International Monetary Fund

Washington, DC, March 7 and 8, 2011

Macro and Growth Policies in the Wake of the Crisis

SESSION I: Monetary Policy

In the years before the crisis, a consensus view of monetary policy emerged. This consensus saw flexible inflation targeting as providing an appropriate monetary framework, obviating the need for policymakers to target asset prices or worry excessively about the zero lower bound. It was further thought that monetary policy could be kept largely separate from fiscal policy, and that monetary policy itself could be sub-divided into separate macroeconomic and supervisory aspects. But the crisis and the policy response have raised questions about each of these elements of the consensus.

Background notes on monetary policy

CHAIR

Adam Posen

The Central Banker’s Case for Doing More

The Realities and Relevance of Japan’s Great Recession: Neither Ran nor Rashomon

Do We Know What We Need to Know in Order to Lean Against the Wind?

Adam Posen is an external member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England and a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

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DISCUSSANTS

Olivier Blanchard Presentation

Rethinking Macroeconomic Policy

Olivier Blanchard is the Economic Counsellor and Director of the Research Department at the IMF.

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Guillermo Ortiz Presentation

Inflation Targeting

The Future of Central Banking under Post-Crisis Mandates

Guillermo Ortiz became Governor of the Bank of Mexico in January of 1998. He was ratified as Governor for another six-year term beginning in January 2004.

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Otmar Issing Presentation

In Search of Monetary Stability: The Evolution of Monetary Policy

The Development of Monetary Policy in the 20th Century – Some Reflections

Asset Prices and Monetary Policy

Opting Out of the Great Inflation: German Monetary Policy After the Break Down of Bretton Woods

Otmar Issing is President of the Center for Financial Studies (2006) and Chairman of the Advisory Board of the House of Finance, Goethe University Frankfurt (2007).

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Joseph E. Stiglitz

New Ideas for a New World: New Ideas for a New World: Joseph Stiglitz—Watch the Interview


Too Big to Fail or Too Big to Save? Examining the Systemic Threats of Large Financial Institutions

The Future of Financial Services Regulation

Time to Fix the Fed?

Mr. Stiglitz is Professor at Columbia's Graduate School of Business. Mr. Stiglitz served as a World Bank Chief Economist and Senior Vice President in development economics from 1997 to 1999. Prior to that, he served on President Clinton's economic team as Chairman of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisors from 1993 to 1997.

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