In many advanced economies, longer term government bond rates have been heading up, even as shorter term rates controlled by central banks have been heading down. In this presentation, William (Bill) White attempts to explain why this is happening, why the underlying factors accounting for this trend might well strengthen, and the dangers that such trends pose both for the economy and our democratic political systems. He will suggest alternative sets of policies to reduce these dangers, and will make the case that “financial repression” seems politically the most likely outcome. Should this be the case, there will be important implications for global trade, global finance and geopolitics.
About the Speaker:Â
William R. White is currently a Senior Fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute in Toronto, Canada. Until April of 2018 he was the chairman of the Economic and Development Review Committee at the OECD in Paris. This committee carries on regular evaluations of the policies of both member countries and aspiring members of the OECD. In his capacity as chairman, to which he was appointed in October 2009, William White also contributed to meetings of WP1 and the Economic Policy Committee of the OECD. As well, he was for four years a member of the Issing Committee, advising the German chancellor on G-20 issues. William White has in recent years published many articles on topics related to monetary and financial stability as well as the process of international cooperation in these areas.
Mr. White was presented in September with the 2016 “Adam Smith Prize,” the highest award of the National Association of Business Economists (US). In May of 2015 he was honoured with the “Hans-Moller-Medal” from VAC, the alumni club of political economists at Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich. Prior to that, he received the annual “Prize of the Monetary Workshop in Monetary, Financial and Macro-Prudential Policy” in Frankfurt in May 2014.
Mr. White began his professional career at the Bank of England, where he was an economist from 1969 to 1972. Subsequently he spent 22 years with the Bank of Canada. He was appointed Adviser to the Governor in 1984 and Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada in September 1988.
In addition to these permanent positions, Mr. White spent six months (1985-86) as a Special Adviser to the Canadian Minister of Finance and six years as a member of Statistics Canada’s Advisory Panel on the National Income Accounts. Since the late 1980s, he has been an active participant in many international committees, including the EPC and WP3 at the OECD, the G-10 Deputies, and the Bellagio Group which brings together senior government officials, central bankers and academics.
