On the 16th of June we had the most welcome opportunity to host Dr Júlia Király, economist and former Deputy Governor of the Hungarian National Bank in the latest event of our evening discussion series. Her talk was titled: Reconsidering monetary policy after the financial - and euro - crisis in a small and open economy: the Hungarian experience.
In her astute and concise talk Dr Király outlined Hungarian monetary policy since the early 2000s. It was all the more interesting as her previous position made it possible for her to have a first-hand perspective on monetary policy before and during the financial turmoil. Her talk was enlightening for even those of us in the ranks of the audience who are not economists by trade. Thus representing a highly competitive fixture over the excitements of the football World Cup.
Dr Király detailed the lessons learnt from the crisis, pointing out the importance of global trends and economic imbalances - especially in the case of an open economy such as Hungary. Furthermore, Dr Király presented and evaluated the steps taken by Hungarian policy-makers faced with the spectre of the global financial meltdown.
Sticking to our traditions, the otherwise brilliantly pondering and critical talk was followed by a wide-ranging Q&A session, moderated by Ábel Bojár, LSE alumnus and teaching fellow at the European Institute at the LSE. Our speaker addressed numerous topics, including her controversial exit from the National Bank, her future plans and her take on the current state of monetary policy. The evening was concluded with a free-flowing discussion and networking opportunity, bringing together LSE alumni and our guests and friends from fellow organisations. This event also marked the end of term for our professional programmes, as they lend their places to more summertime activity, with the LSE sailing adventures and Pre-departure event fast approaching.
