Williams to Host Conference on the Future of the World Bank and the IMF

Media contact:  Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email:[email protected]

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., August 31, 2012 – Williams College will host a two-day conference September 27 and 28 titled “The Future of the World Bank and the IMF: Redesign For a New (and Old) World.” The September conference seeks to inform the debate about the future of the institutions as they struggle to redefine themselves in a changing world. The panel discussions and keynote address are free and open to the public and will take place on the MainStage at the ’62 Center.

Tickets are required for admission but are free.  Tickets are available through the Box Office of the ’62 Center, (413) 597-2425 or online at http://62center.williams.edu/62center/ticket_boxoffice.cfm .  The Box Office will open for the season on Tuesday, September 11, at 1 p.m.

For ticketing purposes, the conference is divided into three sessions as follows:

Thursday afternoon, September 27

Thursday evening, September 27

Friday morning and afternoon, September 28

The conference will explore the themes that are critical to the future effectiveness of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), notably financial crises and regulation, poverty, and climate change, as well as the changing governance of the institutions themselves. “The Bank has a new President who is seeking to focus that institution on a few important priorities, while the current Euro crisis is bringing attention to the role of the IMF,” explains Gerard Caprio, Chair of the Center of Development Economics and William Brough Professor of Economics at Williams. “The governance of these institutions is in flux; emerging markets have less say over these international financial institutions, while the U.S. and Europe exert control greater than their economic importance today.”

The conference is sponsored by the Center for Development Economics and features many well-known economists, including Nancy Birdsall, president and founder of the Center for Global Development and a visiting professor at Williams this fall.

The full schedule is as follows:

 

Thursday, September 27

4 p.m. What Kind of World Bank in the 21^st Century? 

Nancy Birdsall, President, The Center for Global Development, and Visiting Professor, Williams College

Ishrat Husain, Dean and Director of the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi, formerly Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan

Robert Wade, Professor of Political Economy and Development London School of Economics

Chair: Gerard Caprio, William Brough Professor of Economics, Williams College

8 p.m. Keynote Address: Why Nations Fail

James Robinson, David Florence Professor of Government, Harvard University

Chair: Anand Swamy, Professor of Economics, Williams College

 

Friday, September 28

8:30 a.m. The Global Financial Architecture and Financial Stability: What works?

Atish R. Ghosh, Assistant Director, and Chief, Systemic Issues Division, Research Department, International Monetary Fund

James Hanson, visiting professor, Williams College, formerly World Bank

Garry Schinasi, Independent Adviser, Global Financial Stability, and formerly IMF

Chair: Kenneth Kuttner, Robert F. White Class of 1952 Professor of Economics, Williams College

9:45 a.m. The Role of a Lender of Last Resort

Michael Bordo, Professor of Economics, Rutgers University

Guillermo Ortiz, President Banorte and former Governor, Banco Central de Mexico

Ted Truman, The Peterson Institute for International Economics and former Assistant Secretary of Treasury and former Director, International Finance Division, Federal Reserve Board

Chair: Peter Montiel, Fairleigh S. Dickinson, Jr. ’41 Professor of Economics, Williams College

11:30 a.m. The Role of Research in the Bank and the Fund

Olivier Blanchard, Director of Research and Economic Counselor, IMF

Michael Kremer, Gates Professor of Developing Societies, Harvard University

Luis Serven, Senior Advisor, The World Bank

Chair: Peter Pedroni, Professor of Economics, Williams College

1:45 p.m. Environment and Development?

Ken Chomitz, Senior Advisor, The World Bank

Matt Kotchen, Associate Professor of Environmental Economics and Policy, Yale University

Andrew Steer, President, World Resources Institute, formerly Special Envoy for Climate Change, The World Bank

Chair: Sarah Jacobson, Assistant Professor of Economics, Williams College

3 p.m. The Rise of Emerging Markets and the IFIs

Uri Dadush, The Carnegie Foundation and Arvind Panagariya, Columbia University

Chair: Ashok Rai, Associate Professor of Economics, Williams College

END

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