Ewald Nowotny, "Money and Life" (Braumüller Verlag, 2020)

In September 2008, Ewald Nowotny joined the governing council of the European Central Bank. Just two weeks later, Lehman Brothers filed the largest bankruptcy in US history - so triggering a global financial crisis and recession. In September 2019, he retired just before the coronavirus pandemic struck.

This book charts the political and literary development of a young Social Democrat economist in postwar Vienna, his education in Austria and the US, and his experience in banking in the pre-Lehman stage of the crisis.

For "ECB-watchers", Geld und Leben (Braumüller Verlag, 2020) provides a fascinating insight into the contrasting presidencies of Jean-Claude Trichet and Mario Draghi, into how council meetings are conducted, and the ruses used by members to influence the markets.

Now a self-styled "independent economist", Ewald Nowotny was a professor of economics at Vienna and Linz universities, a member of Austria's parliament, a vice-president of the European Investment Bank, and governor of the Austrian National Bank.

Tim Gwynn Jones is an economic and political-risk analyst at Medley Global Advisors.

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