19th Annual Hyman P. Minsky Conference: After the Crisis—Planning a New Financial Structure

A conference organized by the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College with support from the Ford foundation

Ford Foundation
New York City

April 14–16, 2010

From his extensive research, Hyman Minsky was convinced that economic systems are prone to financial instability and crisis, and urged that lessons be learned from the crisis of 1929–1933 so that “it”—the Great Depression—could not happen again. This year’s conference drew upon many Minskyan themes, including reconstituting the financial structure; the reregulation and supervision of financial institutions; the relevance of the Glass-Steagall Act; the roles of the Federal Reserve, FDIC, and the Treasury; the moral hazard of the “too big to fail” doctrine; debt deflation; and the economics of the “big bank” and “big government.” Speakers compared the European and Latin American responses to the global financial crisis and proposals for reforming the international financial architecture. Moreover, central bank exit strategies, both national and international, were considered.

The full conference proceedings, including transcripts of the audio files as well as participants’ bios, are available here.

The Levy Economics Institute gathered top policymakers, economists, and analysts at the 19th Annual Hyman P. Minsky Conference on the State of the US and World Economies to discuss efforts to reconstitute and reregulate the US and international financial system in the wake of the global financial crisis.

 

Program

(as of April 15, 2010)

Wednesday, April 14

8:00−9:00 a.m.	Breakfast and Registration
9:00−9:30 a.m.	Welcome and Introduction Leonardo Burlamaqui, Program Officer, Ford Foundation Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, President, Levy Economics Institute
9:30−10:30 a.m.	SPEAKER: Sandra Pianalto, President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland “Regulatory Reform: Lessons from the Front Line” (Transcript in PDF)
10:30−11:30 a.m.	SPEAKER: Jan Kregel, Senior Scholar, Levy Economics Institute, and Professor, Tallinn Technical University “Minsky Moments and Minsky’s Proposals for Regulation of an Unstable Financial System” (Draft manuscript in PDF) (PowerPoint Presentation in PDF)
11:45 a.m. − 1:00 p.m.	Session 1. What to Do with the “Too Big to Fail” Doctrine: US and Europe MODERATOR: John Cassidy, Staff Writer, The New Yorker SPEAKERS: Philipp Hartmann, Head, Financial Research Division, DG Research, European Central Bank “Macro-prudential Supervision and How to Control the Risks of Systemic Financial Intermediaries” (PowerPoint Presentation in PDF) Bert Ely, Principal, Ely & Company, Inc. “What to Do with the ‘Too Big to Fail’ Doctrine: US and Europe” (PowerPoint Presentation in PDF) Bernard Shull, Professor Emeritus, Hunter College, and Special Consultant, NERA Economic Consulting “Bank Merger Policy in a Too-Big-to-Fail Environment” (Draft manuscript in PDF) (PowerPoint Presentation in PDF)
1:00−2:45 p.m.	Lunch SPEAKER: Richard W. Fisher, President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas “Minsky Moments and Financial Regulatory Reform” (Transcript in PDF)
3:00−4:00 p.m.	SPEAKER: Eugene A. Ludwig, Founder and CEO, Promontory Financial Group, LLC, and former Comptroller of the Currency “Are We Addressing the Root Causes of the Problem?”
4:15−5:30 p.m.	Session 2. Financial Regulation Proposals MODERATOR: Gretchen Morgenson, Assistant Business and Financial Editor, and Columnist, The New York Times SPEAKERS: Michael Greenberger, Professor, School of Law, and Director, Center for Health and Homeland Security, The University of Maryland Martin Mayer, Guest Scholar, The Brookings Institution Elliot Spitzer, 54th Governor of New York and former New York State Attorney General
5: 30 p.m.	Reception and Dinner  SPEAKER: Richard H. Neiman, Superintendent of Banks, State of New York, and Member, TARP Congressional Oversight Panel

Thursday, April 15

8:30−9:00 a.m.	Breakfast
9:00−10:00 a.m.	SPEAKER: Keith S. Ernst, Director of Research, Center for Responsible Lending
10:00−11:00 a.m.	SPEAKER: Paul Krugman, Professor of Economics and International Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University; Centenary Professor, London School of Economics; and Op-Ed Columnist, The New York Times
11:00 a.m. − 12:00 p.m.	SPEAKER: James Bullard, President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis “Containing Risks in the New Global Financial Landscape” (PowerPoint Presentation in PDF)
12:00–1:45 p.m.	Lunch
1:45–3:00 p.m.	Session 3. Fed/FDIC Regulation MODERATOR: Louis Uchitelle, Economics Writer, The New York Times SPEAKERS: Jane D’Arista, Research Associate, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts Amherst “Is the Fed Perpetuating Its Failures?” Richard S. Carnell, Associate Professor of Law, Fordham University, and former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Institutions “Regulators’ Incentives” (PowerPoint Presentation in PDF) Ernest T. Patrikis, Partner, White & Case, LLP, and former First Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
3:00−4:00 p.m.	SPEAKER: Paul A. Volcker Jr., Chairman, Economic Recovery Advisory Board, and former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board
4:15−5:30 p.m.	Session 4. Minsky and the Current Crisis MODERATOR: Jeff Madrick, Editor, Challenge; Senior Fellow, Roosevelt Institute; and Senior Fellow, Bernard Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis, The New School SPEAKERS: Jan Hatzius, Managing Director and Chief US Economist, Goldman Sachs Robert W. Parenteau, Research Associate, Levy Institute, and Sole Proprietor, MacroStrategy Edge “Minsky and the Eurozone Predicament: Transcending the Dismal Science” (PowerPoint Presentation in PDF)
5:30 p.m.	Reception and Dinner SPEAKER: Paul McCulley, Managing Director, PIMCO

Friday, April 16

8:30−9:00 a.m.	Breakfast
9:00−10:15 a.m.	Session 5. Beyond the Exit: Banks and Central Banks  (Session transcript in PDF) MODERATOR: Deborah Solomon, Economic Policy Writer, The Wall Street Journal SPEAKERS: Peter R. Fisher, Vice Chairman and Head of Fixed Income, BlackRock, Inc., and former Under Secretary of the US Treasury for Domestic Finance Kevin M. Warsh, Member, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Richard Sylla, Henry Kaufman Professor, Stern School of Business, New York University “Threats to Central Bank Independence” (PowerPoint Presentation in PDF)
10:15−11:15 a.m.	Session 6. Internal and External Financial Fragility  MODERATOR: L. Randall Wray, Senior Scholar, Levy Institute, and Professor, University of Missouri–Kansas City SPEAKERS: Eric Barthalon, Executive Director, Global Head of Capital Markets, and TAA, Allianz Investment Management, SE “Perceived Returns, Risks of Loss, and Minsky’s Financial Instability Hypothesis” Frank Veneroso, President, Veneroso Associates, LLC “The Serial Bubble Epoch: Is It Over?” (PowerPoint Presentation in PDF) Robert J. Barbera, Executive Vice President and Chief Economist, Investment Technology Group, Inc.
11:30 a.m. − 12:30 p.m.	Session 7. International Financial Fragility MODERATOR: Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, President, Levy Institute SPEAKERS: James K. Galbraith, Senior Scholar, Levy Institute, and Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair, University of Texas at Austin Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira, Professor Emeritus, Getulia Vargas Foundation “Capital Flows and the Changing Balance in the World Economy” (PowerPoint Presentation in PDF) L. Randall Wray, Senior Scholar, Levy Economics Institute, and Professor, University of Missouri–Kansas City “Minsky’s Money Manager Capitalism and the Global Financial Crisis” (PowerPoint Presentation in PDF)
12:30−2:30 p.m.	Lunch SPEAKER: Thomas M. Hoenig, President, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
2:30–3:45 p.m.	Session 8. Policy Responses of Emerging Markets to the Crisis MODERATOR: Jan Kregel, Senior Scholar, Levy Institute, and Professor, Tallinn Technical University SPEAKERS: Nelson H. Barbosa Filho, Secretary of Economic Policy, Federal Government of Brazil “Development and Countercyclical Policies in Brazil” (PowerPoint Presentation in PDF) Fernando J. Cardim de Carvalho, Professor of Economics, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro “International Reserves and Policy Space in Latin America” (PowerPoint Presentation in PDF) Rainer Kattel, Professor of Technology Governance and Innovation Policy, Tallinn Technical University “The Crisis and Policy Responses in Eastern Europe” (PowerPoint Presentation in PDF)
3:45–4:45 p.m.	Reception

 

Participants

Robert J. Barbera
Executive Vice President and Chief Economist, Investment Technology Group, Inc.

Nelson H. Barbosa Filho
Secretary of Economic Policy, Federal Government of Brazil

Eric Barthalon
Executive Director and Global Head of Capital Markets and TAA, Allianz Investment Management, SE

Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira
Professor Emeritus, Getulio Vargas Foundation

James Bullard
President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Fernando J. Cardim de Carvalho
Professor of Economics, Institute of Economics, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Richard S. Carnell
Associate Professor of Law, Fordham University, and former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Institutions

John Cassidy
Staff Writer, The New Yorker

Jane D’Arista
Research Associate, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Bert Ely
Principal, Ely & Company, Inc.

Keith S. Ernst
Director of Research, Center for Responsible Lending

Peter R. Fisher
Vice Chairman and Head of Fixed Income, BlackRock, Inc., and former Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance

Richard W. Fisher
President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

James K. Galbraith
Senior Scholar, Levy Economics Institute, and Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government and Business Relations, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin

Michael Greenberger
Professor, School of Law, and Director, Center for Health and Homeland Security, The University of Maryland

Philipp Hartmann
Head, Financial Research Division, DG Research, European Central Bank

Jan Hatzius
Managing Director and Chief US Economist, Goldman Sachs

Thomas M. Hoenig
President, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

Rainer Kattel
Professor of Technology Governance and Innovation Policy, Tallinn Technical University

Jan Kregel
Senior Scholar and Director of the Monetary Policy and Financial Structure program, Levy Economics Institute, and Professor, Tallinn Technical University

Paul Krugman
Professor of Economics and International Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University; Centenary Professor, London School of Economics; and Op-Ed Columnist, The New York Times

Eugene A. Ludwig
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Promontory Financial Group, LLC, and former Comptroller of the Currency

Jeff Madrick
Editor, Challenge; Senior Fellow, Roosevelt Institute; and Senior Fellow, Bernard Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis, The New School

Martin Mayer
Guest Scholar, The Brookings Institution

Paul McCulley
Managing Director, PIMCO

Gretchen Morgenson
Assistant Business and Financial Editor, and Columnist, The New York Times

Richard H. Neiman
Superintendent of Banks, State of New York, and Member, TARP Congressional
Oversight Panel

Dimitri B. Papadimitriou
President, Levy Economics Institute

Robert W. Parenteau
Research Associate, Levy Economics Institute, and Sole Proprietor, MacroStrategy Edge

Ernest T. Patrikis
Partner, White & Case, LLP, and former First Vice President, Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Sandra Pianalto
President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

Bernard Shull
Professor Emeritus, Hunter College, and Special Consultant, NERA Economic Consulting

Deborah Solomon
Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Eliot Spitzer
54th Governor of New York and former New York State Attorney General

Richard Sylla
Henry Kaufman Professor of the History of Financial Institutions and Markets, and Professor of Economics, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University

Louis Uchitelle
Economics Writer, The New York Times

Frank Veneroso
President, Veneroso Associates, LLC

Paul A. Volcker Jr.
Chairman, Economic Recovery Advisory Board, and former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board

Kevin M. Warsh
Member, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

L. Randall Wray
Senior Scholar, Levy Economics Institute, and Professor, University of Missouri–Kansas City