Abstract

Speaker Valpy Fitzgerald is Emeritus Professor of International Development Finance at Oxford University and Emeritus Fellow of St Antony’s College. He holds a PhD in economics from Cambridge (Churchill, 1972) and has held faculty posts in Cambridge, The Hague and Oxford. Valpy was recently awarded a Doctor Honoris Causa by Madrid University for his contributions to modern critical economics in Spain. His current research focusses on the implications of international tax coordination for the reconstruction of the ‘social contract’ in democratic open economies.

Talk Overview: Valpy Fitzgerald will explore the perspective for OECD economies over the next decade from the viewpoint of the unprecedented level of public debt overhang; itself the result of socialising large private banking asset portfolios and providing subsidised liquidity thereafter. The alternative macroeconomic paths towards reducing the debt/gdp ratio have radically different implications for income distribution: between social classes, between national economies, and between age cohorts; bearing in mind that OECD public debt is not only a systemic liability (backed by future fiscal surpluses) but also a key asset for wealth holders. These outcomes in turn are liable to have severe political economy consequences.

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