Workshop – Monetary policy and treatment of public debt

Download the report of the workshop organised by the Chair Energy and Prosperity

The Chair Energy and Prosperity organized a workshop on July 3, 2020 on the theme “Monetary policy and treatment of public debt”.

Download the report of this workshop.

The current economic and health crisis suggests a reorientation of academic work towards economic policies to overcome the crisis. The challenge is therefore to succeed in implementing these policies without delaying the impulse for ecological transition. Among them, monetary policies have been of strategic importance since the financial crisis of 2007-2008. Conducted by the European Central Bank (ECB) in the euro zone, these policies are closely linked to the fiscal action of European governments at the national level. Indeed, when the ECB carries out massive repurchases of public debt on secondary markets, it facilitates the financing of Member States.

Rethinking the action of central banks seems necessary in order to respond appropriately to economic difficulties, without delaying the ecological transition. Cancelling the public debt held by the ECB, finance green investments, or monetising public spending, are all proposals that go in this direction. These proposals were presented successively by two researchers associated with the Chair:

  • Laurence Scialom, professor at the University of Paris Nanterre.
  • Jézabel Couppey-Soubeyran, lecturer at the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.

Workshop moderated by Dominique Plihon (Université Paris 13, Sorbonne Paris Cité).