Almost 100 years ago, a young official in the UK Treasury sought to advise European policy makers on how daunting external debts might best be managed. There was, he argued, a limit to the national capacity to service debts. Those expecting further payments were bound to be disappointed. More than that, efforts by creditors to insist on further debt payments would be politically dangerous. “If they do sign,” he wrote to a friend, “they can’t possibly keep some of the terms, and general disorder and unrest will result everywhere.” He recommended a round of debt cancellation among European countries, a plan that would – at the stroke of a pen – remove much of the problem. When he was ignored by creditor governments, John Maynard Keynes quit

Robert and Edward Skidelsky are appearing at Exeter University on 31 May at 3.30pm to talk about and sign their new book, How Much is Enough? The love of money and the case for the good life.

 

Full details about the event can be found here: www.exeter.ac.uk/news/events//details/index.php

Lord Skidelsky's talk on 'The Impact of the Global Economic Crisis on the Future of International Relations' is now up at the Cornell University website - view it here: http://www.cornell.edu/video/?videoID=2044

LONDON – Nearly four years after the start of the global financial crisis, many are wondering why economic recovery is taking so long. Indeed, its sluggishness has confounded even the experts. According to the International Monetary Fund, the world economy should have grown by 4.4% in 2011, and should grow by 4.5% in 2012. In fact, the latest figures from the World Bank indicate that growth reached just 2.7% in 2011, and will slow this year to 2.5% – a figure that may well need to be revised downwards.

 

There are two possible reasons for the discrepancy between forecast and outcome. Either the damage caused by the financial crisis was more serious than people realized, or the economic medicine prescribed was less efficacious than

The Centre for Global Studies has published Robert Skidelsky's collected writings on the economic crisis.

 

 

To order Skidelsky on the Economic Crisis, write to 207 Fielden House, 13 Little College Street, London SW1P 3SH, enclosing a cheque for £7.