On the Proper Use of Finance

The sub-prime crisis in 2007-2008 marked the beginning of a dark period for the developed economies, the end of which does not yet seem to be in sight. One of the consequences has been the stigmatization of those in international finance accused of producing the crisis. Lacking adequate regulation, the financial machine effectively ran out of control, taking with it large swathes of the global economy against the background of a generalized crisis of confidence among the main players in the financial sector. As Bertrand Collomb reminds us here, the sector had actually drifted too far away from its primary functions, which lay in financing the real economy, and it is now urgent that it becomes refocused on that objective. Collomb thus goes through the various technically possible avenues for cleaning up international finance. He also stresses the need to do so in concerted fashion, not forgetting the importance of the sector in the financing of public debt.