The NBER Reporter 2011 Number 4: Conferences

Economic Research on African Development Successes

The final NBER conference on "Economic Research on African Development Successes" took place in Zanzibar, Tanzania on August 3-5, 2011. The conference organizers, all NBER Research Associates, were Sebastian Edwards of the University of California, Los Angeles, Simon Johnson of MIT, and David N. Weil of Brown University.

Seventeen research projects were discussed at the meeting. They are:

    Edward Kutsoati, Tufts University, and Randall Morck, University of Alberta and NBER, "Family Ties, Inheritance Rights, and Successful Poverty Alleviation: Evidence from Ghana"

    Diego A. Comin, Harvard University and NBER, "An Exploration of Luxury Hotels in Tanzania"

    Michael Kremer, Harvard University and NBER; Jean Lee and Olga Rostapshova, Harvard University; and Jonathan Robinson, University of California at Santa Cruz, "The Return to Capital for Small Retailers in Kenya: Evidence from Inventories"

    Ilia Rainer, George Mason University, and Francesco Trebbi, University of British Columbia and NBER, "How is Power Shared in Africa?"

    Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan, University of Houston and NBER, and Bent Sorensen, University of Houston, "Misallocation, Property Rights, and Access to Finance: Evidence from Within and Across Africa"

    Pascaline Dupas, Stanford University and NBER; Sarah Green, Innovations for Poverty Action; Anthony Keats, University of California at Los Angeles; and Jonathan Robinson, University of California at Santa Cruz, "Supply and Demand Challenges in Banking the Rural Poor: Evidence from Kenya"

    Franklin Allen, University of Pennsylvania and NBER; Elena Carletti, European University Institute; Robert Cull, World Bank; Jun Qian, Boston College; Lemma Senbet, University of Maryland; and Patricio Valenzuela, European University Institute, "Improving Access to Banking: Evidence from Kenya"

    Nicholas Wilson, Williams College, "Fertility Responses to Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) Scale-Up in Zambia"

    Damien de Walque, World Bank; William H. Dow, University of California at Berkeley and NBER; Carol Medlin, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; and Rose Nathan, Ifakara Health Institute, "Stimulating Demand for AIDS Prevention: Lessons from the RESPECT Trial"

    Erin Baggott and Michael Hiscox, Harvard University, and Jens Hainmueller, MIT, "Conditional Grants to Improve Public Health: Evaluating the Health Impacts of the Nigerian Conditional Grants Scheme"

    Sebastian Edwards, "Tanzania: A Success Story?"

    Emilie Caldeira, Auvergne University; Martial Foucault, University of Montreal; and Gregoire Rota-Graziosi, International Monetary Fund, "Does Decentralization Increase Access to Poverty-Related Services? Evidence from Benin"

    Sylvain Dessy, Laval University, "The Political Economy of Government Revenues in Post-Conflict Resource-Rich Africa: Liberia and Sierra Leone"

    Richard Akresh, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Damien de Walque, World Bank; and Harounan Kazianga, Oklahoma State University, "Alternative Cash Transfer Delivery Mechanisms: Impacts on Illness and Health Clinic Utilization in Burkina Faso"

    Margaret S. McMillan, Tufts University and NBER; William Masters, Tufts University; and Harounan Kazianga, Oklahoma State University, "Demographic Pressure and Institutional Change: Village-Level Response to Rural Population Growth in Burkina Faso"

    Lorenzo Casaburi, Harvard University, and Michael Kremer and Sendhil Mullainathan, Harvard University and NBER, "Contract Farming and Agricultural Dynamics in Western Kenya"

    Jeremy D. Foltz and Ursula T. Aldana, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Paul Laris, California State University, Long Beach, "The Sahel's Silent Maize Revolution: Analyzing Maize Productivity in Mali at the Farm-level"

Summaries of these papers may be found here.

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Globalization in an Age of Crisis: Multilateral Economic Cooperation in the Twenty-First Century

An NBER Conference on "Globalization in an Age of Crisis: Multilateral Economic Cooperation in the Twenty-First Century" took place at the Bank of England on September 15 and 16, 2011. Co-Organizers Robert C. Feenstra, University of California, Davis and NBER, and Alan M. Taylor, University of Virginia and NBER, chose the following papers for discussion:

    Douglas A. Irwin, Dartmouth College and NBER, and Kevin H. O'Rourke, Trinity College and NBER, "Free Trade and Multilateralism in History"

    Barry Eichengreen, University of California, Berkeley and NBER, "International Policy Coordination: The Long View"

    Kyle Bagwell and Robert W. Staiger, Stanford University and NBER, "Can the Doha Round be a Development Round? Setting a Place at the Table"

    Pravin Krishna, Johns Hopkins University and NBER, "Preferential Trade Agreements and the Multilateral Trade System"

    Lee G. Branstetter, Carnegie Mellon University and NBER, and William A. Pizer, Duke University, "Facing the Climate Change Challenge in a Global Economy"

    Richard E. Baldwin, Graduate Institute, Geneva and NBER, "Trade and Industrialization after Globalization's 2nd Unbundling: How Building and Joining a Supply Chain are Different and Why it Matters"

    Giancarlo Corsetti, University of Cambridge, and Gernot J. Mueller, University of Bonn, "Rethinking Multilateral Policy Cooperation in the Twenty-First Century: What Do We Know about Cross-border Effects of Fiscal Policy?"

    Maurice Obstfeld, University of California, Berkeley and NBER, "The International Monetary System: Living with Asymmetry"

    Charles A. E. Goodhart, London School of Economics, "Global Macroeconomic and Financial Supervision: Where next?"

Summaries of these papers may be found here.

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The Global Financial Crisis

The NBER held a conference on "The Global Financial Crisis" at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on September 22, 2011. This conference, which included policymakers and members of the press, was directed at a broader audience than the June 2011 research meeting on the same topic which was described in the NBER Reporter, 2011 Number 3. NBER Research Associates Charles Engel of the University of Wisconsin, Kristin Forbes of MIT, and Jeffrey Frankel of Harvard's Kennedy School served as organizers of both meetings. The program for the Washington Conference was:

    Charles Engel, "Increased Financial Integration and Capital Flows: Aggravating or Ameliorating Crises?"

      Discussion Leader: David Wessel, Wall Street Journal
      Panelists: Mohammad El Erian, PIMCO; Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, University of California at Berkeley and NBER; Philip Lane, Trinity College Dublin

    Lunch Speaker - Lael Brainard, Under Secretary for International Affairs, U.S. Treasury Department

    "Global Contagion: What was the Role of Banks, Investors and Trade?"

      Session Introduction: Mark Spiegel, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
      Discussion Leader: Sebastian Mallaby, Council on Foreign Relations
      Panelists: Joyce Chang, JP Morgan; Marcel Fratzscher, European Central Bank; Guillermo Ortiz, GO & Asociados

    "Reducing Country Vulnerability: Capital Controls, Reserves, the IMF, or Something New?"

      Session Introduction: Jeffrey A. Frankel
      Discussion Leader: Zanny Minton-Beddoes, The Economist
      Panelists: Erdem Basci, Central Bank of Turkey; Olivier J. Blanchard, IMF, MIT, and NBER; Kathryn M.E. Dominguez, University of Michigan and NBER

A summary of the presentations and discussion at this conference can be found here.

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Universities-Research Conference on Housing and Mortgage Markets in Historical Perspective

The NBER held a Universities Research Conference on in Cambridge on "Housing and Mortgage Markets in Historical Perspective" on September 23 and 24, 2011. NBER Research Associates Price V. Fishback of the University of Arizona, Kenneth A. Snowden of University of North Carolina-Greensboro, and Eugene N. White of Rutgers University organized the conference and chose these papers for discussion:

    Alexander J. Field, Santa Clara University, "The Interwar Housing Cycle in the Light of 2001-2011: A Comparative Historical Approach"

    Daniel K. Fetter, Wellesley College and NBER, "How Do Mortgage Subsidies Affect Home Ownership? Evidence from the Mid-Century GI Bills" (NBER Working Paper No. 17166)

    Carlos Garriga, Mathew Chambers, and Donald Schlagenhauf, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, "Did Housing Policies Cause the Post-War Boom in Homeownership? A General Equilibrium Analysis"

    William Goetzmann, Yale University and NBER, and Rik Frehen and Geert Rouwenhorst, Yale University, "Financial Innovation in Late-Eighteenth Century Netherlands:The Case of American Land Securities"

    Kirsten Wandschneider, Occidental College, "Lending to Lemons: Landschafts-Credit in 18th Century Prussia"

    Jonathan Rose, Federal Reserve Board, "The Prolonged Resolution of Troubled Real Estate Lenders During the 1930s"

    Steven Gjerstad and Vernon Smith, Chapman University, "Prosperity and Recession: U.S. Economic Cycles and Consumption Cycles During the Past Century"

    Michael Brocker, Booz, Allen, Hamilton, and Christopher Hanes, Binghamton University, "Effects of the 1920s American Real Estate Boom on Housing Markets in the Downturn of the Great Depression: Evidence from City Cross Sections"

    Trevor Kollmann, LaTrobe University, "Built with Good Intentions? An Examination of Public Housing Projects on Local Communities"

Summaries of these papers may be found here.

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NBER's 26th Tax Policy and the Economy Conference Held in Washington

The NBER's 26th Conference on Tax Policy and the Economy took place at the National Press Club in Washington on October 6, 2011. NBER Research Associate Jeffrey R. Brown of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign organized this year's meeting. The following papers were discussed:

    Jeffrey B. Liebman, Harvard University and NBER, and Erzo F.P. Luttmer, Dartmouth College and NBER, "The Perception of Social Security Incentives for Labor Supply and Retirement: The Median Voter Knows More Than You'd Think"

    Michael P. Devereux and Simon Loretz, Oxford University, "How would EU Corporate Tax Reform Affect U.S. Investment in Europe?"

    Joseph Bankman and John Cogan, Stanford University; R. Glenn Hubbard, Columbia University and NBER; and Daniel Kessler, Stanford University and NBER, "Reforming the Tax Preference for Employer Health Insurance"

    Francisco J. Gomes, London Business School; Laurence J. Kotlikoff, Boston University and NBER; and Luis M. Viciera, Harvard University and NBER, "The Excess Burden of Government Indecision" (NBER Working Paper No. 12859)

    Leonard E. Burman, Syracuse University and NBER, and Marvin Phaup, George Washington University, "Tax Expenditures, the Size and Efficiency of Government, and Implications for Budget Reform" (NBER Working Paper No. 17268)

Summaries of these papers may be found here.

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Role of the Government in Residential Mortgage Markets

NBER Research Associates Darrell Duffie and Kenneth J. Singleton of Stanford University's Graduate School of Business organized a conference on the "Role of the Government in Residential Mortgage Markets", which was held in New York City on October 26, 2011. These papers were discussed:

    David Scharfstein, Harvard University and NBER, and Adi Sunderam, Harvard University, "The Economics of Housing Finance Reform: Privatizing, Regulating and Backstopping Mortgage Markets"

    Valentin Bolotnyy, Federal Reserve Board of Governors, "The Government-Sponsored Enterprises and the Mortgage Crisis: The Role of the Affordable Housing Goals"

    Dwight Jaffee and John M. Quigley, University of California at Berkeley, "The Future Role of Government Sponsored Enterprises: The Role for Government in the U.S. Mortgage Market"

    Patricia Mosser, Joseph Tracy, Tony Dechario, James Vickery, and Joshua Wright, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, "A Private Lender Cooperative Model for Residential Mortgage Finance"

Summaries of these papers may be found here.

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Housing and the Financial Crisis

An NBER Conference on Housing and the Financial Crisis, organized by Edward L. Glaeser, Harvard University and NBER, and Todd Sinai, University of Pennsylvania and NBER, was held in Cambridge on November 17 and 18, 2011. These papers were discussed:

    Todd M. Sinai, "House Price Moments in Boom-Bust Cycles"

    Andrew Haughwout, Richard Peach, John Sporn, and Joseph Tracy, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, "The Supply Side of the Housing Boom and Bust of the 2000s"

    David Genesove, Hebrew University, and Lu Han, University of Toronto, "A Spatial Look at Housing Bubbles"

    Edward L. Glaeser; Joshua D. Gottlieb, Harvard University; and Joseph Gyourko, University of Pennsylvania and NBER, "Can Cheap Credit Explain the Housing Boom?"

    Christopher Mayer, Columbia University and NBER, "Piggybacking on Crisis: The Role of Second Liens in Financing the Housing Bubble"

    Benjamin Keys, Federal Reserve Board; Tomasz Piskorski, Columbia University; Amit Seru, University of Chicago and NBER; and Vikrant Vig, London School of Business, "Mortgage Financing in the Housing Boom and Bust"

    Dwight Jaffee and John M. Quigley, University of California at Berkeley, "The Future Role of the Government Sponsored Enterprises: The Role for Government in the U.S. Mortgage Market"

    Jack Favilukis, London School of Economics; David Kohn, New York University; and Sydney C. Ludvigson and Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, New York University and NBER, "International Capital Flows and House Prices: Theory and Evidence"

Summaries of these papers may be found here.

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