Both reasons combine to create an urgent need for serious and creative thought on the part of the international community about how to “bail in” private sector financiers, in order to reduce the impact on the financial resources of official institutions like the IMF, the World Bank and the regional development banks, to reduce moral hazard leading to excessive risk-taking, especially short-term inter-bank borrowing, and to improve risk assessment.
In the more than fifty-seven years since I received my first degree from this university, I have had a front-row seat in observing the exceptional growth in world living standards. With all that exposure, it was inevitable that I would gain some useful insights into the role of open and competitive markets in engendering the wealth of nations.