Workshop on Macroeconomic Policy and Income Inequality

February 9-10, 2017
IMF Headquarters, Washington, D.C.


The Third Workshop on Macroeconomic Policy and Income Inequality in Developing Countries will be held at the IMF headquarters on February 9-10, 2017. The workshop will cover a number of macro-critical issues for developing countries such as the causes and consequences of resource misallocation across sectors, the links between international trade, public investment, commodity price cycles and income inequality, the macroeconomic impact of natural disasters, and the importance of energy investment for economic growth.

Agenda
Thursday, February 9
9:15 - 9:30

Welcome Remarks—Siddharth Tiwari (Director, SPR, IMF)

9:30 - 10:45

Sandra V. Lizarazo Ruiz (IMF)
Presentation
“Terms of Trade Booms and Busts and Income Inequality”
(with Adrian Peralta Alva, Ravi Balakrishnan, and Marina Mendes Tavares)
Discussant: Andy Glover (University of Texas at Austin)

10:45 - 11:15
Coffee Break
11:15 - 12:30

Rodrigo Adao (Princeton University)
Presentation
“Worker Heterogeneity, Wage Inequality, and International Trade: Theory and Evidence from Brazil” 
Discussant: Wyatt Brooks (University of Notre Dame)
Presentation

12:30 -13:30 

Lunch Break

13:30 - 14:45

Berthold Herrendorf (Arizona State University)
Presentation
“Structural Transformation of Occupation Employment” (with Georg Duernecker)
Discussant: Douglas Gollin (Oxford University)
Presentation

14:45 - 16:00

Jacopo Ponticelli (University of Chicago, Booth School of Business)
“Capital Allocation Across Regions, Sectors and Firms: Evidence from a Commodity Boom in Brazil” (with Paula Bustos and Gabriel Garber)
Discussant: José María Da Rocha (Universidade de Vigo)

16:00 - 16:15
Coffee Break
16:15 - 17:30

Diego Restuccia (Toronto University)

“Relative Prices and Sectoral Productivity” (with Margarida Duate)
Discussant: Markus Poschke (McGill University)
Presentation

16:15 - 17:30

Cocktail (By Invitation Only)
Remarks by Maurice Obstfeld (Chief Economic Counsellor and Director (RES), IMF)

18:45

Dinner (By Invitation Only)

Friday, February 10
9:15 - 10:30

Javier Cravino (University of Michigan)
Presentation
"Trade Induced Structural Change and the Skill Premium” (with Sebastian Sotelo)
Discussant: Marti Mestieri (Northwestern University)
Presentation

10:30 - 10:45
Coffee Break
10:45 - 12:00 

Brian McCaig (Wilfrid Laurier University)
Presentation
“Export Markets and Labor Allocation in a Low-income Country”
(with Nina Pavcnik)
Discussant: Jorge A. Alvarez (IMF)
Presentation

12:00 - 13:15
Lunch Break
13:15 - 14:30

Lint Barrage (Brown University)
Presentation
“Do Disasters Affect Growth? Five Macro Model-Based Insights on the Empirical Debate”
(with Laura Bakkensen)
Discussant: Rody Manuelli (Washington University in St. Louis)
Presentation

14:30 - 15:45

Bin Grace Li (IMF)
“The Macroeconomic and Distributional Effects of Public Investment in Developing Economies” (with Davide Furceri)
Presentation
Discussant: Yi Huang (the Graduate Institute, Geneva)
Presentation

15:45 - 16:15
Coffee Break
16:15 - 17:30 pm

Stephie Fried (Carleton College)
Presentation
“The Role of Energy Capital in Accounting for Africa's Recent Growth Resurgence”
(with David Lagakos)
Discussant: Adrian Peralta Alva (IMF)
Presentation