IMF Conference

The conference will focus on the use of microdata to answer macroeconomic questions and guide policymakers. Over the past decade, there have been significant shifts not only in demand for data but also data availability and granularity, driven by both private and public sectors. The increasing wealth of available data provides valuable opportunities to better inform policymaking. This conference aims to showcase an outstanding set of academic contributions that use microdata to tackle macroeconomic issues, directly by drawing from micro-level evidence or employing models calibrated and tested with microdata. Microdata is broadly defined and includes, but is not limited to, administrative data (credit registry, tax, social security, etc.), survey data, and expectations data. 

Conference Materials

All papers and discussions from this conference are available for download through the link below.

Agenda

Day 1, Tuesday, August 5

8:00–8:45 a.m. - Registration and Coffee

8:45–9:00 a.m. - Opening Remarks by Jose Uribe (Executive President, FLAR) and Leonardo Villar (Governor, Banco de la República)

9:00–10:30 a.m. - Session 1: Credit constraints

• Chair: Iader Giraldo (FLAR)
• Financing Costs and Development
  Authors: Joseph Kaboski (University of Notre Dame), Tiago Cavalcanti (University of Cambridge, CEPR and São Paulo School of Economics), Bruno Martins (Central Bank of Brazil), and Cezar Santos (Inter-American Development Bank and CEPR)
  Discussant: Sergio Schmukler (World Bank)
• K Wasn’t Built in a Day: Investment with Endogenous Time to Build
  Authors: Adriano Fernandes (International Monetary Fund) and Rodolfo Rigato (European Central Bank)
  Discussant: Matthias Meier (Mannheim University)

10:30–10:45 a.m. - Coffee Break and Conference Picture

10:45 a.m.–12:45 p.m. - Session 2: Labor markets

• Chair: Jesus Bejarano (Banco de la República)
• Wage Erosion with Incomplete Markets: A Quantitative Analysis of the Costs of Inflation
  Authors: Jafet Baca (Emory University), Andres Blanco (Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and Emory University), and Andres Drenik (University of Texas at Austin and National Bureau of Economic Research)
  Discussant: Javier Garcia-Cicco (Universidad de San Andres)
• Minimum Wages and Firm Outcomes
  Authors: Elias Albagli, Sofía Bauducco, Roberto Gillmore, Juan Guerra-Salas, and David Kohn (Central Bank of Chile)
  Discussant: David Perez-Reyna (Universidad de los Andes)
• Human Capital Ladders, Cyclical Sorting, and Hysteresis
  Authors: Edoardo Acabbi (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid), Andrea Alati (Bank of England), and Luca Mazzone (CERGE - EI)
  Discussant: Brenda Samaniego (University of Notre Dame)

12:45–2:15 p.m. - Lunch Break

2:15–3:45 p.m. - Session 3: Capital flows

• Chair: Carlos Giraldo (FLAR)
• Geopolitical Risk and Firm Financing: Evidence from Colombia's Administrative Data
  Authors: Gabriela Cugat (International Monetary Fund), Andrea Manera (International Monetary Fund), and Miguel Sarmiento (Banco de la República)
  Discussant: Juan Camilo Medellín (Universidad del Rosario)
• Global Investors in Local-Currency Bond Markets: Implications for Bond Yields and Exchange Rates
  Authors: Pierre De Leo (University of Maryland), Lorena Keller (Texas A&M University), Giuliano Simoncelli (University of Maryland), Mauricio Villamizar (Banco de la República), and Tomas Williams (George Washington University)
  Discussant: Juliana Salomao (University of Minnesota)

3:45–4:00 p.m. - Coffee Break

4:00–5:00 p.m. - Keynote address

• Chair: Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas (Economic Counsellor and Director, Research Department, International Monetary Fund)
• Alberto Cavallo (Harvard Business School)

Day 2, Wednesday, August 6

8:30–9:00 a.m. - Registration and Coffee

9:00–10:30 a.m. - Policy Panel: Monetary Policy and Capital Flows in Emerging Market Economies

• Moderator: Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas (Economic Counsellor and Director, Research Department, International Monetary Fund)
• Panelists:
  • Laura Alfaro (Chief Economist and Economic Counsellor, Inter-American Development Bank)
  • Jose Uribe (Executive President, FLAR)
  • Leonardo Villar (Governor, Banco de la República)

10:30–10:45 a.m. - Coffee Break

10:45 a.m.–12:15 p.m. - Session 4: Pricing and Inflation

• Chair: Veronica Rappoport (London School of Economics and IMFER Guest Editor)
• Detecting Turning Points in Inflation: A Structural Breaks Approach Using High-Frequency Microdata
  Authors: Alberto Cavallo (Harvard Business School) and Gaston Garcia Zavaleta (Stanford University)
  Discussant: Ernesto Pasten (Central Bank of Chile)
• Beyond Costs: The Dominant Role of Strategic Complementarities in Pricing
  Authors: Elias Albagli (Central Bank of Chile), Francesco Grigoli (International Monetary Fund), Emiliano Luttini (World Bank), Dagoberto Quevedo (Central Bank of Chile), and Marco Rojas (Central Bank of Chile)
  Discussant: Camila Casas (International Monetary Fund)

12:15–1:45 p.m. - Lunch Break

1:45–3:15 p.m. - Session 5: Household Finance

• Chair: Juan Esteban Carranza (Banco de la República)
• Drivers of Digital Payment Adoption: Lessons from Brazil, Costa Rica, and Mexico
  Authors: David Argente (Yale University and National Bureau of Economic Research), Paula Gonzalez Alvarez (Yale University), Esteban Mendez (Central Bank of Costa Rica), and Diana Van Patten (Yale University and National Bureau of Economic Research)
  Discussant: Sean Higgins (Northwestern University)
• Monetary Policy Transmission to Household Credit: Evidence from Uganda’s Credit Registry Data
  Authors: Marina Conesa Martinez (International Finance Corporation), Elizabeth Kasekende (Central Bank of Uganda), Nan Li (International Monetary Fund), Adam Mugume (Central Bank of Uganda), Samuel Musoke (Central Bank of Uganda), Cedric Okou (International Monetary Fund), and Andrea Presbitero (International Monetary Fund)
  Discussant: Juan Esteban Carranza (Banco de la República)

3:15–3:30 p.m. - Coffee Break

3:30–5:30 p.m. - Session 6: Firm-productivity and growth

• Chair: Javier Cravino (University of Michigan and IMFER Guest Editor)
• How Shocks Travel: The Cross-Border Impact of Natural Disasters in Firm Networks
  Authors: Vanessa Alviarez (Inter-American Development Bank), Brian C. Fujiy (U.S. Census Bureau), Angel Espinoza (University of British Columbia), and Tomasz Swiecki (Opendoor Labs Inc)
  Discussant: Alvaro Garcia (Universidad de los Andes, Chile)
• Global Commodity Booms and Firm Productivity: Evidence from Chile’s Administrative Data
  Authors: Younghun Shim (International Monetary Fund), Pablo Filippi (Ministry of Finance, Chile), Ryan Kim (Johns Hopkins University), Nan Li (International Monetary Fund), and Maria Jesus Perez (Ministry of Finance, Chile)
  Discussant: Ashim Dubey (CompNet)
• From Labor to Intermediates: Firm Growth, Input Substitution, and Monopsony
  Authors: Matthias Mertens (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Benjamin Schoefer (University of California, Berkeley)
  Discussant: Antonio Spilimbergo (IMF)

5:30 p.m. - Concluding remarks: Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas (Economic Counsellor and Director, Research Department, International Monetary Fund)

The times listed in this agenda are shown in local time (Bogotá, Colombia).

Organizing Committee:

Emine Boz (IMF and Co-Editor, IMF Economic Review)
Juan Esteban Carranza Romero (Head Officer for Economic Studies, Banco de la República)
Javier Cravino (University of Michigan and Guest Editor, IMF Economic Review)
Gabriela Cugat (IMF)
Carlos Giraldo (Chief Economist, Latin American Reserve Fund, FLAR)
Jesús Fernández-Villaverde (University of Pennsylvania and Editor, IMF Economic Review)
Veronica Rappoport (London School of Economics and Guest Editor, IMF Economic Review)

IMF Conference Coordinators:

Tracey Lookadoo, Julia Grisard, and Luisa Calixto