IMF Conference

February 16, 2005, 2:30-5:00 p.m.
IMF Gallery, 2nd Floor
Visitors enter via the IMF Center
720 19th St. N.W., Washington, D.C.

This Symposium is free and open to the public. For security reasons, please RSVP to ResRSVP@imf.org or (202) 623-8990. A picture ID will be required; persons and bags will be screened. Please arrive 10-15 minutes early to allow for these additional measures. Visitors should enter through the IMF Center, 720 19th St. NW. Only IMF/World Bank Staff ID holders should use IMF main entrance at 700 19th St. NW.

As part of the research conference on "Macroeconomic Challenges in Low-income countries" (co-sponsored by the Governments of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, and the World Bank), there will be a symposium on development economics on February 16 between 2:30 P.M. and 5:00 P.M. (Venue: IMF Gallery). Five leading scholars will elaborate their perspectives on development economics, following which there will be a debate between the panelists and the audience. The aim would be to discuss the merits and demerits of each of these perspectives with a view to thinking about a forward-looking research and policy agenda.

The panelists and their perspectives are:

Abhijit Bannerjee (MIT): Micro-development

Tim Besley (London School of Economics): Political economy of development

Simon Johnson (IMF/MIT): Institutions matter

Dani Rodrik (Harvard): Heterodoxy/experimentation

John Williamson (Institute for International Economics): The Washington Consensus