Rethinking Macroeconomic Policy

Date

October 12, 9:15 AM EDT to October 13, 2017, 12:45 PM EDT
PIIE Webcast, Washington, DC

Conference Coordinators: Olivier Blanchard (PIIE) and Lawrence H. Summers (Harvard University)

Event Summary

The Peterson Institute held a conference on "Rethinking Macroeconomic Policy," coordinated by Olivier Blanchard, PIIE C. Fred Bergsten Senior Fellow, and Lawrence H. Summers, member of the Institute’s Executive Committee of the Board, on October 12–13, 2017. The conference is the fourth in a series Blanchard began at the International Monetary Fund.

Academic experts and policymakers addressed the challenges to macroeconomic thinking and policymaking that today’s economic environment presents–low inflation despite low unemployment, the apparent interactions of rising inequality and stagnating productivity, and the unresponsiveness of long-term interest rates to rising public debt, among others.

The conference papers have been published by MIT Press as Evolution or Revolution? Rethinking Macroeconomic Policy after the Great Recession.

Agenda
Thursday, October 12, 2017
 
8:30 – 9:15 am Registration and coffee service 
 
9:15 – 10:30 am Introduction (video)
  Paper by Olivier Blanchard and Lawrence H. Summers (presentation)
Discussion
 
10:30 am – 12:30 pm Monetary policy (video)
  Paper by Ben Bernanke
Moderator: Olivier Blanchard
Panel discussion: 
  Mario Draghi
Lael Brainard (prepared remarks)
Philipp M. Hildebrand
Adam S. Posen
 
12:30 – 1:30 pm Buffet lunch
 
1:30 – 3:15 pm Fiscal policy (video)
  Paper by Alan Auerbach
Moderator: Lawrence H. Summers
  Panel discussion: 
    Marco Buti (presentation)
Valerie Ramey (presentation)
Robert E. Rubin (prepared remarks)
Jay Shambaugh (presentation)
 
3:15 – 3:45 pm Coffee break
 
3:45 – 5:30 pm Financial stability (video)
  Paper by Andy Haldane (presentation)
Moderator: Adam S. Posen
  Panel discussion: 
    Markus K. Brunnermeier (presentation)
Benoît Coeuré (prepared remarks)
Nellie Liang (presentation)
Jeremy Stein (presentation)
 
Friday, October 13, 2017
 
8:00 – 8:30 am Registration and coffee service
 
8:30 – 10:00 am Inequality and political economy (video)
  Paper by Jason Furman (presentation)
Moderator: Adam S. Posen
  Panel discussion: 
    Dani Rodrik (presentation)
Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Justin Wolfers (presentation)
 
10:00 am – 10:30 am Coffee break
 
10:30 am – 12:15 pm International economy issues (video)
  Paper by Gita Gopinath (presentation)
Moderator: Lawrence H. Summers
  Panel discussion: 
    Barry Eichengreen
Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas (presentation)
Raghuram G. Rajan (presentation)
Carmen M. Reinhart
 
12:15 – 12:45 pm Fireside chat with Lawrence H. Summers and Olivier Blanchard (video)
  Moderator: Adam S. Posen

Video