March 12, 2022

The Politics and Economics of International Finance Research Group Meeting

Sponsored by the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government

Location: Belfer Case Study Room (S020), CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

Conference Chairs

Jeffrey Frankel, James W. Harpel Professor of Capital Formation and Growth, Harvard Kennedy School.

Jeffry A. Frieden, Stanfield Professor of International Peace, Department of Government, Harvard University.

Schedule

9:00–9:30 a.m. | Continental Breakfast

9:30–9:40 a.m. | Welcome

9:40–11:10 a.m. | Atif Mian, Department of Economics, Princeton University. “Global Inequality and R”

• Background Material:
  • Mian, Atif, Ludwig Straub, and Amir Sufi. 2022. “Indebted Demand.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 11/2021: 2243–2307.
  • Mian, Atif, Ludwig Straub, and Amir Suf. 2022. “The Saving Glut of the Rich"
     

11:10–11:30 a.m. | Coffee Break

11:30–1:00 p.m. | Policy Panel: “The International Macroeconomic Situation: Inflation, Interest Rates, and Stabilization”

Jason Furman, Aetna Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy, Harvard Kennedy School, and former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers (2013–2017).

• Background Material:
• Furman, Jason. 2022. “Bad News About the Good Inflation News .” Wall Street Journal, March 6, 2022.
• Furman, Jason. 2022. Wall Street Journal, Jan. 13, 2022. Four Reasons to Keep Worrying About Inflation.
  • Furman, Jason. 2022. "What the Federal Reserve Should Do Now: An Elaboration." Peterson Institute for International Economics, November 18, 2021.
  • Furman, Jason. 2022. "Why Did (Almost) Nobody See it Coming and What Does That Mean for What's Next?" Macroeconomics Policy Seminar February 8, 2022.
     

Maurice Obstfeld, Class of 1958 Professor of Economics, UCB, and former Chief Economist IMF (2015–2018).

• Background Material:
  • Obstfeld, Maurice. 2021."An Uneven Global Rebound Will Challenge Emerging-Market and Developing Economies."
  • Obstfeld, Maurice. 2021.The international financial system after Covid‐19
  • Clavin, Patricia, Giancarlo Corsetti, Maurice Obstfeld, and Adam Tooze. 2022. “Lessons of Keynes’s Economic Consequences in a Turbulent Century" CEPR Discussion Paper DP16610, CE.

1:00–2:00 p.m. | Lunch

2:00–3:30 p.m. | Rachel Wellhausen, Department of Government, University of Texas at Austin. "Investor-State Disputes and the Protection of Foreign Investment"

• Background Material:
  • Moehlecke, Carolina, and Rachel L. Wellhausen. 2022. "Political Risk and International Investment Law." Annual Review of Political Science, 1–23.
  • Wellhausen, Rachel L. 2015. "Chapter 1: Nationality and Leverage in a Globalized World." In The Shield of Nationality: When Governments Break Contracts with Foreign Firms. Cambridge University Press.
• Additional reading of potential interest:
  • Wellhausen, Rachel L. 2015. "Chapter 5: Foreign Films and Their Diplomats in Ukraine." In The Shield of Nationality: When Governments Break Contracts with Foreign Firms. Cambridge University Press.
     

3:30–3:45 p.m. | Coffee Break

3:45–5:15 p.m. | James Robinson, Harris School, University of Chicago. “Culture, Institutions and Social Equilibria”

• Background Material:
  • Acemoglu, Daron, and James A. Robinson. 2022. "Culture, Institutions and Social Equilibria: A Framework.“ (Publisher's Version)
     

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