5 year anniversary

On Wednesday October 9th, Room for Discussion celebrated its 5th anniversary with a celebratory session. For this special occasion we invited our very first guests from five years ago: prof. Arnoud Boot (Corporate Finance & Financial Markets), prof. Enrico Perotti (International Finance) and prof. Sweder van Wijnbergen (Economics).

Room for Discussion started in 2008, just after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the US, and ABN Amro Bank in the Netherlands. The resulting economic crisis created a lot of discussion, especially at the Faculty of Economics and Business. A group of engaged students felt that what they had learned in class did not match reality, and they set out to bridge this gap between academia and the outside world by organising a platform where they could interview leading academics, politicians, leaders in business and other experts.

During the past five years, we have often looked back to what caused these global financial crises, where it went wrong and how the crises should be dealt with. But rather than to look back once again, for this celebratory session we will look to the future. What will happen to Europe as an economic union? Is the next financial crisis around the corner? What will be the role of the economist in the societal debate of the future?