Home > Academics > Degree Programs > Program in Economic Policy Management
News and Events
In addition to its regular 14-month mid-career professional program in economic policy management, PEPM hosts regular visits by leading practitioners and academics from around the globe. These workshops, public lectures, panel discussions and student-focused events are designed to enhance the intellectual discussion around topics of major importance in economic policy and allow PEPM students, as well as other Columbia University students and faculty, the opportunity to engage with the people creating and implementing economic policies on both domestic and international levels.
Recent events:
The Impact of the European Crisis on
Latin America and East-Central Europe
1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Wednesday, November 7
International Affairs Building, Room 1501, Columbia University
Panel discussion on the impact of the European crisis on economies in Latin America and East-Central Europe. How has it affected particular economies and why have some emerged stronger than others?
Featuring:
Guillermo Calvo (Chair), Professor of International and Public Affairs and Director of the Program in Economic Policy Management (PEPM) at Columbia University’s SIPA
Domingo Felipe Cavallo, Senior Fellow at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, Yale University
George Kopits, Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Carmen M. Reinhart, Minos A. Zombanakis Professor of the International Financial System at the Harvard Kennedy School
Ernesto Talvi, Senior Fellow and Director of the Latin America Initiative, Brookings Institution, and Academic Director of CERES (Center for the Study of Economic and Social Affairs ), Uruguay
Sponsored by the Program in Economic Policy Management (PEPM) and the Center on Global Economic Governance (CGEG) at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs
Read Latin America Macroeconomic Outlook: A Global Perspective (Talvi et. al. 2012)
Watch the Event here:
PEPM's Guillermo Calvo Gives Ohlin Lectures at the University of Stockholm
Guillermo Calvo with Professor Mats Lundhal (left) and Tomas Ohlin (right), son of Bertil Ohlin
Each year, the Stockholm School of Economics chooses a notable economist to present on topics in international economics. Calvo discussed “Financial Crises: Back to Basics and Back.” More
Guillermo Calvo receives honorary doctorate degree at Di Tella University
On August 30th, 2012, Guillermo Calvo was honored with an honorary doctorate degree from the University Torcuato Di Tella in Argentina, recognizing his contributions to the study of economics. More information about the award ceremony, as well as the speech given by Chair of the Di Tella Economics Department and Columbia University Ph.D., Professor Andres Neumeyer (in Spanish) may be found here.
PEPM Welcomes 57 New Students
On July 3, SIPA’s Program in Economic Policy Management (PEPM) welcomed its 21st class to Morningside Heights. Over the 20 years since its founding in 1992, PEPM has been SIPA’s most international program, graduating nearly 1,000 policymakers from more than 140 countries.
25 members of PEPM’s 2012 class are completing internships at the World Bank Group in Washington.
Each year PEPM enrolls 50 or so students, who study at SIPA from July through May before completing either a research project on campus or an internship at an economic policy-oriented institution. This summer, 25 members of PEPM’s 2012 class are completing internships at the World Bank Group in Washington.
Following the completion of their internships, PEPM students produce a report on their experience, emphasizing how they put into practice what they learned during the program’s first 11 months. PEPM students finish the program in August and are certified for the Master of Public Administration degree in October.
20th Anniversary Celebration of
the Program in Economic Policy Management (PEPM)
Friday, April 27th and Saturday, April 28th
- SIPA Alumni Day PEPM faculty panels
- Networking and social events
- Gala dinner with current and former faculty, PEPM directors, and current students
- Keynote by PEPM co-founder and former professor Dani Rodrik.
View the full Program of Events and Watch Online here.
|
|
Financial Regulation & Monetary Policy
Panel Discussion
Nicolás Eyzaguirre, Director, Western Hemisphere Department, IMF
Liliana Rojas-Suarez, Senor Fellow, Center for Global Development
Gill Hammond, Director, Centre for Central Banking Studies, Bank of England
Andrew Blake, Senior Adviser, Centre for Central Banking Studies, Bank of England
The Panel will be chaired by Guillermo Calvo, Professor of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
4:30pm-6:30pm,, Friday, April 13th
1501 International Affairs Building, Columbia University
Reception to Follow
Open to the Columbia University Community
Seating is limited: RSVP by April 12th to pepm@columbia.edu
This event is part of the CCBS-PEPM Workshop on Inflation Targeting sponsored by the Centre for Central Banking Studies of the Bank of England and the Program in Economic Policy Management at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs
February 29th, 2012 “FROM FINANCIAL CRISIS TO GLOBAL RECOVERY"
Presenter: Padma Desai, Gladys and Roland Harriman Professor of Comparative Economic Systems, CU
Desai is one of the world's leading experts on Russian politics and economics. Among her many publications is the highly acclaimed Conversations on Russia. Her current research is focused on globalization of emerging markets and their exposure to the financial crisis. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Discussants: Andrés Velasco, Edward Larocque Tinker Visiting Professor, SIPA; Jan Svejnar, Director of the Center on Global Economic Governance, SIPA
Chaired by
Guillermo Calvo, Director of PEPM, Columbia University’s SIPA
February 22nd-24th, 2012 PEPM WENT TO WASHINGTON, D.C.
February 13th, 2012 "The World Under Pressure," Book discussion presented by the author Carl Dahlman
Carl J. Dahlman is Associate Professor at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He joined Georgetown in January 2005 after more than 25 years of distinguished service at the World Bank. At Georgetown, Dr. Dahlman’s research and teaching explore how the rise of the BRICs are affecting global power, and how rapid advances in science, technology and information are influencing the growth prospects of nations, and trade, investment, innovation, education and economic relations in an increasingly globalizing world. At the World Bank Dr. Dahlman served as Senior Advisor to the World Bank Institute and managed the Knowledge for Development (K4D) Program since 1999.
January 25th, 2012 Growth, Jobs and the G20 Expectations
Commodity price volatility, weak financial systems, fragile fiscs, protectionism threats, social pressure: Where to start to bring to fruit the “Action Plan for Growth and Jobs” agreed by the G20?
Panel Discussion with Professor Jagdish Baghwati, Columbia University; Professor Guillermo Calvo, Director of PEPM, Columbia University; Mahmoud Mohieldin Managing Director, The World Bank Group. Moderated by Professor Sara Calvo, School of International and Public Affairs.
December 2, 2011 Current Affairs Lunch with Richard Clarida
December 1, 2011 Current Affairs Lunch with Charles Calomiris
Financial Development in Latin America and the Caribbean: The Road Ahead
Launch of the 2011 Flagship Report of the World Bank LAC Chief Economist Office
Over 500,000 viewers watched live online on Tuesday, November 29 at 12:30 p.m.
This event marked the launch of the 2011 Flagship Report of the World Bank LAC Chief Economist Office. The Report examines issues on the interaction between financial development and financial stability by revisiting the nature of different market imperfections and their interactions. It discusses the "bright" and "dark" sides of the process of financial development, and provides an assessment of the nature of, and the reasons behind, the region’s gaps in financial development. The report also provides a rich discussion of the new, systemically-oriented regulatory reform agenda. It argues that market imperfections ultimately limit the extent to which markets can self-regulate, which puts a premium on good public policies and suggests a rebalancing of the roles of the financial markets and the state.
Fall Current Affairs Lunches:
November 10th with PEPM Alumni Martin Petrella
November 3rd with Professor Ronald Findlay
November 1st with Professor Guillermo Calvo
October 27th with Professor Arvid Lukauskas
September 26, 2011: Guillermo Calvo presents on Sovereign Debt at the 6th CME Group-MSRI Prize
Professor Guillermo Calvo, director of PEPM, together with José A. Scheinkman, Theodore A. Wells ‘29 Professor of Economics at Princeton University; Narayana Kocherlakota, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis; and José Viñals, Financial Counsellor and Director, Monetary and Capital Markets Department, International Monetary Fund (IMF); participated in an opening seminar on "Sovereign Debt" prior to the award ceremony. Download Professor Calvo’s presentation here.
The 6th annual CME Group-MSRI Prize in Innovative Quantitative Applications was awarded to Thomas S. Sargent, Professor of Economics, New York University, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford, California, on Monday, September 26 at the CME Group World Headquarters, in Chicago. The annual CME Group-MSRI Prize is awarded to an individual or a group, to recognize originality and innovation in the use of mathematical, statistical or computational methods for the study of the behavior of markets, and more broadly of economics. For more information on the Prize and the CME Group, click here.
September 23, 2011: Inter-American Development Bank Policy Seminar
Guillermo Calvo joined Carmen Reinhart of the Peterson Institute; Raghuram Rajan, University of Chicago; Stephen Cecchetti, Bank of International Settlements; Paulo Leme, Goldman Sachs; and Liliana Rojas-Suárez, Center for Global Development, at the Inter-American Development Bank for a policy seminar.
The seminar focused on the prospect of a new world economic crisis in light of recent economic developments in the United States and Europe, and the ramifications for Latin America and the Caribbean. Watch the entire seminar online here. 
July 6, 2011: PEPM Orientation
Faculty and Staff joined us with introducing the new PEPM students to Columbia and SIPA.
July 1, 2011: PEPM Scavenger Hunt
PEPM welcomed the 2011 2012 class with a Manhattan wide Scavenger hunt. Students were randomly grouped and competed by traveling all around the island to find some famous and some off the beaten track landmarks and items.
April 11 and 12, 2011: PEPM-Bank of England Inflation Targeting Workshop
PEPM held its 4th Annual Inflation Targeting Workshop with the Bank of England’s Center for Central Banking Studies, featuring the Center’s Director Ms. Gill Hammond and Senior Adviser, Andrew Blake. This was a two-day workshop on inflation targeting which included economic models on inflation targeting, forecasting, explaining the forecast, and specific lectures on IT from the UK, Mexican and Chilean experiences as well. Dr. Carlos Capistran, Director of Macroeconomic Analysis at the Bank of Mexico, and Dr. Andres Velasco, Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and former Minister of Finance of Chile, presented on Mexico and Chile, respectively. The workshop concluded with a panel discussion on Financial Regulation and Monetary Policy, open to the public, featuring the representatives from the Bank of England, Dr. Velasco, Professor Alan Taylor of UC (Davis), and chaired by Professor Guillermo Calvo, director of PEPM and Professor of International and Public Affairs at SIPA.
April 7, 2011: “Argentina and Brazil: Economic challenges and opportunities.”
Daniel Artana, Juan Luis Bour and Santiago Urbiztondo, Economists at FIEL, an Argentine think-tank, presented about the economies of Argentina and Brazil with a focus on the challenges and opportunities in the near future and also analyzed the growth drivers (productivity gaps, quality of education, infrastructure especially energy). Click Here for Flyer.
April 14, 2011 Carmen M. Reinhart, “A Decade of Debt”
Public debts in the advanced economies have surged in recent years to levels not recorded since the end of World War II, surpassing the heights reached during the First World War and the Great Depression. At the same time, private debt levels, particularly those of financial institutions and households, are in uncharted territory and are (in varying degrees) a contingent liability of the public sector in many countries. Click Here for Flyer.
March 27th, 2011
Guillermo Calvo's latest article titled, "Capital Punishment," in emergingmarkets.org.
Foreign capital flowing into Latin America today could have disastrous social consequences if the tide turns
March 4th, 2011
Gerardo della Paolera, President of the Global Development Network
Topic, "The Unending Search for a New Global Monetary and Financial Architecture." (Download the PDF)
March 4th, 2011
Maurice Obstfeld
Topic, "Stories of the Twentieth Century for the Twenty-First." (Download the PDF)
February 23rd - 25th, 2011
PEPM Goes to Washington, D.C.
The PEPM Class of 2011 recently returned from a fun and successful trip to Washington, D.C. The annual trip hosts a slew of fruitful ventures in the Country’s Capitol. It originally began as a chance for students to have interviews with the World Bank Group for summer internships, and still has that as its main objective. However, It has since turned into much, much more. Students now have the opportunity to network with PEPM and SIPA Alumni at the World Bank Group at a special panel luncheon at the World Bank, and also have the chance to network with a broader set of PEPM and SIPA alumni at a student-alumni reception during their first night in the city. Between individual interviews over the three-day trip, the students also have a chance to explore the D.C. area and participate in special PEPM visits to the Federal Reserve Board in D.C. and the International Monetary Fund. Students also participated in a tour of the National Mall and Embassy Row guided by Assistant Director David Caughlin. Many students also shared contacts and meetings in the capitol with their fellow PEPMers.
February 18th, 2011 Professor William Easterly
Chaired by Professor Guillermo Calvo who is the Director of the PEPM, Professor William Easterly led an engaging talk on the topic, "Skeptics vs. Autocrats: the Next Battle in Development." With over two hundred in attendance, it was a very successful event.
Read his latest paper here.
February 17th, 2011 Alan Taylor
Alan Taylor was a special guest of Professor Guillermo Calvo's Macroeconomics class. He enlightened students by relating what he does to what they are learning.
February 17th, 2011 Alumni Speaker Series: Alejandro Waldman
Alejandro was the Head of Risk Management at Antarctica Asset Management since 2003 until March 2011. Antarctica is a multi billion asset management company specialized in hedge fund investments. He shared his PEPM experience, internship experience, and how to be successful in your endeavors.
February 11th, 2011 Alumni Speaker Series: Paul Scott
Paul Scott who works at the Climate Technology Program at the World Bank came to speak to fellow PEPM Students. He guided them with advice on internships, Washington, D.C., and careers.
January 28th, 2011 Alumni Speaker Series: Mike Lawn
Mike Lawn, who is the Head of Power Services at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, spoke with PEPM Students about the exciting trends in energy use across the globe. He led discussions and really engaged the students with the current energy situation of the world.
January 21st, 2011 Students went on field trips to the Federal Reserve Bank and to the New York Stock Exchange.
December 3rd, 2010 Alumni Speaker Series: Ludwig Marek
Ludwig gave PEPM students insight into the financial services industry, including tips on career search and interview skills. He also explained different fields within the financial industry from investment banking to trade execution, to asset management including product development and strategic marketing in fixed income.
November 19th, 2010 Alumni Speaker Series: Alejandro Arreaza
PEPM Alumnus Alejandro Arreaza spoke to our current PEPM Students about his experience in the program as well as the internship he was able to get while at PEPM. Students were very fascinated to hear about what classes he thought were invaluable and which professors made the biggest impact on him. He also taught the students about Barclay's Capitol where he currently works.
November 10th, 2010 Professor Guillermo Calvo speaks to PEPM
PEPM students were captivated on Wednesday, November 10th by the Director of PEPM, Professor Guillermo Calvo; The topic was Financial Crises Issues and Policies.
 |
 |
November 5th, 2010 Alumni and Guest Speaker Series
The event began with Joanna Nasr of the "Doing Business" Team talking to students about what it is like to work on the Closing a Business indicator.
Then PEPM had a three part speaker Series that consisted of Daniel Paz who gave an overview of the IFC and his own work; Next was Gaston Astesiano who contributed an overview of the IDB, the Energy Sector in the IDB & the Internship Process at the IDB; Then Azul del Villar
spoke on the PREM Network and Public Sector Management Unit; All three speakers than sat in a panel style to answer questions from the audience.
 |
 |
 |
October 20th, 2010 Guest post: capital controls cannot stabilise emerging economies
This post by Guillermo Calvo of Columbia University is the second of three that beyondbrics is publishing on Wednesday on capital controls. Click here to read the full article.
October 7th, 2010 Global Development Debate on How to Manage Capitol Flows
The World Bank has been organizing a series of high-level Development Debates to foster global knowledge exchange on the theme of 'Re-thinking Globalization After the Crisis'. The World Bank and the IMF will hold the next Global Debate on the topic 'How to Manage Capital Flows' in the context of globalization in Washington DC.
Professor Guillermo Calvo partakes in this debate. To watch the full video click here.
May 22, 2010 PEPM Alumni Reunion
On May 22nd the PEPM Class of 2000 came together for their 10-year reunion to the SIPA Alma Mater. Ten Class of 2000 alumni were able to join, coming from as far away as Bosnia, Estonia, China and Mexico for the reunion. Another twelve PEPM alumni joined from other classes to make the reunion a rare opportunity for networking between PEPM cohorts. The keynote event for the day was a panel discussion on Macroeconomic Policy after the Financial Crisis, which featured Columbia’s Francisco Rivera-Batiz, Graciana del Castillo and Ronald Findlay (all instructors when the class of 2000 studied at PEPM. The Panel was chaired by PEPM’s Director, Guillermo Calvo.
 |
 |
April 19-21, 2010 Bank of England Inflation Targeting Workshop & Panel Discussion on Financial Regulation and Monetary Policy
The panel discussion was lead by Guillermo Calvo, Professor of Economics, and International and Public Affairs, and Director of PEPM, (Chair). The panelists were: Gill Hammond, Director, Centre for Central Banking Studies, Bank of England; Andrew Blake, Senior Adviser, Centre for Central Banking Studies, Bank of England; John Coatsworth, Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs; Carlos Capistrán, Research Specialist, Division for Economic Research, Banco de México; Jose Dario Uribe Escobar, Governor, Bank of the Republic of Colombia; Mario I Blejer, Deputy Chairman, Argentine Mortgage Bank and Former Governore, Central Bank of Argentina; Bruce Greenwald, Robert Heilbrunn Professor of Finance and Asset Management at Columbia Business School and Academic Director of the Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing
 |
April 19th, 2010 Capitalism after the Crisis: Myths and Fallacies
The guest speaker for this event was Jagdish Bhagwati, University Professor, Columbia University
April 8th, 2010 Economic Development in the Middle East and North Africa
The guest speaker for this event was Howard Pack, Professor of Economics, The Wharton School
April 1st, 2010 Capital Flows are returning to Asia: Implications for Monetary, Exchange-Rate and Regulatory Policies
Speaker, Hans Genberg, Visiting Advisor, Representative Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bank for International Settlements
March 25th, 2010 The Financial Crisis and Fiscal Policy in Emerging Economies
Speaker, Manuel Agosin, Dean of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Chile
March 5th, 2010 How Did Brazil Recover from the Great Recession, The Role of the Central Bank (Co-sponsored with ILAS)
Speaker, Henrique Mereilles, President of the Central Bank of Brazil
February 18th, 2010 Hoarding and using international reserves in Emerging Markets: Reflections on the deleveraging crisis of 2008-9, and changing Trilemma patterns
Speaker, Joshua Aizenman, Professor of Economics and Ph.D. Program Director, Economics Department, University of California at Santa Cruz
Reserve accumulation and easy money helped to cause the subprime crisis: A conjecture in search of a theory
Guillermo Calvo discusses how emerging markets' apetite for international reserves contributed to the global financial crisis. Read the entire article on Vox.
PEPM Alumni in Washington, D.C. meet with PEPM Director Guillermo Calvo for a lecture on the current financial crisis.
PEPM has a substantial number of alumni in the Washington, D.C. area, many working at the World Bank and IMF, and others in private sector jobs and federal positions in Washington, D.C. Many of the D.C. alumni were able to join Professor Calvo for a presentation on the crisis on September 16th, 2009, hosted at the World Bank. The slides from the presentation may be accessed here.
Should we rush to further regulate financial institutions?
Guillermo Calvo, Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia and Director of PEPM, and Rudy Loo-Kung, PhD student in the Department of Economics of Columbia University, explore the costs and benefits of financial regulation on Vox.
The Aftermath of Financial Crises
On April 5th, 2009 Carmen Reinhart, Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland, presented her second address to the SIPA and Columbia community on the ongoing financial crisis from a historical perspective. Professor Reinhart has written and published on a variety of topics in macroeconomics and international finance and trade including: international capital flows, capital controls, inflation and commodity prices, financial crises (banking and sovereign debt crises, currency crashes), and contagion. Her work with Ken Rogoff on the history of financial crises has been particularly illuminating to the current global crisis.
Guillermo Calvo Participates in World Bank Dialogues on the Global Economic Crisis
The World Bank Institute recently launched a new initiative, its Global Dialogues, which feature discussions between experts and policymakers from around the world on effects of the current economic crisis and responses that practitioners can make to address the crisis. Professor Calvo has participated in two of the Dialogues thus far on macroeconomic and financial sector impacts and responses. The Global Dialogues are available on video and podcast from the World Bank:
World Bank News Story
World Bank Podcast
Global Dialogues Web site
Bank of England Inflation Targeting Workshop & Panel Discussion on Financial Regulation and Monetary Policy
On February 16-18 PEPM held its second annual workshop on inflation targeting with the Centre for Central Banking Studies at the Bank of England. Joined by Dean John Coatsworth and PEPM Director Guillermo Calvo, representatives from the Bank of England conducted a three-day workshop for PEPM students on theoretical and applied skills for inflation targeting.
The workshop closed with a panel discussion open to the public on Financial Regulation and Monetary Policy. Speakers on the panel included:
Alain Ize, Senior Consultant, World Bank, presenting on the paper co-authored with Augusto de la Torre, “Financial Regulatory Reform: Integrating Paradigms,” available for download here.
Charles Calomiris, Henry Kaufman Professor of Financial Institutions in the Faculty of Business & Professor of International & Public Affairs at Columbia University, presenting on his paper, “Financial Innovation, Regulation and Reform,” available for download here.
Gill Hammond, Director, Centre for Central Banking Studies, Bank of England
Andrew Blake, Senior Adviser, Centre for Central Banking Studies, Bank of England
Mario Blejer, Independent Economic Consultant, Professor of Economics at the Universidad de San Andres in Buenos Aires
The Panel was chaired by Guillermo Calvo, Professor of Economics and International Affairs, Columbia University
The panel discussion is free and open to the public:
11:00-12:30, Wednesday, February 18th
Room 1501, (15th floor) International Affairs Building, Columbia University
RSVP to dc2170@columbia.edu
PEPM Hosts Discussion on the Growth Commission Report on November 7th, 2008
On November 7th, 2008 the Program in Economic Policy Management (PEPM) hosted a panel discussion on “The Growth Report: Strategies for Sustained Growth and Inclusive Development.” The discussion featured members of the Commission on Growth and Development: Nobel Laureate and MIT Professor Emeritus Robert Solow, and Vice-President of the World Bank and Commission Vice-Chair Danny Leipziger. Columbia Professors Jagdish Bhagwati and Guillermo Calvo hosted the speakers and provided comments to the presentations. The video from the panel discussion can be viewed here.
(Flash Player) 
For more information on the Commission on Growth and Development, please go to
www.growthcommission.org or the Growth Blog at www.growthcommissionblog.org
The Commission is the result of two years work on the requirements for sustained and inclusive growth in developing countries led by 19 experienced policymakers and two Nobel prize-winning economists. Its work has been supported by the Governments of Australia, Sweden, the Netherlands, and United Kingdom, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the World Bank Group.
According to the Commission, fast sustained growth is not a miracle; it is attainable for developing countries with the "right mix of ingredients." Countries need leaders who are committed to achieving growth and who can take advantage of opportunities from the global economy. They also need to know about the levels of incentives and public investments that are necessary for private investment to take off and ensure the long-term diversification of the economy and its integration in the global economy.
Just as the current credit crunch is affecting advanced economies, the Report also stresses the importance of a strong financial system in developing countries and argues for careful supervision of the banking sector to prevent banks expanding credit too far, and the removal of capital controls only in step with the financial market’s maturity.
Guillermo Calvo Honored in New Publication on International Economics
In September of 2008 MIT Press released a collection of essays in honor of Guillermo Calvo, entitled Money, Crises and Transition, celebrating the significant contributions his work has made to the field of international economics, especially in relation to emerging economies.
The essays include topics closely related to Calvo’s work, ranging from financial crises to exchange rate policy and economic growth. Authors include Fabrizio Coricelli, Padma Desai, Stanley Fischer, Ricardo Hausmann, Enrique G. Mendoza, Frederic S. Mishkin, Maurice Obstfeld, Edmund S. Phelps, Carmen M. Reinhart, Andrés Velasco and many others. More information on the publication can be found on the MIT Press Web site.
PEPM Hosts Alan Taylor on Financial Stability and International Reserves
On September 15th, 2008 PEPM hosted Alan M. Taylor, Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for the Evolution of the Global Economy at the University of California, Davis, for a presentation of his paper, "Financial Stability, the Trilemma, and International Reserves", prepared together with Maurice Obstfeld and Jay C Shambaugh.
The paper reviews the recent rapid growth of international reserves, primarily within emerging markets, and seeks to model the tendency for accumulating reserves through the factors of financial stability and openness. The authors argue that reserve accumulation serves as a key tool for managing financial stability and review policies originating from the work of Keynes and Thornton supporting the role of reserves in maintaining domestic financial stability. The paper, as well as Professor Taylor’s presentation, can be downloaded here.
PEPM Director Guillermo Calvo on Exploding Commodity Prices
On June 20th Guillermo Calvo shared his views on Vox on the recent run-up in commodity prices. According to Calvo, “…we are not going through another self-fulfilling bubble. Today’s explosion of commodity prices is the result of a very real global financial storm associated with large excess liquidity in several non-G7 countries and nourished by the low interest rates set by G7 central banks. This price explosion could be a leading indicator of future inflation driven by fundamentals.” Read the entire article here.
Columbia Economists Host 15th World Congress of the International Economic Association in Istanbul
From June 25th to 29th, Guillermo Calvo, Professor at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), and President of the International Economic Association, hosted the 15th World Congress of the IEA jointly with the Turkish Economic Association (TEA), in Istanbul, Turkey. Columbia Professors Ronald Findlay, Arvind Panagariya and Joseph Stiglitz also participated in the Congress as keynote speakers, joining more than 300 economists from around the world for this week-long discussion of critical issues in international economics. The central theme of the Congress was the Challenge of Globalization and presentation topics included themes in macroeconomic policy, international finance, migration, political economy and global imbalances.
The conference program and other materials can be found on the program Web site: www.iea-tek2008istanbul.org/MainThemes.aspx
PEPM Director Guillermo Calvo Welcomes Chilean Finance Minister Andres Velasco to Columbia’s SIPA
On May 9th, 2008 Guillermo Calvo, Director of the Program in Economic Policy Management at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, welcomed Columbia alumnus and current Chilean Finance Minister Andres Velasco to SIPA. Velasco, along with a party of congressmen and members of the Finance Cabinet, participated in a discussion of macroeconomic policy in Latin America in the context of the current global financial crisis. Professor Calvo offered the delegation his perspectives on the current crisis and future prospects for Latin America. He launched the discussion with an overview of the economic developments in Latin America during the boom years after 2002, and then proceeded to assess the present crisis, comparing it to the 1998 Russian crisis period. The discussion ended by focusing on the major risks ahead. Calvo pointed out to the delegation that serious inflationary risks may call for sharp increases in Central Bank interest rates in the foreseeable future. He drew parallels with the 1980 Debt Crisis that followed the sharp rise in interest rates engineered by Paul Volcker at the beginning of the 1980s.
Minister Velasco is currently on leave from the Kennedy School of Government, where he is Sumitomo-FASID Professor of International Finance and Development. Prior to his appointment at Harvard, Mr. Velasco spent 10 years at New York University, where he directed the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Mr. Velasco’s research includes international economics, economic development and political economy, and more recently has focused on emerging markets and financial crises. Mr. Velasco received his PhD in Economics from Columbia in 1989. Other members of the delegation included Congressmen Raúl Sunico, Rodrigo Álvarez, Eugenio Tuma, Roberto Delmastro, José Miguel Ortiz, and Alberto Robles, and members of the Ministry of Finance Juan Luís Monsalve, Luís Felipe Céspedes and Eric Parrado.
Managing Financial Globalization: The Indian Approach
On April 30th Professor Guillermo Calvo was invited to chair the presentation by Dr. Rakesh Mohan, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. The event was co-sponsored by SIPA, the Columbia Institute for Business and Economic Research (CIBER) and the South Asian Institute.
Emerging Markets and the Subprime Crisis
On April 24th PEPM hosted the second in a series of panels focused on the U.S. Subprime Crisis, which has led to a global financial crisis. The first panel in February of 2008, From Subprime to Primetime (see below) reviewed the status of the crisis in the U.S. and gave prognoses for potential continued fallout and possible recession. The current panel brought together leading experts on emerging markets in Eastern Europe, Latin America and South Asia to discuss the potential impact of the U.S. crisis on emerging markets. The panelists included Fabrizio Coricelli, Director of Policy Studies, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Arvind Panagariya, Professor of Economics and Bhagwati Professor of Indian Political Economy and Ernesto Talvi, Director of CERES, Montevideo, Uruguay and former Chief Economist, Central Bank of Uruguay. Guillermo Calvo, Director of PEPM chaired the panel discussion. A full video of the discussion, including slide presentations can be downloaded here: (Flash Player) 
Inflation Targeting in Financial Turmoil
As part of a series of lectures on inflation targeting throughout the spring of 2008, PEPM hosted Jose de Gregorio, governor of the Central Bank of Chile, on April 17th for a presentation on inflation targeting in Chile. Chile has been widely revered as one of the best examples of effective use of inflation targeting over the past several years. With this public lecture, Mr. de Gregorio enlightened Columbia students and professors on the techniques used to control inflation in Chile, and how the current global credit crisis has influenced Chile’s approach. Mr. de Gregorio joined us from a similar presentation to members of the New York Federal Reserve Board earlier on the same day. His presentation may be viewed online here.
This Time is Different: A Panoramic View of Eight Centuries of Financial Crises
On March 27th PEPM welcomed Carmen Reinhart, Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland for a public lecture on Eight Centuries of Financial Turmoil. Professor Reinhart spoke on her recent joint work with Ken Rogoff on issues involving crises in the last eight centuries, and the role of domestic debt. Her presentation, combining painstaking research into past crises, argues that despite the commonly occurring refrain that the current crisis is unique in some way, there is really nothing terribly new about the U.S. subprime crisis. Professor Reinhart’s presentation may be viewed online here.
Nobel Prize Winning Economist Robert Mundell Speaks to PEPM Students on a brief history of Monetary Policy
On April 11th Columbia University Professor and Nobel Laureate Robert Mundell made a special presentation to PEPM students on Monetary Policy in the Twentieth Century. The presentation covered the beginnings of monetarism in early history, through the gold standard, the Bretton Woods system to the current monetary order. PEPM students were delighted to have the chance to learn from and present questions to Dr. Mundell.
Jose Antonio Ocampo and Stephanie Griffith-Jones speak to PEPM Students on Sovereign Wealth Funds
On April 1st SIPA Professors Jose Antonio Ocampo and Stephanie Griffith-Jones spoke to PEPM students on the growing influence of sovereign wealth funds in international finance. Their presentation focused on the increased role of sovereign wealth funds in developing nations to invest in developed nations, discussing the positive effects of such investments and potential negative consequences. The presentation can be viewed online here.
George Kopits of the Central Bank of Hungary Presents to PEPM Students on Monetary Policy Challenges in the EU
On March 25th, 2008, George Kopits, member of the Hungarian Central Bank spoke with PEPM students on monetary policy in the EU. His lecture focused on challenges to inflation targeting in the new member states, prospects for adoption of the Euro in new member states and debt levels and financial stability among EU member states. His presentation can be viewed online here.
From Subprime to Primetime – A Debate on the Current Financial Crisis
On February 28th PEPM hosted the first in a series of talks on the U.S. Subprime crisis and its effect on the U.S. economy, global credit markets and potential influences on emerging markets. The panel on February 28th included Vincent Reinhart, Resident Fellow of the American Enterprise Institute, Charles Calomiris, Columbia University Economics Professor and Fellow of the American Enterprise Institute and Richard Clarida, Professor of Economics at Columbia University. Guillermo Calvo, Director of PEPM chaired the panel. The full video of the panel discussion can be downloaded here: (Flash Player)
Bank of England Inflation Targeting Workshop
In February of 2008 PEPM held the first in what it plans as a series of workshops on inflation targeting with the Bank of England. Joined by Dean John Coatsworth and PEPM Director Guillermo Calvo, representatives from the Bank of England Ms. Gill Hammond, Dr. Mario Blejer and Dr. Peter Westaway conducted a three-day workshop from February 4th through 6th focusing on inflation targeting, both theoretical and applied issues, with special attention paid to cases concerning Israel, the United Kingdom and Mexico. The agenda from the workshop can be downloaded here.