Brookings Event -- The Great Credit Squeeze: How It Happened, How to Prevent Another

Friday, May 16, 2008, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Kenney Auditorium, Johns Hopkins/SAIS, 1740 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC

WASHINGTON, May 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following was released today by the Brookings Institution:

America's financial system has faced its greatest challenge in 70 years. The crisis originated in America's subprime mortgage market, and spread quickly to other debt and equity markets. Some large financial institutions failed, and others were imperiled. How could such a sophisticated financial system go so wrong and cause so much damage? Brookings Senior Fellows Martin Neil Baily, Douglas W. Elmendorf, and Robert E. Litan have collaborated to write a comprehensive analysis of the current credit crisis, which they will release on May 16. The authors will explain what happened and put forward a specific agenda of policy actions to reduce the chance that history repeats itself.

Following a brief welcome by Economic Studies Vice President and Director William G. Gale, FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair will give opening remarks on the current challenges facing the financial system and possible policy solutions to alleviate the current crisis. Baily, Elmendorf and Litan will give an overview of their recommendations and then be joined by outside experts in a roundtable discussion. Sebastian Mallaby of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Washington Post will moderate the discussion.

Panelists will take questions from the audience. The paper will be available from the Brookings web site on May 16.

Welcome

William G. Gale
Vice President and Director of Economic Studies, The Brookings Institution

Opening Remarks
Sheila Bair
Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

Overview of Paper and Roundtable Discussion

Martin Neil Baily
Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution

Robert E. Litan
Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution
Vice President of Research and Policy, The Kaufmann Foundation

Keith Ernst
Senior Policy Counsel, Center for Responsible Lending

Douglas W. Elmendorf
Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution

Sebastian Mallaby
Director of the Center for Geoeconomic Studies
Senior Fellow for International Economics, Council on Foreign Relations
Washington Post columnist

To RSVP, please call the Brookings Office of Communications at 202.797.6105, or visit http://onlinepressroom.net/brookings/new.

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Source: Brookings Institution

CONTACT: Brookings Office of Communications, +1-202-797-6105

Web Site: http://www.brookings.edu/.

2008-05-08 18:40:34 0357266 PRNEWSWIRE