The Big Crunch?

The idea of the credit crunch, together with the related idea of subprime lending, have quickly become part of our cultural vocabulary. What are the underlying causes of the credit crunch, what can it tell us about the labyrinthine complexity of the modern economy and why are so many of us so keen to embrace it?

Speakers: Gillian Tett, assistant editor of The Financial Times; George Magnus, senior economic adviser, UBS Investment Bank and author of The Age of Aging - How Demographics are Changing the Global Economy and Our World; Andrew Simms, policy director of the New Economics Foundation and author of Tescopoly. Chair: Robin Blackburn, professor at New School University, New York and professor of sociology, University of Essex and author of Age Shock: How Finance is Failing Us.