The 2008 Global Financial Crisis in Retrospect
University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
August 30-31, 2018
The 2008 global financial crisis was the most severe since the Great Depression of the early 1930s.
The 2018 Conference in Reykjavik examined the causes of the 2008 crisis and the regulatory responses both at the national level and the international level and explored whether the innovations in regulations are likely to reduce the frequency and severity of a banking crisis in the future.
The event gathered prominent leaders from academia, business and government who offered a global perspective during this two day workshop.
Program and Presentations
Thursday, 30 August
Welcome by Jón Atli Benediktsson, President of the University of Iceland
Was the U.S. crisis a national banking event or a global event?
- Edwin Truman, Peterson Institute: Chair
- Marcus Miller, University of Warwick: “The Financial Alchemy that Failed”
- Michael Dooley, University of California at Santa Cruz: “Prudential Regulation and Capital Controls ”
- Peter Garber, Deutsche Bank: “Three Grand State Projects Meet the Financial System”
- Robert McCauley, Bank for International Settlements: “The 2008 GFC: Savings or Banking Glut?”
- David Folkerts-Landau, Deutsche Bank: Discussant
Capital flows and the U.S. economy
- þorvaldur Gylfason, University of Iceland: Chair
- Brad Setser, Council on Foreign Relations: “Capital Flows into the United States Ahead of the Great North Atlantic Financial Crisis”
- Jeffrey Shafer, JRShafer Insight: “The Foreign Capital Flow and Domestic Drivers of the US Financial Crisis And its Spread Globally”
- Robert Aliber, University of Chicago: “Financial Crises and Bank Capital”
- Edwin Truman, Peterson Institute: “Three Reflections on Banking Regulation and Cross-Border Financial Flows”
- Sigríður Benediktsdóttir, Yale University: Discussant
Keynote speech
- William White, formerly Bank for International Settlements: Chair
- Már Gudmundsson, Governor of the Central Bank of Iceland: “Recovery and reforms: where do we stand ten years after the crisis?”
Lessons from Iceland’s financial crisis
- Tinna Ásgeirsdóttir, University of Iceland: Chair
- Fridrik M. Baldursson, Reykjavik University: “Capital Controls as a Bargaining Device: The Case of Iceland”
- Gudrún Johnsen, University of Iceland: “Wages of Failure: Executive Compensation at the Failed Icelandic Banks” (Tables and Graphs)
- Jon Danielsson, London School of Economics: “Financial Policy After the Crisis ”
- Michael Dooley, University of California at Santa Cruz: Discussant
Friday, 31 August
The financial crisis and its impact on Icelandic society
- Michael Dooley, University of California at Santa Cruz: Chair
- Stefán Ólafsson, University of Iceland: “Coping with the Crisis: Iceland in a Comparative Perspective ”
- Tinna Ásgeirsdóttir, University of Iceland: “Business Cycles and Health: Lessons from the Icelandic Economic Collapse ”
- Þorvaldur Gylfason, University of Iceland: “Ten Years After: Iceland's Unfinished Business”
- Gylfi Zoega, University of Iceland: Discussant
Small open economies and the challenges of free capital flows
- Þröstur Olaf Sigurjónsson, Reykjavik University: Chair
- Gylfi Zoega, University of Iceland, and Hamid Raza, Aalborg University: “From a Capital Account Surplus to a Current Account Deficit ”
- Gauti Eggertsson, Brown University, Sigríður Benediktsdóttir, Yale University, and Eggert Þröstur Þórarinsson, Central Bank of Iceland: “Lessons From The Icelandic Financial Crisis: Emphasis on Bank Resolution, Costs and Problem Stemming from Capital Flows”
- Peter Garber, Deutche Bank: Discussant
Keynote speech
- Gylfi Zoega, University of Iceland: Chair
- Edmund Phelps, Nobel Laureate in Economics 2006, Columbia University: “Trying to Improve a Future that is Seriously Unknown” (Appendix)
The optimal monetary policy regime for Iceland
- Marcus Miller, University of Warwick: Chair
- Ásgeir Jónsson, University of Iceland: “After 100 years of experiment: One solution?”
- Fredrik N G Andersson and Lars Jonung, Lund University: “Iceland Should Replace its Central Bank with a Currency Board”
- Þórarinn G. Pétursson, Central Bank of Iceland: “Post-Crisis Monetary Policy Reform: Learning the Hard Way “
- Robert Aliber, University of Chicago: Discussant
Panel discussion
- Már Gudmundsson, Central Bank of Iceland: Chair
- Robert Aliber, University of Chicago: “Iceland - Concluding Panel”
- William White, formerly Bank for International Settlements: “The 2008 Global Financial Crisis in Retrospect”
- Lawrence Goodman, Center for Financial Stability: “Global Financial Crisis: Lessons for the Future”
- David Folkerts-Landau, Deutsche Bank
