Pedro Páez: The Crisis of Capitalism - Alternatives from the South and the North

Lunch debate (public event), Brussels, Monday, 20th June 2011, 12:00

Time: Monday, 20th June 2011, 12:00 - 13:15

Venue: Residence Palace, Passage Room, Rue de la Loi 155, Brussels

Language: English

Organisation: Rosa Luxemburg Foundation Brussels Office

Contact: Renato Sabbadini, Tel.: +32 (0)2 738 7663

"It is impossible to come out from the crisis of capitalism without leaving the capitalism in crisis.” (Pedro Páez)

Is the current financial crisis just that? Or does its paradoxical combination of overproduction and underconsumption point to something deeper? What is the cause? The “irrational exuberance” of a few key actors, to use an expression by Alan Greenspan? Is it just another cycle in the otherwise healthy functioning of modern capitalism? Which experiences in the South and the North of the world show a possible way out?

Pedro Páez has been economist and analyst for the Central Bank of Ecuador since 1983. Former Minister for Economic Policy Coordination and Vice-Minister for Finances of Ecuador, he was also member of the Stiglitz Committee, i.e. the UN Expert Committee on the financial crisis. He has taught Econometrics, Macroeconomics, Sustainable Development and Public Finance in several Ecuadorian universities. He is currently plenipotentiary Representative of the government of Ecuador in topics related to the New Financial Architecture. He is President of the Technical Presidential Commission for the Ecuadorian proposal of a new regional financial architecture.

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See also:

* The New International Financial Architecture and Transformation of International Financial Regime (2011)

* Upsurge in Latin America - Europe on the Defensive? (2011)

* The Crisis of Capitalism and Post-capitalist Horizons (2010)

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