Finance for People: Some Do's and Don'ts

Stephen G. Cecchetti, Brandeis International Business School, presented the Institute’s 2019 Annual O. John Olcay Lecture on Ethics and Economics on the topic of “Finance for People: Some Do’s and Don’ts” on September 18.

Finance can be both good and bad. It can make the economy more efficient and improve general welfare, but it can also provide opportunities for fraud and the overuse of valuable resources. Modern finance asks many people to make complex and consequential decisions, even when they lack basic financial understanding. How can we help the uninformed improve financial lives while reducing incentives for malfeasance?

Stephen G. Cecchetti is the Rosen Chair in International Finance at the Brandeis International Business School, a research associate of National Bureau of Economic Research, and a research fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research. From 2008 to 2013, Cecchetti served as economic adviser and head of the monetary and economic department at the Bank for International Settlements. In addition to his other appointments, Cecchetti served as executive vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York during 1997–99 and was editor of the Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking during 1992–2001.

This is the fifth annual O. John Olcay Lecture on Ethics and Economics, held in memory of John Olcay, a longtime friend and intellectual supporter of the Institute, particularly of PIIE’s work on monetary and financial policy. Olcay had a distinguished career in global finance, notably as an adviser to several of the world’s central banks on reserve management and policy. The Institute is pleased to honor him with such a series endowed by his many friends and colleagues from around the world. Previous Olcay lecturers were George Akerlof, Sheila Bair, Alan Blinder, and Eric Rosengren.