Reexamining Economics

The global economic crisis and the subsequent weak recovery has shaken up macroeconomics.

A conference on the theme “Macro and Growth Policies in the Wake of the Crisis” took place at the IMF’s Headquarters in Washington, DC on March 7-8, 2011. The conference was hosted by four of the world’s most noted economists, including two Nobel laureates: Michael Spence (Stanford University), Joseph Stiglitz (Columbia University), Olivier Blanchard (Economic Counselor and Director of Research at the IMF), and David Romer (University of California, Berkeley). The event brought together leading policymakers and academics from both advanced and emerging countries, as well as representatives from civil society, the private sector, and the media.

The aim of the conference was to distill the policy lessons of the global financial crisis. Participants focused on six key areas: monetary policy, fiscal policy, financial intermediation and regulation, capital account management, growth strategies, and the international monetary system. They also sought to make concrete policy recommendations for how to revive sustainable growth while safeguarding macroeconomic and financial stability.

Review in F&D magazine
LSE review

Conference website In the Wake of the Crisis: Leading Economists Reassess Economic Policy by Michael Spence
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The global economic crisis has challenged Economics to the core. This is the first pass at reexamining Economics in the light of lessons learned and still being learnt.

The IMF held a conference of leading economists in 2011. Conference co-host and Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz noted that “the models that were used before the crisis neither predicted the crisis nor gave us a framework for responding to the crisis when it happened.”

IMF Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard said: "The global economic crisis taught us to question our most cherished beliefs about the way we conduct macroeconomic policy." http://blog-imfdirect.imf.org/2011/03...

This book is a collection of thoughts following the crisis and an examination of the future direction of the international monetary system.

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