Conversations with History - Barry Eichengreen

"Historical Perspective on the Global Economic Crisis"

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes economic historian Barry Eichengreen of UC Berkeley for an analysis of the global economic crisis. He discusses its causes, evaluates government responses, and explores the implications for reform and stability of the international monetary system. Professor Eichengreen compares the present crisis to the Great Depression and discusses its implications for America's standing in the world. He also reflects on the role of history in helping us understand the interplay between economics and politics.

http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/iis/Kreisler.html
http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/conversations/

Category:

Education

Tags:

• uc
• ucberkeley
• university
• california
• berkeley
• Barry
• Eichengreen
• Globalization
• International
• Institutions
• Economy
• Harry
• Kreisler
• yt:quality=high

[boing3887]

@tigerhop.

If you want me to see your comments, make sure there's a "@boing3887" right at the beginning of the comment, or else i probably won't see your comment.

[boing3887]

@tigerhop

The banks that came up with these non-traditional mortgages were not under the supervisioin of the CRA or Fannie/Freddie - you can look that up. And if you're going to say that non-traditional mortgages were "allowed" by govt., then you're saying that the govt. let private firms come up with these "inovations" - so you're saying that this is a failure of regulation. If that's what you mean, then I agree

[boing3887]

@tigerhop

There isn't some ideology among Democrats that home ownership is a right. more accurately, there is a view shared by both parties that the key to financial prosperity is through homeownership - you'll find both Republican and Democrat politicians praising the value of homeownership. Well, homeownership is not all it's made out to be.

[boing3887]

@tigerhop

inflation here is very weak. The chinese use the same measures for inflation that we do, and theirs is rising (but still not all that high) while ours is about 2%. But a little bit of inflation is what you get when the economy recovers. Right now the US is facing deflation because we can't recover - China passed a huge stimulus and recovered and so now is facing inflation. thus, they're raising interest rates, as they should

[boing3887]

@tigerhop

It's not that "none" of it had to do with govt. policy, but that govt. policy would not be at the top of the list. I never say that govt. is not to blame - you can look through my posts and you'll never see me say that. my emphasis is that there are global imbalances. if anything, the one with a blind spot is you - you can't seem to admit that investors can't be stupid

[boing3887]

@tigerhop

the housing bubble in the 90's didn't have that big of an effect on the economy like now. your point about US policy still fails to account for global housing bubble. If the catalyst is solely govt. and not stupid investors, then that implies that all countries with housing bubbles had similar policies on housing and credit. That is patently untrue. Policy on these fronts was very diverse across the world and yet they all had housing bubbles

[boing3887]

@tigerhop

that's kinda wrong...conservative think tanks like Heritage Foundation and AEI also pushed very hard to increase credit to lower-income families in order to encourage home ownership among them. Clinton never said that home ownership was a right...

[boing3887]

@tigerhop

when you can't make good arguments or find good evidence, start calling names. i never said that govt. subsidies weren't problematic - what i'm saying is that they're not the main factor by a long shot. to say that govt. subsidies caused the worldwide housing bubble looks pretty funny to those of us who aren't austrians.

[tigerhop]

@boing3887 You have a simplistic mindset to blame it on just one thing. It's easy to point fingers, but your refusal to blame government subsidies to the housing market is erroneous and narrow-minded.

[tigerhop]

Respond to this video... These non-traditional mortgage products were allowed by government as the Clinton administration bought votes by creating a LIE that every American has a RIGHT to a home. Failures in credit-rating and securitization transformed bad mortgages into toxic financial assets, which were sold around the world. The mountain of gov. programs supporting the housing market produced distorted investment incentives, and the gov's implicit support of Fannie&Freddie was EVIL.