15/10/2009 - 16/10/2009 : DG ECFIN 6th Annual Research Conference: Crisis and Reform

Conference topics

Two years after the U.S. subprime crisis began almost all parts of the world are affected by the financial crisis and the recession it has brought along. These unprecedented developments have been a major challenge for policymakers - and also for the economics profession.

While there has been little doubt surrounding the immediate crisis response, there has been less agreement on the medium- to long-term approach. How will the crisis affect countries' willingness to implement reforms, such as reforms to improve the design of the financial system? How will the crisis affect the paradigms that are behind our economic thinking?

DG ECFIN's 6th Annual Research Conference has examined these interrelated questions.

Information about the conference

A conference report has been prepared for DG ECFIN's European Economy Research Letter (December 2009, Volume 3, Issue 3). This publication also contains a report on the policy-oriented panel discussion in the afternoon of the second conference day and an interview with Axel Leijonhufvud, who delivered the ARC 2009 Opening Lecture. The conference is also covered in the January 2010 issue of DG ECFIN's European Economy News (forthcoming).

Conference programme

DAY 1 (15 October 2009)
ARC 2009 Opening Lecture (9:00)
Axel Leijonhufvud (UCLA)	"Macroeconomics and the crisis: a personal appraisal" (121 kB)
Session A: The political economy of reform (10:00-13:00) Chair: István P. Székely (DG ECFIN)
Allan Drazen (University of Maryland)	"Financial market crisis, financial market reform: Why hasn't reform followed crisis?" (Keynote address) (159 kB)
Marco Buti, Alessandro Turrini, Paul van den Noord (all DG ECFIN) and Pietro Biroli (University of Chicago)	"Reforms and re-elections in OECD countries" (594 kB)
William Tompson (OECD)	"The political economy of reform: emerging lessons from ten OECD countries" (475 kB)
Friedrich Heinemann (ZEW, Mannheim)	"Economic crisis and benefit morale" (137 kB)
Discussants: Jörg Decressin (IMF), Ramunas Vilpisauskas (Vilnius University, former Chief Economic Policy Advisor to the President of Lithuania), and Lars Jonung (DG ECFIN)
General Discussion
Session B: The design of financial systems (14:00-17:30) Chair: Matthias Mors (DG ECFIN)
Charles Goodhart (LSE)	"Banks and the public sector authorities" (Keynote address) (162 kB)
Vítor Gaspar (European Commission, BEPA) and Garry J. Schinasi (IMF)	"Europe's policies for restoring global prosperity" (422 kB)
Enrique Batiz-Zuk, George Christodoulakis and Ser-Huang Poon (Manchester Business School)	"Systemic Basel II credit loss distributions under non-normality"
Terhi Jokipii (Swiss National Bank, CASS Business School)	"Nonlinearity of bank capital and charter values"
Discussants: Kate?ina Smídková (Czech National Bank), Thomas Mayer (Deutsche Bank), and Matteo Salto (DG ECFIN)
General discussion
DAY 2 (16 October 2009)
Session C: Revisiting the economic paradigm (9:00-12:45) Chair: Paul van den Noord (DG ECFIN)
Paul De Grauwe (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven)	"Top-down versus bottom-up macroeconomics" (Keynote address)
Werner Roeger, Jan in ´t Veld (both DG ECFIN) and Marco Ratto (European Commission, Joint Research Centre)	"Using a DSGE Model to look at the recent boom-bust cycle in the US"
Lawrence Christiano (Northwestern University, NBER), Roberto Motto and Massimo Rostagno (both ECB)	"Financial factors in economic fluctuations"
Discussants: Jagjit Chadha (Keynes College, University of Canterbury), Douglas Laxton (IMF), and Michael Landesmann (WIIW and Johannes Kepler University Linz)
General Discussion
Panel: Crisis, policy and reform: Where do we stand? (14:00-16:00) Chair: Marco Buti (DG ECFIN)
Panellists: Assar Lindbeck (Stockholm University), György Surányi (Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, former Governor of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank), Vítor Gaspar (European Commission, BEPA), and ARC 2009 Keynote Speakers.

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