M-RCBG Senior Fellow-Led Study Group: George Chouliarakis
Thursday, October 27 4:30-6:00pm
L-230 Gundle Family Classroom
Despite progress in strengthening its economic governance framework over the past 10 years, there is no doubt that Europe needs a bold institutional overhaul to deal successfully with the many unprecedented challenges that lie ahead. Which economic policy framework can render Europe more resilient in face of extraordinary economic uncertainty, escalating public debts, and large global shocks such as the pandemic, energy supply shortages, and rising inflation? How should the European common fiscal framework be reformed to successfully address the tradeoff between containing fiscal risks and stabilizing output at a time of monetary policy tightening and rising interest rates? How can we minimize the risk of a new wave of sovereign debt crises in the European periphery? Join George Chouliarakis for a discussion of the European economic policy framework in a new era of economic uncertainty and monetary tightening.
This study group / discussion is open to all. Registration is not required.
George Chouliarakis was the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers of Greece from February 2015 to July 2019 and the Alternate Minister of Finance of Greece - responsible for fiscal policy, the government budget, medium-term fiscal strategy, and public debt – from August 2015 to July 2019. From May to August 2015 he served as head of the technical negotiations for Greece that led to the Third Economic Adjustment Programme, an agreement that prevented Greece’s disorderly exit from the European Monetary Union. He subsequently served as interim Finance Minister in the run up to the elections of September 2015. Since then and until the parliamentary elections of July 7th, 2019, he had a pivotal role in guiding the economy through one of the most challenging times in its modern history. He oversaw the design and successful implementation of the fiscal consolidation program 2015-2018, which restored fiscal policy credibility and enabled Greece to regain market access. He also conducted the technical negotiations for Greece that led to the vital debt relief agreement of June 2018. He served as a member of the Eurogroup Working Group (EWG), an alternate member of the Eurogroup, a member of the Board of Directors of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), and a member of the Economic Policy Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Prior to assuming his policy-making duties, he taught macroeconomics, international economics and economic history as a tenured faculty member of the University of Manchester and, previously, of the University of Essex. He holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Athens, an MSc in Economics from the University of London and a PhD in Economics from the University of Warwick. As a Senior Fellow, his research will focus on the role of fiscal policy in coping with future large shocks (project title: Preparing for future shocks: lessons from the global financial crisis for fiscal policy and the EMU). His faculty sponsor is Jason Furman, Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. His email is: gchouliarakis@hks.harvard.edu