5th HenU/INFER Workshop on Applied Macroeconomics

March 29th - 31st 2019

From March 29th to 31st 2019, the Center for Financial Development and Stability (CFDS) at Henan University and the International Network for Economic Research (INFER) organized their 5th annual Workshop on Applied Macroeconomics hosted by Henan University.

The Global Financial Crisis has brought countries' monetary financial and fiscal vulnerabilities to the forefront of the academic debate. Many countries increased government spending, driving both domestic and foreign debt up and leaving them highly vulnerable. Unable to stop the crisis with fiscal measures, most countries eventually resorted to highly expansionary monetary policy to provide more stimulus. Both the Fed and the ECB lowered their rates to the zero lower bound and finally engaged in unconventional monetary policy. This drastically increased their government debt holdings, strengthening the linkages between monetary and fiscal issues. At the same time, global capital flows were redirected to countries which maintained positive interest rates, many of them emerging markets who now – with the Fed slowly normalizing its policy – fear a sudden stop.

That is, more than a decade after the outbreak of the crisis its repercussions are still felt. Therefore, this year’s workshop will have a focus on the fiscal and monetary fragility that we are facing, especially its international aspects. As always, we invite papers from all fields in applied macroeconomics, but papers matching those issues are particularly welcome.

Keynote lectures were given by

Prof. Lawrence Christiano

Alfred W. Chase Chair in Business Institutions, Northwestern University
Department of Economics, Northwestern University

Prof. Randall Wright

Ray B. Zemon Chair in Liquid Assets in the Department of Finance, Investment and Banking at the Wisconsin School of Business
Department of Economics at University of Wisconsin Madison

Dinner Keynote

Prof. Joshua Aizenman

Robert R. and Katheryn A. Dockson Chair in Economics and International Relations
at the Department of Economics at the USC Dornsife College of Art, Letters and Science

Special issue

Selected, excellent papers have been considered for a special issue in Journal of International Money and Finance on "Monetary and Fiscal Fragility in the 2020s".