Domino effects of losses can bring down entire financial systems with severe knock-on effects on the real economy. This talk will explain insights from mathematics to model loss cascades and apply them to recent financial stress events.

We live in an interconnected world. As the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated, interconnections affect both our lives and our livelihoods. In this talk, Luitgard Veraart will show how we can use mathematical models to quantify and manage risk arising from interconnections in financial markets. A particular focus will be on systemic risk and financial stability. Examples provided from the 2007-2009 financial crisis and the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will illustrate how mathematical models can inform the debate on mitigating systemic risk.

Meet our speaker and chair

Luitgard Veraart is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics at LSE. She joined LSE in 2010 after holding positions in the USA and in Germany. She is a co-winner of the 2019 Adams Prize awarded by the University of Cambridge for her research in the Mathematics of Networks.

Jan van den Heuvel is Professor of Mathematics and Head of the Department of Mathematics at LSE.

More about this event

The Department of Mathematics (@LSEMaths) is internationally recognised for its teaching and research in the fields of discrete mathematics, game theory, financial mathematics and operations research.

This event forms part of LSE’s Shaping the Post-COVID World initiative, a series imagining what the world could look like after the crisis, and how we get there.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEVeraart

Podcast & Video

A podcast of this event is available to download from Systemic Risk in Interconnected Financial Markets.

A video of this event is available to watch at Systemic Risk in Interconnected Financial Markets.

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.