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The Becker Friedman Institute’s Macro Finance Research Program (MFR) released a unique set of papers on the Fiscal and Monetary History of Latin America during a high-level conference, jointly hosted by the Becker Friedman Institute and the Central Bank of Chile, on August 24, 2018, in Santiago.

The papers used a common conceptual framework and a comparable data set to narrate the economic history of the 11 largest Latin American countries since 1960. The authors are country experts, who participated in numerous meetings over four years to discuss and receive feedback on their findings. These conferences served as laboratories to test alternative theories and strengthen our understanding of economic crises.

The authors of select papers, along with notable economic leaders such as the University of Chicago’s Lars Peter Hansen, CorpGroup’s Alvaro Saieh, University of Chicago Professor Emeritus Arnold Harberger, NYU’s Thomas Sargent, the Minneapolis Federal Reserve’s Juan Pablo Nicolini, and others, discussed the final papers during this groundbreaking event.

Click here to view photos of the conference.

Agenda

Thursday, August 23, 2018
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Reception for Conference Participants
Friday, August 24, 2018
8:45 am - 9:15 am
Remarks TBD
Lars Peter Hansen, The David Rockefeller Distinguished Service Professor in Economics and Statistics, the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics and the Booth School of Business; Director of BFI's Macro Finance Research Program
Álvaro Saieh, Founder of CorpGroup, Vice Chairman of SMU S.A.
Joaquín Vial, Central Bank of Chile
9:15 am - 9:55 am
The Case of Argentina
Juan Pablo Nicolini, Senior Research Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
9:55 am - 10:25 am
Scholar Discussion
Fernando Alvarez, Charles F. Grey Distinguished Service Professor, the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics
Discussant: Guillermo Calvo
10:25 am - 10:40 am
Break
10:40 am - 11:20 am
The Case of Brazil
Márcio Garcia, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro
11:20 am - 12:00 pm
Scholar Discussion
Discussant: Andy Neumeyer
Discussant: José Scheinkman
12:00 pm - 1:15 pm
Lunch Talk (Topic TBD)
Arnold Harberger, University of California, Los Angeles
1:15 pm - 1:55 pm
The Case of Chile
Diego Saravia, Central Bank of Chile
1:55 pm - 2:25 pm
Scholar Discussion
Discussant: Arnold Harberger
Discussant: Andres Velasco
2:25 pm - 2:35 pm
Coffee Break
2:35 pm - 4:05 pm
Comparative Studies

“The Default Crisis of the 1980s” by Tim Kehoe

“On the Consequences of Opening the Capital Account” by Juan Pablo Nicolini

Tim Kehoe, University of Minnesota
Juan Pablo Nicolini, Senior Research Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
4:05 pm - 4:35 pm
Scholar Discussion
Discussant: Sara Calvo
Discussant: Carlos Végh
4:35 pm - 4:45 pm
Short Break
4:45 pm - 6:15 pm
Roundtable
Guillermo Calvo, Columbia University
José A. Scheinkman, Edwin W. Rickert Professor of Economics, Columbia University
Carlos Végh, The World Bank
Andres Velasco, SCL Partners
Fernando Alvarez, Charles F. Grey Distinguished Service Professor, the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics