Revenue Watch Institute Launches "Boom, Bust" Policy Analyses with Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz

	Panelists Joseph Stiglitz (l.) and Chris Canavan. - Advocacy Knocks: Transparency Reform Opportunities Post-Financial Crisis (pdf) - Broken Boom: The Impact of the Economic Downturn on Resource-dependent Countries (pdf) - Fool's Gold: Assessing the Performance of Alternative Fiscal Instruments During the Commodities Boom and the Global Crisis (pdf)

On Wednesday, March 31 Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz and Chris Canavan of Goldman Sachs joined the Revenue Watch Institute for a conversation at Columbia University about the implications of the world financial crisis for resource-exporting countries. The expert panel also included Revenue Watch authors Antoine Heuty and Sarah Pray and was moderated by journalist Dino Mahtani.

This exclusive event marks the release of the Revenue Watch Institute series Boom, Bust and Better Policy: Crisis Lessons for Resource Rich Countries, a collection of new policy papers examining the economic, social and geo-political impacts of the financial crisis, the five-year commodities frenzy that preceded it, and the price recovery that now appears to be underway.
 
Which policies during the millennium commodities boom produced the most lasting benefits for resource-exporting countries? Which countries are suffering the least damage post-crisis, and why? How have the extractive industries responded to the economic downturn, and how will the response affect resource rich economies? Most importantly, what lessons and guidelines can policymakers and citizens extract from recent events? 

The series addresses these questions and provides concrete recommendations for the current climate and future boom/bust cycles. 

MORE ABOUT THIS EVENT
As the global downturn advanced from a lending crisis in the U.S. to historic disruptions across advanced economies, emerging markets and low income countries, market turmoil crippled demand for fuel and metals. The resulting drop in commodity prices hit resource rich countries especially hard. Prices have begun to rebound, but the shock caused lasting harm in some economies, while others appear to have suffered less due to diversification and prudent policies.
 
"Boom, Bust and Better Policy" examines the implications of the financial crisis, the commodities frenzy that preceded it from 2003 to 2008, and the current price recovery. The essays and commentary provide an in-depth assessment of economic reforms designed to weather the price collapse.
 
Joseph Stiglitz, economist, best-selling author and co-editor of Revenue Watch's Escaping the Resource Curse, is writing the series introduction. Additional papers in the series include:
 
• Broken Boom: An analysis across several resource rich countries of the economic downturn and the key factors that seem to have led to greater or lesser vulnerability. RWI senior economist Akram Esanov and legal analyst Patrick Heller discuss which fiscal management decisions can best assure stability and dynamism over future boom-bust cycles.
 
• Fool's Gold: In a review focused on special instruments such as resource funds and fiscal rules, RWI deputy director Antoine Heuty and analyst Juan Aristi recommend development-oriented fiscal instruments as a shield against commodity price volatility, with a focus on Botswana, Chile, Norway and Trinidad and Tobago as examples in the design of such tools.
 
• Advocacy Knocks: To help civil society navigate the current economic climate, former Publish What You Pay US coordinator Sarah Pray and former RWI deputy director Julie McCarthy identify key opportunities for local and international activists, and the accompanying political challenges. The authors also provide insights on the increasing global emphasis on transparency and the current "window of opportunity" for policy recommendations.
 
• In forthcoming papers, RWI legal advisors Matthew Genasci and Patrick Heller scrutinize the deals between companies and governments and the influence of legislation and extractive contracts on the long-term value nations derive from the extractive sector; and RWI policy analyst Juan Carlos Quiroz assesses how company, risk profile and operational priorities have affected the petroleum industry during the crisis, and the implications for the structure of the industry.

PANELISTS
Joseph Stiglitz is a professor at Columbia University and chair of Columbia's Committee on Global Thought. In 2001, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics for his analyses of markets with asymmetric information. He served as chief economist and senior vice-president of the World Bank from 1997-2000. In 2009 he was appointed to chair the UN's Commission of Experts on Reform of the International Financial and Monetary System. His newest book, Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy, was published in January 2010 by WW Norton and Penguin/Allen Lane. 

Chris Canavan is co-chief risk officer and chief market risk officer for Goldman Sachs Bank USA. His previous activities at Goldman Sachs include work in the commodities, debt capital markets and credit risk management areas, often concentrating on Latin America. He has been a professor of Economics at Boston College, a lecturer at Columbia University and a consultant on country risk. He earned a PhD in Economics and an MA in International Affairs from Columbia University. During the panel, Mr. Canavan will be expressing his own views, which do not necessarily reflect those of his employer.

Antoine Heuty is deputy director of the Revenue Watch Institute, where he previously led all technical assistance and economic policy research. Prior to joining Revenue Watch, Mr. Heuty worked as a public finance economist at the United Nations Development Program and as an economist for water projects in Armenia and Azerbaijan. He is the co-author of Fiscal Space – Policy Options for Financing Human Development. He studied at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques, Paris, Oxford University and Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. 

Sarah Pray is a policy analyst for Africa at the Open Society Institute and Open Society Policy Center. She was previously coordinator of the Publish What You Pay US coalition, advocating for corporate and government transparency and accountability in the oil, gas and mining industries. Ms. Pray serves as a member of the Advisory Board of EG Justice, a human rights organization focusing on Equatorial Guinea and holds a J.D. from Boston College Law School.

Dino Mahtani (Moderator) was born in India, but spent much of his youth in Africa. He threw away a career in investment banking to become a foreign correspondent in 2003, eventually covering the West and Central Africa region for the Financial Times. He also wrote about oil and gas related issues from London for the FT, and has recently completed a two-year mandate investigating financial and military support to armed groups in eastern Congo for the UN Security Council sanctions committee.

Download the full policy papers:

• Advocacy Knocks: Transparency Reform Opportunities 
  Post-Financial Crisis (pdf)
• Broken Boom: The Impact of the Economic Downturn on 
  Resource-dependent Countries  (pdf)
• Fool’s Gold: Assessing the Performance of Alternative 
  Fiscal Instruments During the Commodities Boom and the 
  Global Crisis  (pdf)