Should Europe embrace 'Cowboy Capitalism' or go its own way?

March 24, 2005

Thursday, March 24, 2005 12:30–2:00 p.m.
(A light lunch will be served)
IMF Meeting Hall A (Visitors enter via the IMF Center)
720 19th St. NW, Washington, DC

Transcript of the book forum

This Book Forum is free and open to the public.

For security reasons, please RSVP to EventsRSVP@imf.org or
(202) 623-7001. A picture ID will be required; persons and bags will be screened.

Please arrive 15-20 minutes early to allow for these additional measures. Visitors should enter through the IMF Center, 720 19th St. NW.

Only IMF/World Bank Staff ID holders should use IMF main entrance at 700 19th St. NW.

Featuring:

Olaf Gersemann, author of Cowboy Capitalism: European Myths, American Reality

Martin Neil Baily and Jacob Kirkegaard, authors of Transforming the European Economy

Moderated by:

Jeroen Kremers, Executive Director, International Monetary Fund

Why have many European countries failed to generate job growth? Are the features of the U.S. model of capitalism criticized by many Europeans in fact what Europe needs to overcome its social problem of high unemployment? Should Europe scale back its protections for individuals to restore strong work incentives and acceptance of economic change, or is there a European way?

Join the authors of these two books in a roundtable discussion of these questions.

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Olaf Gersemann is the Washington correspondent for WirtschaftsWoche, Germany's largest economic and business weekly. In 2001, he was awarded the Ludwig Erhard Prize for excellence in economic reporting by journalists under the age of 35.

Martin Baily is senior fellow at the Institute for International Economics. He was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the administration of U.S. President Clinton (1999-2001), and has been a senior advisor to McKinsey & Company's Global Institute since 2002.

Jacob Kirkegaard has been a research associate at the Institute for International Economics since 2002. His current research focuses on European economies and reforms, offshoring, and the impact of information technologies. Before joining the Institute, he worked with the Danish Ministry of Defense and the United Nations.

Jeroen Kremers (moderator) is an Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund, representing a constituency of European countries that includes The Netherlands. He held an economics chair at Erasmus University Rotterdam and was a senior official in the Netherlands Treasury working on the "Dutch model" of the 1990s.

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