Global Economy Lecture on Trade, Inequality and Populism

Speaker
Caroline Freund, Director, Macroeconomics, Trade & Investment, The World Bank

Introduction
Ewald Nowotny, Governor, Oesterreichische Nationalbank

Chair
Robert Stehrer, Scientific Director, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw)

Speaker biography and lecture description

This year’s Global Economy Lecture will be given by Caroline Freund, Director of Macroeconomics, Trade and Investment of The World Bank.

Ms Freund is the author of the book “Rich People Poor Countries: The Rise of Emerging Market Tycoons and their Mega Firms”. Her extensive research focuses on multinationals and export superstars. Before taking over her current position at The World Bank, she was a Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, after several engagements at the Federal Reserve Board, the IMF and The World Bank.

Caroline Freund will discuss the effect of trade on income inequality. From a global perspective, inequality has fallen in recent decades because poor countries have grown faster than rich countries. However, in some countries inequality has increased sharply.  The Global Economy Lecture 2018 will explore how increased international integration has contributed to inequality, with a focus on the reduction in poverty and the rise of the superrich. It will examine the role of superstar firms in growth, poverty reduction, and extreme wealth creation and also discuss how these forces have contributed to rising populism and what can be done to sustain international integration.

The Global Economy Lecture is jointly organized by the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) and The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw).

October 1, 2018, 4:00 p.m.

Oesterreichische Nationalbank
Veranstaltungssaal
Otto-Wagner-Platz 3, 1090 Vienna