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ARCHIVED WEBINAR - COVID-19: The Political Economy of the Pandemic with Robert Feldman and Robert Ward
Date
Thursday 23 April 2020
Time
11.00am to 12.00 noon (BST)
Booking Details
Free of charge. Japan Society members only
Booking deadline: Thursday 23 April – 10.00am (BST)
Members are invited to join the third in our webinar series, when Japan Society chairman, Bill Emmott, will be joined in discussion by Robert Alan Feldman, Chief Economist and Head of Fixed Income Research at Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities, and Robert Ward who leads the Geo-economics, Geopolitics and Strategy programme at IISS.
As the UK seems set to enter an extension to the period of ‘lockdown’, and as initial signs in Japan, following the declaration of a state of emergency, are that citizens are continuing about their daily business in larger numbers than PM Abe had hoped, we reflect on how the COVID-19 panic might lead to change in global economic systems and what recovery might look like.
What are the economic prospects in the present and longer term? How can businesses plan amidst so much uncertainty and what should they be considering? What are the likely consequences for our political systems and global business networks?
Robert Alan Feldman is the Chief Economist and Head of Fixed Income Research at Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities. As part of Morgan Stanley’s global economics team, he is responsible for forecasting the Japanese economy, financial markets and policy developments. He is member of several economic study committees of various ministries of the Japanese government, and is a commissioner of the Japan-US Friendship Commission. He is also a regular commentator on World Business Satellite, the nightly business program of TV Tokyo.
Prior to joining Morgan Stanley in 1998, he was the chief economist for Japan for Salomon Brothers from 1990-97. He worked for the International Monetary Fund from 1983-89, in the Asian, European, and Research Departments.
He has a Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he concentrated on international finance and development. Robert has also published seven books, including most recently: “Public Debts: Nuts, Bolts and Worries” with Barry Eichengreen et al., CEPR, 2011) and Nihon Keizai - Kishikaisei no sutori (“Japanese Economy: A Rebirth Story”, PHP 2011, in Japanese, with Seiichi Takarabe).
Robert Ward leads the Geo-economics, Geopolitics and Strategy programme at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and is its Japan Chair, carrying out independent research and writing extensively on strategic issues related to Japan, including its contemporary security and foreign policies.
Prior to joining the IISS in 2019, Robert was Editorial Director at The Economist Intelligence Unit. In this capacity, he led the EIU’s country and industry analysis and forecasting teams. He was also a member of the EIU’s Executive Committee. Robert lived and worked in Japan from 1989 to 1996, latterly holding a position in Japan’s largest credit rating agency, The Japan Bond Research Institute. Robert holds bachelors and masters degrees from Cambridge University.