The enormous costs involved in responding to the current pandemic have lifted public borrowing in many countries to levels not seen since the second world war. What does the economic history of earlier periods of very high debt tell us about the current environment of rising public indebtedness and, potentially, higher inflation?

Can we draw parallels between the impact of crisis and war on state’s indebtedness in the past with the consequences of public borrowing in today’s age of independent central banks and aging populations? This panel discussion will bring together experts on the history of finance to examine the fiscal challenges brought about by the pandemic. By situating today’s challenges in their historical context, they will address whether lessons can be learnt from the past about the ways in which debt can be managed and how it will affect the world’s economies in the future.

Meet our speakers

Graciela L Kaminsky is Professor of Economics and International Affairs at George Washington University with expertise in international finance and open-economy macroeconomics.  Her research focuses on contagion, currency and financial crises, exchange rates, fiscal and monetary policies, international capital flows, and sovereign debt crises. She has done extensive research on capital flows to Latin American countries during the first globalisation era of 1820-1931.

Carmen M Reinhart (@carmenmreinhart) is Senior Vice President, Development Economics and World Bank Group Chief Economist. Assuming this role on June 15, 2020, Reinhart provides thought leadership for the institution at an unprecedented time of crisis. She also manages the Bank’s Development Economics Department. She comes to this position on public service leave from Harvard Kennedy School where she is the Minos A. Zombanakis Professor of the International Financial System.

Thomas J Sargent is William R. Berkley Professor of Economics and Business at NYU Stern. He was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Economics, shared with Princeton University's Christopher Sims, for his empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy.

Olivier Accominotti is Professor of Economic History at LSE and a Research Fellow at the Centre of Economic Policy Research. His research interests cover international finance and economic history and he has published extensively in these areas, especially on the international propagation of financial crises, the determinants of global capital flows, the evolution of the foreign exchange market, and the structure of the global financial system and money markets.

More about this event

The Department of Economic History (@LSEEcHist) iis one of the world’s leading centres for research and teaching in economic history. It is home to a huge breadth and depth of knowledge and expertise ranging for the medieval period to the current century.

The Economic History Advisory Board assists the Department in promoting its activities with an emphasis on alumni outreach, external relations and events.

This event forms part of LSE’s Shaping the Post-COVID World initiative, a series imagining what the world could look like after the crisis, and how we get there.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEPostCOVID

Podcast & Video

A podcast of this event is available to download from Pandemic Public Finance: how historic is it?

A video of this event is available to watch at Pandemic Public Finance: how historic is it?

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.