OECD Conference | A Systemic Recovery

Executive Director Barry Lynn speaks at an OECD conference about how to structure international systems in a way that ensures stability and resilience.

“The COVID-19 pandemic reveals the interconnectedness, complexity and fragility of our global system. Once this health and mental-health emergency is under control, we need to build a more resilient system to protect ourselves from such events in the future. This involves rethinking the design, operation and management of the overall economic system.

The scale and scope of the existential problems we are facing are now evident. They are systemic and solving them will require consideration of how the whole system works. Two years ago we looked at Systemic Collapse.”

At this virtual conference, organized with The Fields Institute and Rebuilding Macroeconomics, the OECD facilitated a debate on policy approaches to develop the resilience necessary for a Systemic Recovery.

The conference was preceded by a Symposium on a Systemic Recovery, organised with the Fields Institute in Canada and Rebuilding Macroeconomics in the UK.

Lynn’s speech begins at 2:28:15:

“We don’t have to develop any new technologies or devise any new economics” to address the dangerous instability of today’s international systems. The only guide we need is the common sense we learned in kindergarten: Don’t put all our eggs in one basket.”

Watch the full conference on OECD’s website here.