Event Summary
On September 10–11, 2009, the Bank of Italy hosted the conference "An Ocean Apart? Comparing Transatlantic Responses to the Financial Crisis," organized jointly by the Bank of Italy, Bruegel, and the Peterson Institute for International Economics, with the support of the European Commission.
Co-organized by Jean Pisani-Ferry of Bruegel, Fabrizio Saccomanni of the Bank of Italy, and Adam Posen of PIIE, the conference featured discussion of the sources of the global financial crisis and their international transmission, the fiscal and monetary policy responses in comparative perspective, the extent and nature of approaches to the banking problem, the future of the economic policy system, and the international impact of transatlantic differences in policy. Speakers included Lorenzo Bini-Smaghi, Marco Buti, David Folkerts-Landau, Joseph Gagnon, Stefan Gerlach, Heinz Herrman, Hans-Helmut Kotz, Randall Kroszner, Douglas Laxton, Gian Maria Milessi-Ferretti, Roberto Perotti, Gary Schinasi, Mark Sobel, Edwin Truman, Angel Ubide, and Thomas Wieser, as well as all three of the organizers.
PIIE gratefully acknowledges the European Commission for its support of the project, continuing its joint work with Bruegel on the occasion of the euro's 10th anniversary that began with the Institute's successful conference in October 2008, "The Euro at 10: the Next Global Currency?"