In this week’s episode of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with economist and former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada, William White, about the state of our market economy and the prospects for an ‘international reset’ of the global financial system.

William R. White was most recently chairman of the Economic and Development Review Committee at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) from 2009 to 2018. He is famous for having flagged the wild behavior in debt markets before the Great Financial Crisis of 2008. He began his career in 1969 as an economist working at the Bank of England. In 1972 he joined the Bank of Canada where he spent 22 years and was appointed Deputy Governor in September 1988. In 1994, he joined the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and served as its Economic Adviser and Head of the Monetary and Economic Department from May 1995 to June 2008.

In their conversation, Demetri and Dr. White discuss a wide range of topics focused primarily on the global financial system. Their conversation begins with a focus on the state of the current system, including a discussion about the consequences of regulatory reform (both intended and unintended), as well as endogenous transformation to the system brought about by independent changes in the behavior of banks and other financial participants. Most of the conversation dealing with possible changes to the International Monetary and Financial System happen during the Episode Overtime, including a discussion about central bank-issued cryptocurrencies, private sector digital money like Libra, and Bitcoin. The overtime also includes a lengthy discussion about government policy in the face of climate change, and how this relates to the politics of monetary policy.

William White has spent five decades as a central banker and international financial policymaker, and we are fortunate beneficiaries of the wisdom that he has accrued during these many years.

Additional topics discussed during the episode include post-crisis reform, market architecture, currency wars, negative interest rates, the Chinese renminbi, causes for inflation, Japanification, the ‘Global Ring of Fire,’ and much more.

You can access the rundown to this week’s episode, along with a transcript of Demetri and Dr. White’s conversation through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers are granted access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.

Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
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William R. White is currently a Senior Fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute in Toronto, Canada. Until April of 2018, he was the chairman of the Economic and Development Review Committee at the OECD in Paris. This committee carries on regular evaluations of the policies of both member countries and aspiring members of the OECD. In his capacity as chairman, to which he was appointed in October 2009, William White also contributed to meetings of WP1 and the Economic Policy Committee of the OECD. As well, he was for four years a member of the Issing Committee, advising the German chancellor on G-20 issues. William White has in recent years published many articles on topics related to monetary and financial stability as well as the process of international cooperation in these areas. He speaks regularly to a wide range of audiences.

Dr. White was presented in September with the 2016 “Adam Smith Prize”, the highest award of the National Association of Business Economists (US). In May of 2015, he was honored with the “Hans-Moller-Medal” from VAC, the alumni club of political economists at Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich. Prior to that, he received the annual “Prize of the Monetary Workshop on Monetary, Financial and Macro-Prudential Policy “in Frankfurt in May 2014.

Dr. White joined the Bank for International Settlements in June 1994 as Manager in the Monetary and Economic Department and was appointed to the position of Economic Adviser and Head of the Monetary and Economic Department (MED), in May 1995. He oversaw the preparation of the prestigious BIS Annual Report for which he wrote the Introduction and Conclusions. As Head of the MED, he had overall responsibility for the department’s output of research, data and information services, and the organization of meetings for central bank Governors and staff around the world.

Dr. White was also a member of the Executive Committee which manages the BIS. In this capacity, he contributed actively to various internal subcommittees which establish policies to guide the Bank’s overall activities, including those of the Banking Department and Risk Control. He retired from the BIS on 30 June 2008.

Dr. White began his professional career at the Bank of England, where he was an economist from 1969 to 1972. Subsequently, he spent 22 years with the Bank of Canada. His first six years at the Bank of Canada were with the Department of Banking and Financial Analysis, first as an economist and finally as Deputy Chief. In1978, Dr. White took on different responsibilities as the Deputy Chief of the Research Department and was made Chief of the Department in 1979. He was appointed Adviser to the Governor in 1984 and Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada on September 1988.

In addition to these permanent positions, Dr. White spent six months (1985- 86) as a Special Adviser to the Canadian Minister of Finance and six years as a member of Statistics Canada’s Advisory Panel on the National Income Accounts. Since the late 1980s, he has been an active participant in many international committees, including the EPC and WP3 at the OECD, the G-10 Deputies, and the Bellagio Group which brings together senior government officials, central bankers, and academics.

Born in Kenora, Ontario, Dr. White received his BA from the University of Windsor in Windsor, Canada. In 1969 he received his Ph.D. from the University of Manchester, UK, where he was supported by a Commonwealth Scholarship.