By Paul GOLDSCHMIDT, former director at Goldman Sachs International, former director at the European Commission, member of the Advisory Board of the Thomas More Institue Brussels.

Recent market volatility reflects the growing tensions between perceptions of the short and long term consequences of policies being pursued by monetary and economic authorities. I have consistently drawn attention to the dilemma posed by the deflationary or inflationary outcomes of the current crisis, making it clear that the latter is the lesser of two evils. As time passes, we can observe that many of the economic indicators are consistent with historical patterns observed in previous cycles: the stock market troughs approximately 6 months prior (...)

This article is the result of Paul Goldschmidt's reflection, a former director at Goldman Sachs International and former director at the European Commission, and member of the Advisory Board of the Thomas More Institute, which led to two working papers during the summer on issues regarding the methodology and the priorities to give to the French National Bond Issue that President Sarkozy wished for. These working papers have been sent to Michel Rocard and Alain Juppé, both of them former Prime Minister and co presidents of the Commission tasked with determining strategic sectors to benefit from the National Bond Issue, as well as to all the members of the Commission.

Within the scope of the financial crisis, which has led to the (...)

By Paul GOLDSCHMIDT, former director at Goldman Sachs International, former director at the European Commission, member of the Advisory Board of the Thomas More Institue Brussels.

Le débat qui fait rage au sujet des institutions financières et leurs implications « systémiques » devient de plus en plus confus au fur et à mesure que les parties prenantes avancent des arguments pour ou contre la limitation de leur taille. Il y a un large accord sur le fait que la crise actuelle a pu se développer en partie parce que le cadre fragmenté de la réglementation existante s’est révélé inadéquat pour révéler à temps l’excès d’actifs à risque qui avait imprégné le système financier et qui, à son tour, a été (...)

Ever since the start of the financial crisis, remunerations in the world of finance have become a major concern in Europe and around the world. The various initiatives taken since the creation of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) in April 2009 and up until the G20 Pittsburgh Summit last September did not provide any efficient solutions to address the issue. Consequently, the FSB and the European Commission are working on new measures which should be ready for announcement next spring. It is urgent for public welfare as well as for the world of finance to curb the current excesses. If the markets were to plummet again, bank losses to reappear and governments required to sit at the banks’ bedsides again, there would be a risk of (...)

By Paul GOLDSCHMIDT, former director at Goldman Sachs International, former director at the European Commission, member of the Advisory Board of the Thomas More Institue.

Given the attention drawn to trader’s bonuses by Governments and media alike, one would be tempted to conclude that an agreement on the subject during the forthcoming G20 meeting in Pittsburgh would be an essential building block in reforming the regulatory framework of the global financial markets as well as constitute a major success in managing the exit of the crisis. Let us try to put things back into perspective:

• There is no doubt that the current structure of trader’s remuneration is unhealthy to the extent that it has engineered an excessive (...)