How to put the global economy on a sustainable growth path

William White, Chair, OECD Economic and Development Review Committee

Is policy sowing the seeds of the next crisis? There is a danger that it is. Imbalances in particular must be tackled.

What was the underlying cause of the economic and financial crisis that began in the summer of 2007? I believe that it was an explosion of private sector credit, driven by excessively easy monetary policies and declining credit standards. This led, in turn, to various “imbalances”, including inexplicably high asset prices, sharp increases in the risk exposure of financial institutions, unprecedented spending excesses in many countries (consumption and private debt in the US and investment in China), global trade imbalances, and a marked shift of factors of production into sectors like construction likely to suffer from excess capacity going forward.

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Economic data

GDP: +0.43% Q1 2017
Employment rate: 67.2% Q4 2016
Annual inflation: 2.4% Apr 2017
Trade: +3.0% exp, +4.0% imp, Q1 2017
Unemployment: 6.008% Mar 2017
LOOKING AHEAD: The outlook, to judge by factory order books, building permits, long-term interest rates and other "leading" indicators that point to future activity remains modest at best. Click curve to find out more country trends.
Updated: 14 June 2017

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