913/review/365922142/f87b7753ff

William White was interviewed, along with Grant Williams, by Jonathon Ross of Mauldin Economics. The interview was part of a series entitled the “Seven Deadly Sins” directed to identifying vulnerabilities in the global economy and to shortcomings in the policy responses to these vulnerabilities. This particular interview focuses on the undesirable implications of introducing negative interest rates to stimulate aggregate demand. They will not work as intended and will have unintended consequences.

https://vimeo.com/user93524913/review/365922142/f87b7753ff

On 26 September, William White was interviewed for a podcast  based in New York city called, “Hidden Forces”. Demietri Kofinas raised questions about the current economic and financial outlook and the extent to which central banks and regulators might have inadvertently contributed to new problems while trying to solve old ones. The discussion also touched upon climate change and the implications this might have for the governance of the financial system.

http://bit.ly/HF-EP102

William White answered a number of questions from Marc Schroers about the current and prospective conduct of global monetary policy. The interview was published on 25 September in Borsen Zeitung. The German version and an English translation are referred to below.

On September 10 William White had an interview with Amanda Lang of BNN. Her questions were primarily about the conduct of monetary policy in the global economy, against the backdrop of rising debt ratios and rising trade tensions. Mr White suggested that fiscal policy might have to be relied upon more heavily in the face of any coming downturn. He concluded the interview by noting that monetary policy in small, open economies like Canada was essentially about coping with the monetary policies being followed by much larger countries, above all the United States.

https://www.cdhowe.org/video-and-media-appearances/william-white-bnn-three-central-banks-will-set-worlds-economic-conditions

Bill White gave a radio interview on 17 May to Chris Sheridan for the California-based Financial Sense Newshour.  The Financial Sense Newshour is a free financial/market broadcast that features analysis of current market events and interviews with financial experts. While directed in large part to the implications for public policy of embracing the concept of the economy as a complex adaptive system,  the discussion ranged more broadly over issues pertinent to both monetary policy and financial regulation. One important issue raised was an evaluation of Modern Monetary Theory, its near term allure but its longer-term dangers.

https://static.financialsense.com/audio/2019-05/fsn2019-05-22-white-0533049305e50.mp3

This interview with Bill White was published in the Swiss paper, Finanz und Wirtschaft on 6 April, 2019. In it, Bill reflects on how the “debt trap” will impede monetary normalization, and how central banks got into this situation. He also discusses how other policies might be used to raise the possibility of getting out of this trap.

Central banks are biased towards loose policy https://www.fuw.ch/article/central-banks-are-biased-towards-loose-policy/