iMFdirect – The IMF Blog

Guest post by David H. Romer,
University of California, Berkeley, and
co-host of the Conference on Macro and Growth Policies in the Wake of the Crisis

I had one major source of unhappiness with last week’s conference: the participants were largely silent about the dismal outlook in the advanced economies for the next several years. The current outlook for unemployment in the United States, Europe, and Japan is probably worse than it was in late 2008. Then, mainstream forecasts for 2009–2011 showed unemployment rising sharply—but generally to levels below what we are experiencing today—and then returning toward normal at a moderate pace. Today, not only is unemployment higher than most 2008 forecasts of its peak levels, but the expected pace of recovery is weaker.

Despite this deterioration, the dire sense of urgency in late 2008 has not increased. Indeed, it has largely disappeared. I find this complacency in the fact of vast, preventable suffering and waste hard to understand. (more…)

Filed under: Advanced Economies, Economic Crisis, Economic outlook, Economic research, Fiscal policy, growth, IMF, International Monetary Fund | Tagged: capital controls, central bank swap lines, David H. Romer, equality, exchange market intervention, financial market, financial risk, fiscal policy, Liquidity support, macroeconomic stability, macroprudential regulation, monetary policy, policy instruments, policy targets, regulation, unemployment | 9 Comments »