Monday 12 December 2011

The Debt of Nations

The Bank of Italy and the University of Rome La Sapienza have kindly arranged for Willem Buiter to talk to us all tomorrow on:

Excessive debt in rich nations: what happens when sovereigns, banks and households deleverage at the same time?  and

The central bank as a quasi-fiscal player: theory and application for the Euro Area and other advanced industrial countries

Dinner too; Angels are promised excellent fish and considerably more sense being talked than in Brussels last weekend.

7 comments:

Sackerson said...

Do write a report!

dearieme said...

Is that a free dinner? ("free" in the sense that I am paying for it.)

hatfield girl said...

Yes, S

No, D.

Ralph Musgrave said...

I've seen Buiter make some fundamental mistakes regarding money, debt, deleveraging, etc. Can't wait to go through his lecture. Please put a link to it on your site, Hatfield Gal.

Elby the Beserk said...

dearieme

There is no such thing as a free dinner :-)

As for Buiter being wrong, well, that cap is worn by all economists a lot of the time, it would seem to me. Regardless, this relative simpleton in the arcana of economics, whose interest was only sparked (pace an Economics A level in 1968, which from what I recall was 75% about money supply. Hmmmm) when things started to go to pot, has found Buiter a rewarding and provocative read. Remember, the term "economist" is a very loose one. After all, some have used it of Mr. E. Balls of this parish.

Report, yes, please, HG. And enjoy the dinner.

dearieme said...

"There is no such thing as a free dinner": I had one last night. Glass of elderflower presse; fine smoked salmon with a glass of chardonnay; excellent roast duck with a glass and a half of cabernet-shiraz; bramble crumble with "sauce anglaise"; coffee
and a mince pie. Rather old-fashioned British tuck very nicely executed. Good company in a lovely room.
P.S. I met a German pal there whom I hadn't seen for a year. His big topic was why was he expected to work to 68 (I think) so that Greek schoolteachers could retire at 50? I had no answer.

hatfield girl said...

If interested readers go to http://www.willembuiter.com/ the first session is supposed to have been posted there (with all the graphs, which do help).

He threatened gloom and doom and gave us gloom and doom. We are promised the fun bit tomorrow.