Finance and the Economy At A New Crossroads: Different Models Or A Different Vision?

A discussion on the lessons learned from the financial crisis and what is necessary to face and overcome it

Presented by Crossroads Cultural Center
and Communion and Liberation

As the global economy faces the most significant financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression, we find ourselves confronted with questions that we thought had already been answered, for good. With all the advances in macro-economic theory and policy management over the last eighty years, we thought a disaster of that magnitude could never happen again. Yet, the dramatic decline in financial markets, the sharp decline in house prices, and the rapid erosion of economic activity, worldwide, has no parallel but the one that unfolded in the 1930s. So, what caused this financial crisis? What went wrong with all the safeguards that, we thought, had been put in place? And, what do we do now? What followed the crash of 1929 was a decade of global economic strife and rising international tensions, which ultimately ended in WWII. As such, there are deep and profound questions that need to be confronted, today. Are our current problems the result of not enough government intervention (i.e., regulation) or too much government intervention (i.e., Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac)? What drives the hope and trust that are so necessary for economies to prosper? And why has this confidence unraveled so quickly? Is this all a problem of greed, and if so, what is really an effective response to the problem of greed? The Berlin Wall fell two decades ago and marked an important inflection for the fall of communism and the rise of capitalism. In the same way, the current financial crisis marks the end of a certain free market capitalistic ideology and we are now faced with the task of discovering another way to approach human work and economic policy.

About this Event

Date: Sunday, January 18, 2009
Time: 3pm
Location: Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at New York University
566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square South, New York
Tickets: The conference is open to the public. Free admission ticket is required.
Free tickets (first-come, first-served) will be distributed at the Skirball Center Box Office starting at 2:00pm on 1/18/2009

About the Speakers

Lewis Alexander
Global Chief Economist, Citigroup

Seth Freeman
Assistant Clinical Professor, NYU Stern School of Business and Adjunct Professor, Columbia University

Dominick Salvatore
Director, Ph.D. Program in Economics at Fordham University in New York

Invitation

Download the Invitation here

Transcript

Read the transcript here

Report on the New York Encounter

Read the report here

Photos