Abstract

The next St Catharine’s Political Economy Seminar in the series on the Economics of Austerity, will be held on Wednesday 12th February 2014 – Vicky Pryce will give a talk on ‘The turmoil in the Euro Zone: how might the fiscal and debt impasse be resolved and what would the effect be on the UK?’. The seminar will be held in the McGrath Centre at St Catharine’s College from 6.00-7.30 pm. All are welcome

In this talk Vicky Pryce will discuss: the events leading up to the bail-outs of Greece, Ireland and Portugal and the subsequent difficulties in the Euro Zone; how these reflect fundamental flaws in the design of the Euro; the impact the current uncertainty is having on the European and UK economies; and the options available to European policy makers and their implications. Also will examine whether inappropriate monetary unions and inability of international institutions to think out of the box lead to depression and austerity just like they used to under the Gold Standard – and result in years of more austerity both in Europe and in the UK through the interconnectedness resulting from globalization.

VICKY PRYCE is an Economist and business consultant. She was previously Senior managing Director at FTI Consulting, Director General for Economics at the Department for Business (BIS) and Joint Head of the UK Government Economics Service. Before that she was Partner and Chief Economist at KPMG and previously worked in banking and the oil sector. In 2010-11 she served as the first female Master for the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants, a Livery Company of the City of London. She has been a Visiting Professor at Queen Mary College, London and at Cass Business School, Adjunct Professor at Imperial College Business School and Visiting Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford. Vicky co-founded GoodCorporation, a company set up to promote corporate social responsibility and is the author of ‘Greekonomics: The euro crisis and why politicians don’t get it’, published by Biteback Publishing (2012)’ Green Business, Green Value and Sustainability(co-editor), Routledge, and co-author of the Design Commission report: ‘Restarting Britain’ :Design Education and Growth(2011). She is also the author of ‘Why we need a 4th generation Industrial Policy” published by CentreForum in 2012. Her new book, ‘Prisonomics’ was published by Biteback Publishing in September 2013 and her updated ‘Greekonomics’ in November 2013.

Please contact the seminar organisers Philip Arestis (pa267@cam.ac.uk) and Michael Kitson (m.kitson@jbs.cam.ac.uk) in the event of a query.