Some five years ago, at a conference of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, I lamented that “the growing imbalances, disequilibria, risks” were giving rise to “circumstances as dangerous and intractable” as any I could recall—intractable not just because of the combination of complicated issues, but because there seemed to be “so little willingness or capacity to do much about it.”
..To me, the lesson is clear. There are deep-seated structural issues that must be dealt with by legislation. Moreover, there should be common elements among nations hosting significant international financial markets and institutions.
..As we well know, the critical policy issues we face go way beyond the technicalities of law and regulation of financial markets. There is growing awareness of historically large and persistent fiscal deficits in a number of well-developed economies. The risks associated with the virtually unprecedented levels of public debts as we emerge from recessions are evident.
