Willem Buiter, Iceland’s bank defaults: lessons of a death foretold:
“Early in 2008, Anne Sibert and I were asked by the Icelandic bank Landsbanki (now in receivership) to write a paper on the causes of the financial problems faced by Iceland and its banks, and on the available policy options. We sent the paper to the bank towards the end of April 2008. On July 11, 2008, we presented a slightly updated version of the paper in Reykjavik in front of an audience of economists from the central bank, the ministry of finance the private sector the academic community. A link to that paper can be found here.
Because our Icelandic interlocutors considered the paper to be too market sensitive, we agreed not to put it in the public domain. Now that all three formerly internationally active Icelandic banks – Glitnir, Landsbanki and Kaupthing – have gone into receivership, there is no reason not to circulate the paper more widely, as some of its lessons have wider relevance.”
