Stanley Fischer

Humanitas Visiting Professorship in Economic Thought (2012-2013)

The Humanitas Visiting Professorship in Economic Thought seeks to examine the complex factors behind the economies and economic issues of today’s world. It is an opportunity for leading economists – both practitioners and academics – to participate with students and members of the public in exchanges about many of the issues facing the world today.

The Visiting Professorship in Economic Thought is made possible by the generous support of Donald Marron and is hosted by All Souls College, Oxford.

Stanley Fischer is the Governor of the Bank of Israel.

Professor Stanley Fischer’s series was based around the theme Lessons of the Crisis 2007-2012. His lecture focused on the lessons learned from the Great Recession of 2007-2012, and on the economic policy controversies and open ended questions surrounding the policies implemented in dealing with it. Professor Fischer explained the Great Recession by tracing the variables of growth, exports, unemployment, fiscal policy, monetary policy, and indicators of financial stability leading up to and continuing through the crisis. He carefully explained this data to the audience, drawing out the theoretical lessons and concluding by highlighting their practical applications: namely, that strong supervision of the banking system, as well as macroprudential supervisions, are essential.

The lecture was followed by a series of workshops for graduate students led by Professor Fischer and other prominent economists. Professor Fischer gave two workshops on Central bank laws: negotiating a new law, 2005-2010 and How would it differ if it were to be negotiated all over again in 2012?. Professor John Vickers gave a workshop on the Lessons for banking reform. This was followed by a workshop given by Professor Hyun Song Shin on Lessons on Capital flows and financial stability. All three speakers closed the series with a half-hour panel discussion.