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SUMMARY:Hall of Mirrors: The Great Depression\, The Great Recession\, and 
 the Uses-and Misuses-of History - Barry Eichengreen
DTSTART:20150224T210000Z
DTEND:20150224T213000Z
UID:TALK57599@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Paulina Rowicka
DESCRIPTION:The two great financial crises of the past century are the Gre
 at Depression of the 1930s and the Great Recession\, which began in 2008. 
 Both occurred against the backdrop of sharp credit booms\, dubious banking
  practices\, and a fragile and unstable global financial system. When mark
 ets went into cardiac arrest in 2008\, policymakers invoked the lessons of
  the Great Depression in attempting to avert the worst. While their respon
 se prevented a financial collapse and catastrophic depression like that of
  the 1930s\, unemployment in the U.S. and Europe still rose to excruciatin
 g high levels. Pain and suffering were widespread. \n\nThe question\, give
 n this\, is why didn't policymakers do better? Hall of Mirrors\, Barry Eic
 hengreen's monumental twinned history of the two crises\, provides the far
 thest-reaching answer to this question to date. Alternating back and forth
  between the two crises and between North America and Europe\, Eichengreen
  shows how fear of another Depression following the collapse of Lehman Bro
 thers shaped policy responses on both continents\, with both positive and 
 negative results. Since bank failures were a prominent feature of the Grea
 t Depression\, policymakers moved quickly to strengthen troubled banks. Bu
 t because derivatives markets were not important in the 1930s\, they misse
 d problems in the so-called shadow banking system. Having done too little 
 to support spending in the 1930s\, governments also ramped up public spend
 ing this time around. But the response was indiscriminate and quickly came
  back to haunt overly indebted governments\, particularly in Southern Euro
 pe. Moreover\, because politicians overpromised\, and because their measur
 es failed to stave off a major recession\, a backlash quickly developed ag
 ainst activist governments and central banks. Policymakers then prematurel
 y succumbed to the temptation to return to normal policies before normal c
 onditions had returned. The result has been a grindingly slow recovery in 
 the United States and endless recession in Europe.\n\nHall of Mirrors is b
 oth a major work of economic history and an essential exploration of how w
 e avoided making only some of the same mistakes twice. It shows not just h
 ow the "lessons" of Great Depression history continue to shape society's r
 esponse to contemporary economic problems\, but also how the experience of
  the Great Recession will permanently change how we think about the Great 
 Depression.\n
LOCATION:Senior Palrour\, Gonville &amp\; Caius College
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