M-RCBG Senior Fellow-Led Study Group: Jean-Pierre Landau
Central Banks and the Global Financial Safety Net
February 5, 4:00-5:30| M-RCBG Conference Room (Belfer 503)
Except for some brief periods, world foreign exchange reserves have constantly increased over the last three decades. In many countries, they are now commensurate with the size of domestic GDP. Swaps agreements between Central Banks have been proposed and discussed as alternatives to the accumulation of reserves and a source of global liquidity. While such agreements have materialized between specific countries, the project of a Global Safety Net, based on a multilateral network of swaps still meets with significant resistance and raise interesting policy and political issues.
Jean-Pierre Landau is an Associate Professor of Economics at SciencesPo - Paris and a former senior official at the French Treasury and Central Bank. He has served as Deputy Governor of the Banque de France, Executive Director for France at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (Washington, DC) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (London). He was also Undersecretary at the Minister of Finance in Paris. In his different capacities, he was a member of the Board of the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) in Basel, a G7 and G20 Deputy and a member of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and its Steering Committee. He was Visiting Professor at SAIS (John Hopkins University) and Lecturer at the Woodrow Wilson School (Princeton University). He co-authored "The Euro and the Battle of Ideas" with Markus Brunnermeier and Harold James published at Princeton University Press in 2016. His main fields of interest include money and international economics, areas where he has direct and extensive experience. As a Senior Fellow, he will be conducting research on "The future of money in a digital world". His faculty sponsor is Jeffrey Frankel, James W. Harpel Professor of Capital Formation and Growth at Harvard University's Kennedy School. Email: jean-pierre_landau@hks.harvard.edu