Jacques de Larosière is a former Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) (1978-1987), former Governor of the Banque de France (1988-1993), former President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) (1993-1998). He is an advisor to the President of BNP Paribas.

This is the story of the financial crises that the markets always end up inflicting on those who take advantage of their innovations, their excesses and their usual laxity. The handling of these crises, often inventive, has consumed a lot more energy than their prevention or essential reform.

I had the privilege of taking part in some of these “escapes from crisis”. The Latin American crisis, for example, and negotiating the adjustment programme of the IMF, and the aid to the Eastern European economies in transition.

But the picture remains gloomy. The 2007-8 crisis, with its long procession of unemployment and recession, is an extreme example of what can happen as a result of excessive debt. And the monetary policy of quantitative easing plunges me, as an observer, into a bottomless pit of questioning and doubt.

Jacques de Larosière is a first-rank player in finance and currency policy, as we can see from his report to the European Commission after the crisis of 2008.
An “inside story” of historical episodes to which Jacques de Larosière turns a critical eye: on the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, which he sees as being at the root of the current structural failings; on the creation of the IMF and its statutes which he negotiated; on the transition of the Eastern European economies; and more.