Prof. Willem Buiter gave a public lecture on 25th April 2023 at King’s College London on the topic “Four Informational Challenges Faced by Central Banks Today”.
About the talk
Central banks today face four daunting informational challenges. First, they must relearn inflation control in a world with multiple complex drivers of inflation. Second, to discharge their responsibilities and enhanced lender of last resort and market maker of last resort they must learn how to value and price systemically important financial assets when markets are disorderly. Third, they must manage the ongoing digitization of the financial system – including DeFi, stablecoins, on-chain bank deposit tokens and CBDCs. Fourth, they must manage the systemic political economy uncertainty associated with the central bank’s inescapable role as a fiscal agent of the state – something that poses an unavoidable, permanent threat to central bank operational independence in the pursuit of price stability.
About the Speaker
Professor Willem Buiter is an independent economic advisor, speaker, commentator and expert witness. He is currently an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He was Global Chief Economist at Citigroup from 2010 to 2018 and a Special Economic Advisor at Citigroup from 2018 to 2019. Previously, he was Chief Economist and Special Counselor to the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and an original member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England. He was the Juan T. Trippe Professor of International Economics at Yale University and has also held academic appointments at the London School of Economics, Cambridge University, the University of Bristol and Princeton University. He is the author of 78 refereed articles in professional journals and seven books.
