Discussion Forum – web event
Wednesday 7 June, 2023
18:00-19:15
The Turkish 2023 elections and what they mean for the country and for the World
Speaker: Niyazi Kızılyürek, Member of European Parliament
Chair: Ioannis Tirkides – Economic Research Manager at Bank of Cyprus, and President of the Cyprus Economic Society
Abstract: Erdogan’s victory in the 2023 Turkish presidential and parliamentary elections, is a remarkable event in its own right. After a 20-year grip on power, as prime minister and then as president, his coalition of the People’s Alliance, won an absolute majority in parliament while securing the presidency in a second round of voting with 52%. All of this against the worst economic performance in decades, with inflation rampant and the currency at its lowest level of exchange over a long period of time. We will be discussing Erdogan’s victory; the domestic contradictions in Turkiye; its geopolitical aspirations; relations with NATO and with the EU; and implications for the Cyprus problem.

Discussion Forum – web event
Thursday 22 June 2023
17:30-18:45
Growth for good: Reshaping Capitalism to Save Humanity from Climate Catastrophe
Speaker: Alessio Terzi, Economist at the European Commission and Adjunct Professor at Sciences Po and HEC Paris
Chair: Ioannis Tirkides, Manager Economic Research at Bank of Cyprus, and President of the Cyprus Economic Society
Abstract: The discussion will be based on a book our speaker and author, Alessio Terzi published in 2022, with the same title. The book is not an economics textbook per se, more, a treatise on the economics of nature and the environment. It is about the relationship between the two, the natural environment and the economy, and how or whether, we can have an expanding economy while at the same time tackling the environmental challenges, we have, and whether we can do that within a capitalistic system. Can we fight climate change and improve our environmental indicators, without shrinking the economy, and how?

Discussion Forum – web event
Wednesday 31 May, 2023
18:00-19:15
Fiscal Austerity and Sovereign Debt Restructurings
Speaker: Tamon Asonuma, Economist at the Strategy, Policy and Review Department of the International Monetary Fund
Chair: Ioannis Tirkides – Economic Research Manager at Bank of Cyprus, and President of the Cyprus Economic Society
Abstract: Sovereigns implement fiscal austerity, that is, expenditure consolidation around debt crises. From data on fiscal expenditure consolidation around sovereign debt restructurings in the period 1975–2020, interesting findings are derived, which will be presented and discussed. For instance, expenditure consolidation precedes pre-emptive restructurings ‘ex ante’, while it occurs upon defaults/post-default restructurings ‘ex post’. In turn, pre-emptive and post-default expenditure consolidation have different implications for public investment and the economy at large.

Annual Lecture in Economics – Physical event
Thursday 4 May 2023
18:00-19:30
What next for globalisation?
Speaker: Dani Rodrik, Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard Kennedy School, and President of the International Economic Association
Introduction: Ioannis Tirkides, President of the Cyprus Economic Society
Chair: Sofronis Clerides – Professor of Economics, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Management University of Cyprus
Abstract: The global system is ever changing. From the gold standard in the late nineteenth century and the great depression, to the Bretton Woods system after the second world war, and the neoliberal hyper-globalization order that dominated the post-cold-war era. The neoliberal hyper-globalization order is now in retreat since the global financial crisis of 2008-09. At the start of a new era of multipolarity and great power competition, the world is abandoning hyper-globalization, but what will replace it remains uncertain. Yet, much will depend on the new international order, for economic welfare, international interdependence, peace and may be war.