Price and Financial Stability

David Harrison is Legal Director at London law firm DAC Beachcroft LLP, UK. He previously held several positions relating to economic and international affairs, including speechwriter for the UK Foreign Secretary and for the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Previous publications include The Organisation of Europe (Routledge, 1995) and Competition Law and Financial Services (Routledge, 2014).

"How do producers form the expectations necessary to commit to new capital investment when the future is radically uncertain? How does the price system diffuse knowledge about prices? Is that knowledge reliable? These are among the crucial questions in economics. Drawing on the teaching of great 20th century philosophers such as Karl Popper as well as economists such as Maynard Keynes and Hyman Minsky, David Harrison offers an original analysis of these questions - and a solution. Authorities such as central banks, financial regulators and competition authorities should promote the public good of relative asset price stability. A new monetary standard, based on underlying yields, would not only reduce the severity of financial crises but also stimulate new investment, thus restoring the dynamism of the market economy." — Robert Pringle, Chairman of Central Banking journal, and author of The Money Trap"David Harrison makes valuable contributions to understanding the underlying causes of the persistent instability of the financial system. Guided by the insights of some great thinkers of the last century - Hayek, Keynes and Popper - he shows that financial asset prices are inherently too volatile to be entrusted to overly emotional speculators. His suggestions for a better way are intriguing. This is an excellent introduction for newcomers to this debate, and a stimulating addition for weary veterans." — Edward Hadas, Economic and financial journalist, and Reuters Breakingviews columnist"David Harrison shows that, in the decades since the end of the Bretton Woods system, many political crises turn out to have an economic origin - and that most economic crises are rooted in finance. How to stabilise financial markets and harness short-term speculation for more productive long-term investment remains a major unsolved global policy problem, with important implications for the UK and Europe as a whole. As we continue to grapple with the aftershocks of the last financial crisis, Harrison's suggestions for avoiding future crises are timely and deserve serious attention." — Anthony Teasdale, author of The Penguin Companion to European Union"[W]e really need "a new European long term capital market". While there are many short term trading platforms for securities, there exists no long term capital market of a pan-European scale. As has recently been suggested by David Harrison, and in line with the proposals […] on a special asset class for infrastructure investment, we need a market "designed for the purchase of securities to be held over the long term". […] Imaginative solutions are called for and such proposals should be examined by the Commission." — Jacques de Larosière, former Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, and author of Cinquante Ans de Crises Financières, speaking before the European Parliament, June 2016

• Preface; 1 A brief history of our time; 2 Expectations, knowledge and prices; 3 Beyond price; 4 Savings, investment and liquidity; 5 Models, theories and apples; 6 Policy implications – finance; 7 Competition policy; 8 A new European capital market; 9 Geopolitics; Technical annex: Do we really need a new Bretton Woods?