Program committee: Øyvind Eitrheim, Marc Flandreau and Jan F. Qvigstad.

As the sub-prime crisis amplified, economic historians have been in high demand. Valid and invalid comparisons and parallels with the 1929 crises have dominated many policy discussions. Previous crises have changed the views on policy, supervision and regulation. How will the sub-prime crisis impact on policy institutions and international cooperation? However, for economic historians the most policy relevant implication of the crisis is the extent to which it has affected earlier wisdoms regarding what ought to be done to deal with major crises. Much of our current policy prescriptions have been shaped as a response to the interwar crisis – yet it remains to be seen whether they can fly. At the end of the day both the present and the past will no longer be what they used to.

Day 1: Thursday, February 3, 2011, Villa Barton, Graduate Institute, Geneva

Opening Address and Welcome: Philippe Burrin, Director, Graduate Institute.

Marc Flandreau, Graduate Institute: The Future of PPP

Chair: Edi Hochreiter, Joint Vienna Institute

Session 1: Core Problems. Chair: Jaime Reis, Instituto de Cienciais Sociais, Lisboa

Yishay Yafeh (Hebrew University) and Nathan Sussman (Hebrew University), "The Current Financial Crisis in Historical Perspective - a view from the Core". Paper (pdf, 699 kB) Presentation (pdf, 587 kB)

Discussants:

Charles Wyplosz (Graduate Institute)

Charlie Calomiris (Columbia University). Discussion (pdf, 2 Mb)

Vincent Bignon, (Graduate Institute, Geneva) “Financial crises, Business cycles, and Bankruptcies in the Very Long Run: France during the 19th Century”.  Paper (pdf, 679 kB). Presentation (pdf, 166 kB)

Discussants:

Øyvind Eitrheim (Norges Bank). Discussion (pdf, 396 kB)

Albrecht Ritschl (London School of Economics). Discussion (pdf, 455kB)

Session 2: Legacy of the Interwar Crisis. Chair: Mike Bordo, Rutgers University

Marc Flandreau (Graduate Institute, Geneva) “Autopsy of a Regime Change: International Effects of New Deal Financial Acts". Paper (pdf, 1 Mb). Presentation (pdf, 1 Mb)

Discussants:

Isabel Schnabel (University of Mainz). Discussion (pdf, 114 kB)

Øyvind Eitrheim (Norges Bank). Discussion (pdf, 396 kB)

Jan F. Qvigstad: "Norges Bank's bicentenary project 1816-2016: aims and perspectives"

Day 2: Friday, February 4, 2011, Villa Barton, Graduate Institute, Geneva

Session 3: Scandinavian Perspectives. Chair: Lars Jonung, Lund University and the Fiscal Policy Council of Sweden

Lars Fredrik Øksendal (Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) “The margins for discretion: Crisis management under a fixed exchange rate regime. The case of Norway in the late 1870s”. Paper (pdf, 536 kB). 

Discussants:

Mike Bordo (Rutgers University). Discussion (pdf, 34 kB)

Stefano Ugolini (Graduate Institute/Scuola Normale di Pisa). Discussion (pdf, 433 kB)

Sverre Knutsen, (Norwegian School of Management), “A comparative analysis of three Norwegian bank crises”. Paper (pdf, 652 kB). Presentation (pdf, 445 kB)

Discussants:

Nathan Sussman (Hebrew University). Discussion (pdf, 215 kB)

Lars Fredrik Øksendal (Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration). Discussion (pdf, 43 kB)

Anders Øgren (Stockholm School of Economics and Université Paris Nanterre) “The Causes and Consequences of Banking Regulation: Sweden as a Natural Experiment”.  Paper (pdf, 667 kB). Presentation (pdf, 339 kB)

Discussants:

Tobias Strauman (University of Zürich). Discussion (pdf, 52 kB)

Juan Flores (University of Geneva). Discussion (pdf, 138 kB)

Lunch speaker: Lars Jonung (Lund University), Lessons from the Nordic financial crisis (pdf, 658 kB)

Session 4: The Costs of Regulation. Chair: Jorge Braga de Macedo

Christophe Farquet (Université de Lausanne), “The political economy of tax evasion: France and Switzerland in the interwar”. Paper (pdf, 2 Mb). Presentation (pdf, 778 kB)

Discussants:

Pierre Sicsic (Banque de France)

Gianni Toniolo (Duke University and LUISS, Roma). Discussion (pdf, 216 kB)

Helen Paul (University of Southampton) “Limiting the Witch-Hunt: recovering from the South Sea Bubble”. Paper (pdf, 315 kB). Presentation (pdf, 15 kB)

Discussants:

Clemens Jobst (Austrian National Bank). Discussion (pdf, 358 kB)

Michel Girardin (Union Bancaire Privée, Geneva)

Jon R. Moen (University of Mississippi), Ellis Tallman “Private vs. Collective Welfare in Bank Panics: 1907 and 2007”. Paper (pdf, 849 kB).  Presentation (pdf, 1 Mb)

Discussants:

Mary O’Sullivan (Université de Genève). Discussion (pdf, 75 kB)

 Eugene White (Rutgers University). Discussion (pdf, 130 kB)