Iceland’s experience – and lessons for the UK

Martin Wolf in the FT has drawn attention to the recent conference on Iceland’s experience since 2007. The conference was co-hosted by the IMF and the Icelandic government, and involved speakers from the government alongside distinguished international economists.   The proceedings are available online, and are remarkable for the open way in which Iceland’s near-death experience at the hands of its banks is analysed and discussed. 
There are a number of lessons for the UK, as an economy with its own currency (a benefit when things go badly wrong) and a very high level of public and private indebtedness.  All in all, Iceland seems to be well on the road to recovery and to have been able to enact major reforms and tax adjustments swiftly and effectively, albeit with big sacrifices by its citizens.   A government dominated by women, which took over in the crisis, must surely have helped.