commentary: central banks and financial crises

i want to thank first the Kansas city fed for inviting me to this splendid symposium. i have found dr. buiter’s paper long, comprehensive, thought-stimulating and, of course, provocative. it is an interesting read unless you belonged to one of the targeted institutions. in what follows, i will talk more about my own observations mostly on the fed, rather than offer direct comments on the paper, but i hope my remarks will cross the path of dr. buiter’s here and there.