Rethinking fiscal policy after the crisis

The keynote speakers of the conference were Eric M. Leeper from the Indiana University and Professor Charles Wyplosz from the Graduate Institute in Geneva. In addition, more than twenty further prominent guests, specialists in the field of public finance and fiscal policy as well as representatives of international organisations, such as the OECD, the European Commission and the BIS, accepted the invitation to participate in the three conference panels – Re-writing Textbooks on Fiscal Policy, Better Institutions for Better Policy and Lessons for Policymaking.

About the conference:

“The Great Recession has undoubtedly brought a lot of challenges into economic policymaking. Unconventional monetary policy, sovereign debt restructuring, macro¬prudential policy or for example secular stagnation are all concepts which were regarded as “exotic” before the crisis. Majority of the profession thought of these as pure theoretical possibilities, without high relevance for developed countries. As a consequence, many policymakers were forced to adopt quick and untested measures. These trial-and-error or learning-by-doing methods were sometimes successful, but not always reached the desired outcomes. The main objective of the conference organized by the Council for Budget Responsibility is to look back and draw the most important lessons from the crisis for fiscal policy making. We are interested in analysing the impact of the Great Recession in three broad areas: theory, institutional set up and policy.“

Additional information: Conference programme