rethinking monetary policy: rule-based...
TRANSCRIPT
RETHINKING MONETARY POLICY: RULE-BASED APPROACHES
November 19th, 2016 § Washington, D.C.
WELCOME to the Policy Research Seminar titled Rethinking Monetary Policy: Rule-Based Approaches, co-sponsored by the Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) and the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. You have been invited to this event because we hold your work in high esteem for both its scholarly contributions and for its practical applications to our understanding of a free society. As such, we encourage you to join in what promises to be an active and lively conversation, and to draw from your own research and experiences in doing so. I invite you to explore future research opportunities on policy areas of interest to your own work and to consider developing your work in new directions.
One of our primary goals for the weekend is to help facilitate scholarly collaboration among the approximately 30 faculty, graduate students, policy experts, and IHS and Mercatus staff in attendance. I hope you see this as a valuable opportunity to get to know like-minded scholars with similar research interests. We are hosting several world-class speakers who can share their experience and advice on how to flourish, as they have, in the trenches of academia, and an often-hostile policy world. We have found that some of the best conversations from our seminars occur spontaneously in the hallways and around the dinner tables, so please stick around for all meals and receptions.
Thank you again for joining us at this gathering. We look forward to meeting each of you individually over the course of the seminar. We hope you benefit as much from this seminar as we benefit from having you in attendance. We are looking forward to a great and edifying weekend. Please don’t hesitate to let us know if we can do anything to improve your experience.
Best,
Ashley Donohue Institute for Humane Studies [email protected]
Opportunities like this to gather with like-minded, intelligent people are invaluable. It is always a positive
experience to feel ideologically and philosophically at home at such events.
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PROGRAM SCHEDULE
5:30-6:00 | Registration Holmes Foyer
6:00- 6:15 | Welcome and Seminar Introduction Douglas
6:15- 7:30 | Mercatus Remarks Location
7:30-8:15 | Dinner Holmes
8:15-9:15 | Keynote: Macro Musings Podcast Holmes
9:15-11:00 | Reception Douglas
®Adam Thierer, Senior Research Fellow for the Technology Policy Program at the Mercatus Center
® Allan Meltzer, Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Professor of PoliticalEconomy at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University® Interviewed by: David Beckworth, Senior Research Fellow with the Program on Monetary Policy
® Ashley Donohue, Faculty Programs Manager at the Institute for Humane Studies
® Ben Klutsey, Program Manager for the Program on Monetary Policy® Scott Sumner, Ralph G. Hawtrey Chair of Monetary Policy® David Beckworth, Senior Research Fellow with the Program on Monetary Policy
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19TH
ABOUT
Founded in 1961 by Dr. F.A. “Baldy” Harper, the Institute for Humane Studies is a non-profit edu-cational organization that engages with students and professors around the country to encour-
age the study and advancement of freedom. We support this audience in advancing the principles and practice of freedom in their careers, and connect them to a community of individuals commit-ted to the power of freedom and of ideas. Specifically, we facilitate the impact of professors both on and beyond their campuses – partnering with faculty to run campus programs and connecting scholars to opportunities to further their careers both in and out of the academy.§
Learn more, sign up for programs, and check out our many opportunities for faculty and students at www.theIHS.org.
JUSTIN DAVIS Faculty Programs Coordinator
ASHLEY DONOHUE Faculty Programs Manager
RYAN ZINSKIEvents Management Manager
IHS STAFF IN ATTENDANCE
The Mercatus Center at George Mason University is the world’s premier university source for market-orient-
ed ideas. A university-based research center, the Mercatus Center advances knowledge about how markets
work to improve people’s lives by training graduate students, conducting research, and applying economics
to offer solutions to society’s most pressing problems. Our mission is to generate knowledge and understand-
ing of the institutions that affect the freedom to prosper, and to find sustainable solutions that overcome the
barriers preventing individuals from living free, prosperous, and peaceful lives. Mercatus researchers conduct
research, work with graduate students to apply ideas to problems in the world, and make research findings
available to the media and to policymakers to connect academic learning with real-world practice.
For over 30 years, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University has recruited, trained, and supported
graduate students who have gone on to pursue careers in academia, government, and public policy as well as
support scholars pursuing research on the cutting edge of academia. Programs for Graduate Students include
the Adam Smith Fellowship, a co-sponsored program of the Mercatus Center and Liberty Fund, Inc, which is
awarded to graduate students attending PhD programs in a variety of fields including economics, philosophy,
political science, and sociology, and the Frédéric Bastiat Fellowship, which is awarded to graduate students at-
tending master’s, juris doctoral, and doctoral programs in a variety of fields including economics, law, political
science, and public policy. §
To inquire about working with Mercatus to use your academic scholarship to effect policy or to apply for a student program please email Rob Raffety at [email protected].
SPEAKERS
DAVID BECKWORTHDavid Beckworth is a Senior Research Fellow with the Program on Monetary Policy at
the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and a former international economist
at the US Department of the Treasury. He is the author of Boom and Bust Banking: The
Causes and Cures of the Great Recession and host the podcast show ‘Macro Musings’. His
research focuses on monetary policy, and his work has been cited by the Wall Street
Journal, the Financial Times, the New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, and the Economist. He has advised
congressional staffers on monetary policy and has written for Barron’s, Investor’s Business Daily, the New
Republic, the Atlantic, and National Review.
BEN KLUTSEYBen Klutsey is the Program Manager for the Financial Markets Working Group at the
Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He returns to the Financial Markets
Working Group, where he previously worked as a research fellow. Prior to his return, he
worked with the Institute of International Finance, where he focused on financial regula-
tions, particularly related to liquidity risk management and risk governance.
He received his MA in International Commerce and Policy from George Mason University and his BA in
Government and Philosophy from Lawrence University.
ALLAN MELTZERllan Meltzer is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Allan H.
Meltzer University Professor of Political Economy at the Tepper School of Business at Carn-
egie Mellon University. He has been a visiting professor at Harvard, the University of Chica-
go, the University of Rochester, the Yugoslav Institute for Economic Research, the Austrian
Institute for Advanced Study, the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro, and the City University, London.
He has served as a consultant for several congressional committees, the President’s Council of Economic Advis-
ers, the US Treasury Department, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the World Bank, foreign
governments, and central banks. He has been a member of the President’s Economic Policy Advisory Board.
In 1988–89, he was an acting member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. From 1986 to 2002, he
was an honorary adviser to the Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies of the Bank of Japan. In 1999–2000,
he served as chairman of the International Financial Institution Advisory Commission, known as the Meltzer
Commission, which proposed major reforms of the International Monetary Fund and the development banks.
Professor Meltzer’s writings have appeared in numerous journals; his most recent publication is Why Capitalism?
(Oxford University Press, 2012). He has authored several other books, including A History of the Federal Reserve
(University of Chicago Press, 2 volumes, 2003 and 2009) and numerous papers on economic theory and policy.
His career includes experience as a self-employed businessman, management adviser, and consultant to banks
and financial institutions.
In 1983, Professor Meltzer received a medal for distinguished professional achievement from the University
of California, Los Angeles. He was named the distinguished fellow for 2011 by the American Council for Capital
Formation and is a distinguished fellow of the American Economic Association. In 2003 he received the Irving
Kristol Award from the American Enterprise Institute and the Adam Smith Award from the National Association
for Business Economics. In 2009, he received the Distinguished Teacher Award from the International Mensa
Foundation. In 2011 Professor Meltzer received the Bradley Award, the Harry Truman Medal for Public Policy,
and the Truman Medal for Economic Policy.
SCOTT SUMNER Scott Sumner is the Ralph G. Hawtrey Chair of Monetary Policy at the Mercatus Center.
He taught economics at Bentley University from 1982 to 2014. His research has been in
the field of monetary economics, particularly the role of the gold standard in the Great
Depression. Sumner published in the Journal of Political Economy, the Journal of Money,
Credit and Banking, and Economic Inquiry. His policy work has focused on the importance
of expectations, particularly using futures markets to guide monetary policy.
Since early 2009, Sumner has been writing posts at TheMoneyIllusion.com and more recently at Econlog. He
earned a BA in economics at the University of Wisconsin and a PhD in economics at the University of Chicago.
IHS and Mercatus events are always a great opportunity to get together with other scholars who possess similar interests. This has led on multiple occasions to research collaboration and future publications.
Attendee, Mercatus Opportunities Seminar at the American Political Science Association’s Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA
STAFF
ASHLEY DONOHUEAshley Donohue is the Faculty Programs Manager at IHS. She oversees the Policy Re-
search Seminar program and other programs that are geared towards liberty advancing
junior and senior faculty. Outside of her work at IHS, she is finishing her doctoral disser-
tation on Anti-federalism and the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, and she previously
taught U.S. History Discussion Section courses at the University of Houston.
JUSTIN DAVISJustin Davis serves as the Faculty Programs Coordinator at IHS, where he hopes to facil-
itate the advancement of classical liberal ideas by connecting the worlds of academia
and policy. He completed his M.A. in Economics at George Mason University in 2016 and
previously attained his B.S. in Business Administration from The Citadel in Charleston,
South Carolina. His research interests include monetary institutions, entrepreneurship,
and institutional development. Justin also served in the United States Army’s Corps of Engineers for three
years as the squad leader of a bridge erection team. His army tenure stationed him in Fort Knox, Kentucky
and included a deployment to Afghanistan with the 502nd Engineer Company, where he was a part of the
first multi-role bridge company in the country.
RYAN ZINSKIRyan Zinski joined the Institute for Humane Studies in June, 2011, as a Conference
Management Assistant. Prior to this development, he had been interning at IHS with
the Conference Management team throughout the spring. Before joining IHS, Ryan
interned for his Congressman in the 24th Congressional District of New York State, and
then worked as a Grant Writer for a non-profit organization. Despite working with an
amazing and passionate staff in the Congressional Office, he learned first-hand how difficult it is for federal
agencies to address the needs of the public. Fortunately, Ryan was able to contribute to the community
further as a Grant Writer, and helped secure private funding for programs that help people with disabilities
secure and retain meaningful employment. Ryan earned his BA from Colgate University in 2009 with concen-
trations in history and biology. His core academic interests include history, politics, political philosophy, and
economics. Ryan also enjoys cooking, tinkering with electronics, exercising, being outdoors, and empower-
ing people to live fulfilling and rich lives.
CONTACT INFORMATION
David Beckworth
Research Fellow
Mercatus Center at George Mason University
Ben Klutsey
Manager, Program on Monetary Policy
Mercatus Center at George Mason University
Ashley Donohue
Faculty Programs Manager
Institute for Humane Studies
Justin Davis
Faculty Programs Coordinator
Institute for Humane Studies
Amanda Brand
Academic Placement Officer
Institute for Humane Studies
Thomas Creegan
Mentoring and Placement Coordinator
Institute for Humane Studies
Dr. Phil Magness
Academic Program Director
Institute for Humane Studies
Allan Meltzer
Professor of Political Economy
Carnegie Mellon University
Scott Sumner
Ralph G. Hawtrey Chair of Monetary Policy Mercatus Center
at George Mason University
Ryan Zinski
Events Management Manager
Institute for Humane Studies
IHS staff attending the Southern Economic Associaton’s annual meeting
MAP
The Willard Floorplan
NOTES
Please visit theihs.org for more information on future IHS policy research seminars, and look for us at the upcoming annual meetings of the Association of
Private Enterprise and Education (APEE) and the Public Choice Society.
JOIN US AT AN UPCOMING POLICY RESEARCH SEMINAR
Regulators’ and Researchers’ Views on Financial Regulationsat the American Economic Association’s annual meeting
January 4th-5th in Chicago, IL