Brussels, 13 September 2016 – A wide range of economists, social scientists and policy-makers from around Europe and South Africa will gather in Brussels on 27-28 September 2016 to shed light on the processes of financialisation in the last thirty years. The final conference of the EU-funded FESSUD project will focus on the political responses to be implemented in order to make the financial system better suited to a sound economic, social and environmental development.
The financial crises resulting from the collapse of Lehman Brothers, followed by the European debt crisis and the subsequent austerity measures have taught us outstanding lessons. During the past five years, the ‘Financialisation, Economy, Society and SUstainable Development’ (FESSUD) project has forged alliances across social sciences so as to understand the nature and impacts of financialisation as well as the requisites of a financial system able to support a process of sustainable development in a structural way. FESSUD is one of the rare European projects to address this critical issue, and it has used a multidisciplinary approach to elaborate its comprehensive research.
“There has to be fundamental reforms of the financial sector, its scope and influence. It is time for the financial sector to serve society, and not society serving the interests of the financial sector.” (Malcolm Sawyer, Project Co-ordinator, University of Leeds).
The conference sets out to lift the veil on the causes and consequences of the 2007/09 financial crises, macroeconomics lessons for the EU as well as the links between financialisation and development, social well-being and environmental sustainability. Whereas the first of this two-day event will focus on academic reflections around financialisation, the second day will open the floor to high-level policy debates with recommendations on macroeconomic policies, the role of regulation to avoid financial crises, and that of green investment in the transition to a low carbon economy.
The conference will provide a unique opportunity to share facts and figures on how financialisation affects the world around us and how its negative externalities can be pre-empted. Personalities from all over Europe, including some representatives of the European Parliament, civil society, as well as major think tanks and research institutes will address their views and debate some of FESSUD findings. The event will conclude with a round table on “Finance better serving economy and society”, which will be followed by a networking reception.
The project will issue a comprehensive publication covering all aspects of the FESSUD project during November. In the meantime, policy briefs, working papers and briefing notes are accessible on the project website. FESSUD videos are also available at the following link: http://bit.ly/2cIZIw6.
Practical information
– 2 days, 2 venues:
- 27th September 2016 – a research perspective:
Fondation Universitaire – Rue d’Egmont, 11 – 1000 Brussels
- 28th September 2016 – policy debates:
Concert Noble – Rue d’Arlon, 84 – 1000 Brussels
– More info about the conference: https://fessud.org/fessud-final-conference-2016/
– Language: English
Press contact
Professor Malcolm Sawyer and project partners are available for interviews. Contact Marie Leprêtre, FESSUD communication & dissemination, POUR LA SOLIDARITÉ, on: +32 (0)2 535/0686, +32 (0)483/03.12.23 or marie.lepretre@pourlasolidarite.eu
Photo credits: FESSUD project
Notes to editors
Financialisation, Economy, Society and SUstainable Development (FESSUD) is a research project investigating the growth and impact of the financial system in Europe which suggests ways that the system might be reformed to support economic, social and environmental sustainability.
It is a €10m research programme funded by the European Union and led by Leeds University Business School. It involves 14 business schools in Europe and South Africa as well as one civil society organisation in Belgium. The project has examined the dominance of the financial system over other parts of the European economy in the last 30 years and suggests reforms to support economic, social and environmental sustainability.
It has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 266800.
The views expressed during the execution of the FESSUD project are the sole responsibility of the authors. The European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
