Dr Palanivel Thiagarajan, a banker-turned-politician, used his lecture at the Asian College of Journalism to help aspiring business journalists understand the inner workings of the global economy. He talked extensively about how central banks and ratings agencies don’t always manage to do their jobs well. He recalled his days as a trader and portfolio manager at Lehman Brothers before it went bankrupt in 2008. Be it policy paralysis, regulatory failure or lack of accountability, identifying the root causes of a financial crisis often takes a long time after the collapse, the DMK MLA said.