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Concerns about a generalized decline in prices in both industrial and emerging market economies have recently increased. With Japan, China, and several other Asian economies already experiencing declining prices, the worry has been that deflationary pressures could deepen, and even spread more widely. What is our historical experience with deflation? How much do we know about its causes and effects? What are the risks and appropriate policy responses? The following panelists will address these and related issues.

Kenneth Rogoff (Moderator)
Economic Counselor and Director of the Research Department
IMF

Laurence Ball
Professor of Economics
Department of Economics
Johns Hopkins University

Manmohan S. Kumar
Advisor, Research Department
IMF

Vincent Reinhart
Director of Monetary Affairs
Board of Governors
U.S. Federal Reserve System

Kim Schoenholtz
Chief Economist
Citigroup Global Markets

An IMF staff study on deflation is available on the IMF website at http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/def/2003/eng/043003.htm