Trevor Evans (HWR Berlin)

The most recent expansion, which began in mid 2009, has been characterised by relatively low growth and investment has been weaker than in previous expansions. Unemployment has fallen sharply, but many of the new jobs have been in low-paid services. The Trump government’s much-touted investment programme is dependent on mobilising private funding but this has not yet been very forthcoming. Moves to relax the tighter banking regulations introduced in 2010, while strongly welcomed by the big banks, have been widely criticised. Key indicators of financial tensions are unusually low, but profitability and investment, which usually serve as leading indicators of the business cycle, have begun to decline and this suggests that the current expansion could be approaching an end.

Speaker biography:

Trevor Evans is Emeritus Professor of Economics at the Berlin school of Economics and Law, where he was formerly Director of the Institute for International Political Economy. He studied Economics at Birkbeck College London and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Trevor Evans has worked in Nicaragua and was the Coordinator of the European Economists for an Alternative Economic Policy in Europe. Organised by the Money & Finance Research Cluster

Speakers: Trevor Evans (HWR Berlin), Jan Toporowski (SOAS)

Released by: SOAS Economics Podcasts