Professor Stephen Roach Puts Financial Headlines in Context at Club Event

Stephen Roach, a senior fellow at Yale's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and one of Wall Street's most influential economists, discussed the still-struggling global economy with a Yale SOM audience on October 10.

Roach is the former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia and was the firm's chief economist for 25 years. He spoke as a guest of Yale SOM's Business and Politics Club, which regularly invites faculty members to speak on current events, using an article from the financial press as a jumping-off point. Roach spoke about the International Monetary Fund's lowering of world GDP growth estimates for this year and next year.

"The healing process is far from complete," Roach said. "That's what the IMF forecast is saying. That's what the political debate in this country is saying. Unfortunately, the debate over policy strategy—especially the asset-based liquidity injections by the Fed and the ECB—does not address the balance sheet problems that continue to afflict the U.S. and European economies. Until these problems are addressed, policymakers will be pushing on a string, and recoveries in crisis-battered economies will continue to be disappointing."

At Yale SOM, Roach has taught courses including Wall Street and Washington: Markets, Policy, and Politics and The Next China.