Martin Wolf's Economists' Forum

The Financial Times is starting an online webloggy "Economists' Forum," with the excellent Martin Wolf as the ringmaster:

FT.com / Martin Wolf's economists' forum : Forum: Introduction by Martin Wolf

What are the risks to the world economy? Is the European economy doomed to stagnation? Do the advanced countries face serious problems of fiscal sustainability? How should pensions be financed and organised? Is China's growth sustainable?

These are just a few of the big questions that policy-oriented economists address. Now they will have an opportunity to address them together in an informal way. Under the moderation of Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator of the FT, an invited group of influential, policy-oriented economists from around the globe will consider subjects of immediate interest and ones that are of more enduring significance.

Debates that have until now taken place in closed seminars or conferences will be openly conducted on FT.com for the education and stimulation of its readers. The discussion will, no doubt, be vigorous, but it should also be pointed, clear and logical. The FT is delighted to launch this initiative.

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Issue #1: The quantity of analysis devoted to the so-called "global imbalances" is extraordinary. As is usual with economists, we have reached no conclusion. Yet what is happening is extraordinary enough to merit an attempt at least to clarify the basis of the disagreements.

I suggest the discussion needs to be focused around five questions: first, what is actually happening? Second, why has the US developed such large current account deficits? Third, in what sense, if any, are these' deficits a matter for concern? Fourth, what is likely to happen and over what time period? Finally, to the extent that they are a concern, what actions should be taken to deal with them and by whom?

Let me outline below what I see as the issues under each of the questions I have listed...

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Contributing economists:

The list below includes those economists who have been invited to participate in the forum. Their comments on their subjects of special interest will be published over the months ahead, as Martin Wolf posts his view on the big issues.

Alberto Alesina, Harvard University
Olivier Blanchard, MIT
Willem Buiter, London School of Economics, Goldman Sachs
Ricardo Caballero, MIT
Stephen Cecchetti, Brandeis
Paul Collier, Oxford University
Richard Cooper, Harvard University
Guillermo de la Dehesa, Goldman Sachs
Brad De Long, Berkeley
Peter Diamond, MIT
Michael Dooley, University of California - Santa Cruz
Sebastian Edwards, UCLA
Martin Feldstein, NBER
Jeffrey Frankel, Kennedy School
Richard Freeman, Harvard University
Fan Gang, China Academy of Social Sciences
Wynne Godley, Cambridge University
Robert Gordon, Northwestern University
Ricardo Hausmann, Kennedy School
Glenn Hubbard, Columbia University
Taketoshi Ito, Tokyo Univeristy
Robert Laurence, Kennedy School
Richard Layard, London School of Economics
Robert Lucas, Chicago University
Gregory Mankiw, Harvard University
Alan Meltzer, Carnegie-Mellon
Ronald McKinnon, Stanford University
Edmund (Ned) Phelps, Columbia University
Jean Pisani-Ferry, Brueghel
Richard Portes, London Business School
Adam Posen , Institute for International Economics
Helmut Reisen, OECD
Danny Rodrik, Kennedy School
Andrew Rose, University of California - Berkeley
Nouriel Roubini, New York University
Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia University
Andrei Sapir, European Centre for Advanced Research in Economics
Paul Seabright, Toulouse
Hans-Werner Sinn, University of Munich
Laurence Summers, Harvard University
Tony Venables, London School of Economics
Juergen von Hagen, University of Bonn
Robert Wade, London School of Economics
Adrian Wood, Oxford University
Luigi Zingales, Chicago University