Keynote: Navigating the Global Polycrisis

Megan Greene

Global Economist, Financial Times Columnist & Senior Fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University

Wednesday, 26 April | 12:00 – 13:15 | CC5.1

Overview

This is a critical juncture for the global economy in the face of a number of parallel and often related crises. The polycrisis upon us includes the legacy of covid, war in Europe, an energy shock, high and persistent inflation, a global monetary tightening cycle, a strong US dollar, China’s reopening and global indebtedness—to name a few. This is to say nothing of the turmoil playing out in financial markets as the decades-long negative correlation between bonds and stocks has reversed so both are tanking simultaneously. As years of cheap money come to an end and the tide of liquidity goes back out, we are starting to discover who is swimming naked. Global debt to GDP exceeds 300%, but countries are going to have to spend a lot more money to address the polycrisis. In doing so, they will be working against central banks, which will continue to withdraw accommodation in an effort to lean against inflation. Will fiscal and monetary authorities manage to navigate this without causing a global recession? What will a likely recession look like? And what will the global economy look like when the dust has finally settled on the pandemic and war?

About the Speaker

Megan Greene is a Senior Fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University, where she is teaching and writing a book on the drivers of income and wealth inequality and how to address them. She is also the Global Chief Economist at Kroll, providing macroeconomic and policy analysis both internally and for Kroll clients. Ms. Greene teaches courses at Tsinghua University (Beijing) and the European University Institute (Florence), serves on the Economic Advisory Panel at the San Francisco Federal Reserve and is the Dame DeAnne Julius Senior Academy Fellow in International Economics at Chatham House in London.

Ms. Greene is a Contributing Editor and regular columnist at the Financial Times, writing on global macroeconomics and policy. She is an advisory board member for the the Parliamentary Budget Office in Ireland, Rebuilding Macroeconomics and Econofact. In addition, Megan is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Bretton Woods Committee. She regularly advises governments and central banks in the US, UK, eurozone, and Japan.

Previously, she was a Senior Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School and the Global Chief Economist at John Hancock Asset Management. She holds a BA from Princeton University and a MSc from Nuffield College, Oxford University.

Keynote presentation is free and open to all badge holders. 

Educational Program brought to you by: