Willem Buiter is an independent economic advisor, speaker, commentator and expert witness. He was Global Chief Economist at Citigroup from 2010 to 2018 and a Special Economic Advisor at Citigroup from 2018 to 2019. Previously, he was Chief Economist and Special Counselor to the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and an original member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England. He was the Juan T. Trippe Professor of International Economics at Yale University and has also held academic appointments at the London School of Economics, Cambridge University, the University of Bristol and Princeton University. He is the author or coauthor of 78 refereed articles in professional journals and eight books.
Commentary:
By Topic
Monetary Policy and Central Banks
By Type
Reflections, Rants, Raves and Ruminations
Conference Papers, Slides and Other Unpublished Papers
What is New:
"Central Banks as Fiscal and Financial Agents of the State," Center for Economic Policy Research Discussion Paper DP19947, 18 February 2025.
"The Time for Interest-Bearing Central Bank Digital Currency is Now," Jackson Hole Economics, 10 February 2025, with Ebrahim Rahbari.
"The Positive Case for Negative Rates," Project Syndicate, 5 February 2025, with Ebrahim Rahbari.
"Why Have Inflation Forecasts Been So Wrong?" Project Syndicate, 1 April 2024, with Ebrahim Rahbari.
"Central Banks Need to Be Honest About Their Losses," Project Syndicate, 5 March 2024.
Public Net Worth: Accounting – Government – Democracy (Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2024), with Ian Ball, John Crompton, Dag Detter, and Jacob Soll.
"The ECB Should Change Three Bad Habits," Project Syndicate, 17 January 2024, with Ebrahim Rahbari.
"How Fiscal is the Fed?" Jackson Hole Economics, 8 January 2024.
"A Farewell to Cash." Project Syndicate, 11 December 2023.
“Review,” review of The Fiscal Theory of the Price Level by John H. Cochrane. Princeton: University Press, Princeton, 2023. Economic Record 99 (2023): 568. First published 8 October 2023.
“Relearning Inflation Control in the Post-Covid Era,” in Robert Z. Aliber, Mar Gudmundsson and Gylfi Zoega eds., Fault Lines After COVID-19, Global Economic Challenges and Opportunities (Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2023), 201–16. First Online 27 September 2023.
"The Widespread Failure of Central Banks to Control Inflation," Economic Affairs 43 (2023): 2–31. First published 15 March 2023.
"Is the Fed's Negative Capital a Problem?" Project Syndicate, 28 September 2023.
"Cashing Out: The Case for Central Bank Digital Currencies," Huawei, 15 September 2023.
"Public Accounting for Public Accountability," Project Syndicate, 31 August 2023.
"Why U.S. Taxes Must Increase," Project Syndicate, 28 June 2023.
"The Overwhelming Case for CBDCs," Project Syndicate, 18 April 2023.
"Expert Says not to Blame Fed for Bank Failures. Hear Why," CNN interview, 28 March 2023.
"Price Stability vs. Financial Stabililty?" Project Syndicate, 20 March 2023.