Warwick Guest Lecture with George Chouliarakis

The Department of Economics is delighted to welcome George Chouliarakis as our next Warwick Economics Lecture speaker for the 2022/23 academic year.

Europe's Sovereign Debt Problem: Past Crises and Future Challenges

Date: Tuesday 4 October 2022, 3:00 - 4:00pm
Location: The Oculus, OC0.03

Dr Christian Soegaard will introduce the speaker and chair the Q&A session at the end of the lecture.

After the lecture there will be a drinks reception in The Oculus foyer where you will have the opportunity to meet and engage with George and departmental staff.

This event is for staff and students only and registration is required in order to attend. First year students who attend the lecture will be able to get PDM points.

About The Talk

Just a few years ago, Greece experienced the worst recession in postwar European history and came twice close to a sovereign debt default and a disorderly exit from the eurozone. Three bailout programs - led by the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund - and two debt restructurings later, Greece finally turned the corner, regained market access, and laid the foundations for a sustained economic recovery. Where did it all go wrong? What might have been done differently? What worked in the end? What lessons can we learn for the design of future economic adjustment programs? And importantly, which reforms to its economic governance framework can make Europe more resilient in face of economic uncertainty, large global shocks, and escalating public debts?

About the speaker - George Chouliarakis (PhD Economics - University of Warwick)

George is currently a Senior Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and Economic Adviser to the Governor of the Bank of Greece.

He was Greece’s Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from February 2015 to July 2019, interim Minister of Finance in the run up to the elections of September 2015, and Alternate Minister of Finance - responsible for fiscal policy and the sovereign debt – from September 2015 to July 2019. From May to August 2015, he led Greece through the technical negotiations with the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund that resulted in the country's economic adjustment program and prevented Greece’s disorderly exit from the European Monetary Union. He oversaw the design and successful implementation of the fiscal consolidation program 2015-2018, which restored fiscal policy credibility and enabled Greece to regain market access and conducted for Greece the technical negotiations that led to the debt relief agreement of June 2018.

He has served as a member of the Eurogroup Working Group (EWG), a member of the Eurogroup, a member of the Board of Directors of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), and a member of the Economic Policy Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Prior to these, he held appointments at the Economics Departments of the University of Manchester and the University of Essex. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Warwick.

Registration

Please complete the following form with your details as registration is mandatory. Only register if you are going to attend.

Registration will close midday Monday 3 October