Together, Marco Buti, Director General for Economic and Financial Affairs at the European Commission & Adam Tooze, Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of History & Director of the European Institute, analyzed the current state of the global economy. Main points of discussion included the role the EU should play in global economic governance in the future and whether or not current difficulties in the global economy can be described as "growing pains."
Buti determined that the global economy is not experiencing said growing pains, but is rather at a critical juncture. Focusing primarily on the EU's role in this phase of the international economy, Buti offered a few possibilities for Europe to improve. One idea mentioned was that of viewing risk reduction and risk sharing in the EU as inherently tied to one another; this has been a point of contention within the EU, as some view risk sharing and risk assessment as starkly separate from one another. Another idea proposed was to explicitly put further political integration on the table, which Buti argued is a natural partner to the planned strengthening of economic ties on the part of the EU.
A Q&A followed the conversation between Tooze and Buti. Questions touched upon two main issues: (1) the conflict between the EU's centralized monetary policy in the context of an absence of centralized fiscal policy making tools and (2) whether the EU will continue to be more or less silent on their political goals for coming years.
To see DG Buti's separate presentation, click here.
This was part of a public event held on October 29, 2018, at Columbia University. The event was sponsored by the European Institute and the Center on Global Economic Governance (CGEG).
This event was made possible thanks to the support of the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.