Globalization Institute Events
The Federal Reserve’s Role in the Global Economy: A Historical Perspective
September 18–19, 2014 Dallas Fed
This conference commemorated 100 years of the Federal Reserve System with a retrospective look at the role of the System in the global economy, from the gold standard through the Bretton Woods period and the current era of digital monies. The proceedings also examined the recent financial crisis from a global perspective and critically evaluated the Fed’s response to it.
Speakers included leading scholars of the Federal Reserve and leading policymakers, including former Banco de México Governor Guillermo Ortiz. The event featured the inaugural Robert V. Roosa Lecture by former Fed Chairman Paul A. Volcker. The reception and dinner was hosted by Richard W. Fisher.
About Robert V. Roosa
Considered one of the most inventive and respected global monetary thinkers during the 1960s and 70s, Robert Roosa developed the foreign exchange trading operations at the New York Federal Reserve trading desk. As the Department of Treasury undersecretary for monetary affairs during the Kennedy administration, he invented “Operation Twist,” created what became known as “Roosa Bonds” and managed the balance of payments crisis of that time.
Roosa was a mentor to Paul A. Volcker and, in later years, to Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher. Volcker and Fisher are members of the fraternity known as “The Roosa Boys,” men and women trained by Robert Roosa from the late 1940s until his death in 1993 who tend to view monetary policy from a practicable standpoint while respecting the views of theoretical economists.
Conference Organizers
- Mark Wynne, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
- Michael Bordo, Rutgers University
Agenda
| Thursday, Sept. 18 | |
| 9:15 a.m. | Welcome and Opening Remarks |
| Richard Fisher, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas | |
| Session I: Beginnings: The Gold Standard, Global Conflict and the Great Depression | |
| Chair: Michael Bordo, Rutgers University |
|
| 9:30 a.m. | Doctrinal Determinants, Domestic and International, of Federal Reserve Policy 1914–1933 | Paper |
|
Barry Eichengreen, University of California, Berkeley |
|
| Discussant: Harold James, Princeton University | |
| 11 a.m. | Navigating Constraints: The Evolution of Federal Reserve Monetary Policy, 1935–1959 | Paper |
|
Mark Carlson, Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and David Wheelock, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis |
|
| Discussant: Gary Richardson, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
Discussant of Navigating Constraints: The Evolution of Federal Reserve Monetary Policy, 1935–1959 |
|
| Session II: Coming of Age: From Bretton Woods to the Great Inflation to the Great Moderation | |
| Chair: Mark Wynne, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas | |
| 1:30 p.m. | Federal Reserve Policy and Bretton Woods | Paper |
|
Michael Bordo, Rutgers University and Owen Humpage, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland |
|
| Discussant: James Boughton, Center for International Governance Innovation |
|
| 3 p.m. | The Federal Reserve Engages the World (1970–2000): An Insider's Narrative of the Transition to Managed Floating and Financial Turbulence | Paper |
| Edwin M. Truman, Peterson Institute for International Economics | |
| Discussant: Michael Dooley, University of California, Santa Cruz | |
| 4 p.m. | Policy Panel: Perspectives of the Fed’s Role in International Crises |
| Chair: Richard Fisher, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas | |
| Panelists:
Donald Kohn, Brookings Institution Charles Bean, Bank of England Guillermo Ortiz, Grupo Financiero Banorte Stephen Cecchetti, Brandeis University The Second Dollar-Based Financial System |
|
| 6 p.m. |
Robert V. Roosa Memorial Lecture Paul A. Volcker, The Volcker Alliance |
| 6:45 p.m. | Reception |
| 7:15 p.m. | Dinner |
| Friday, Sept. 19 | |
| Session III: Globalization 2.0: Monetary Policy in a Global Context: Past, Present and Future | |
| Chair: Evan Koenig, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas | |
| 9:30 a.m. | The Federal Reserve in a Globalized World Economy | Paper |
| John Taylor, Stanford University | |
| Discussant: Richard Clarida, Columbia University Discussion of The Federal Reserve in a Globalized World Economy | |
| 11 a.m. | Unprecedented Actions: The Federal Reserve's Response to the Global Financial Crisis in Historical Perspective | Paper |
| Frederic S. Mishkin, Columbia University and Eugene White, Rutgers University | |
| Discussant: Steven Kamin, Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System
Discussion of Unprecedented Actions: The Federal Reserve's Response to the Global Financial Crisis in Historical Perspective |
|
| 1:30 p.m. | Adjourn |
