Sponsored by the Center for Quantitative Economic Research (CQER)

The conference featured a number of papers that examine the effects of fiscal policy. Given the current deep recession and rising government debt, the theme of this conference was more timely and urgent than ever. The goal of the conference was to convene prominent economists to share their perspectives on this important topic.

Agenda

Friday, January 8, 2010
  Welcome Remarks
John Robertson, Vice President and Senior Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
Session 1 Session Chair
Federico Mandelman, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

"Simple Analytics of the Government Expenditure Multiplier" Adobe PDF file format
Michael Woodford, Columbia University

Discussant
Marco Bassetto, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago [Presentation Adobe PDF file format]

  "Fiscal Stimulus and Distortionary Taxation" Adobe PDF file format
Harald Uhlig, University of Chicago

Discussant
Lars Svensson, Sveriges Riksbank [Presentation Adobe PDF file format]
Session 2 Session Chair
Pedro Silos, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

"What Fiscal Policy Is Effective at Zero Interest Rates?" Adobe PDF file format
Gauti Eggertsson, Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Discussant
Bruce Preston, Columbia University [Presentation Adobe PDF file format]
  "Central Banking in the Credit Turmoil: An Assessment of Federal Reserve Practice" Adobe PDF file format
Marvin Goodfriend, Carnegie Mellon [Presentation Adobe PDF file format]

Discussant
V.V. Chari, University of Minnesota [Presentation Adobe PDF file format]
Session 3 Session Chair
Lei Fang, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

"Fiscal Policy Can Reduce Unemployment: But There Is a Better Alternative"
Adobe PDF file format
Roger Farmer, University of California, Los Angeles [Presentation Adobe PDF file format]

Discussant
Mirko Wiederholt, Northwestern University [Presentation Adobe PDF file format]
  "Using Stock Returns to Identify Government Spending Shocks" Adobe PDF file format
Jonas Fisher and Ryan Peters, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Discussant
Andrew Levin, Board of Governors [Presentation Adobe PDF file format]
Keynote speaker "Fiscal Policy Analysis in the Current Environment"
Alan Auerbach, University of California, Berkeley [Presentation Adobe PDF file format]
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Session 4 Session Chair
Juan Rubio-Ramirez, Duke University and Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

"Price Level Determination in General Equilibrium"
Adobe PDF file format
Christopher Sims, Princeton University

Discussant
Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde, University of Pennsylvania [Presentation Adobe PDF file format]
  "New Keynesian versus Old Keynesian Government Spending Multipliers" Adobe PDF file format
John Taylor, Stanford University [Presentation Adobe PDF file format]

Discussant
Jesper Lindé, Federal Reserve Board [Presentation Adobe PDF file format]
Session 5 Session Chair
Dan Waggoner, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

"When Is the Government Spending Multiplier Large?"
Adobe PDF file format
Larry Christiano, Martin Eichenbaum, and Sergio Rebelo, Northwestern University

Discussant
Nobuhiro Kiyotaki, Princeton University [Presentation Adobe PDF file format]