Trade vs. Technology: What’s to Blame for Expanding Inequality in the U.S.?

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies at Southern Methodist University organized a two-day conference on international trade, technology and income inequality to be held on the SMU campus on Thursday, March 1, 2018, and at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas on Friday, March 2, 2018.

The purpose of the conference was to:

• Better understand the relative importance of international trade and technological change as drivers of the increased inequality in incomes and wealth that has characterized the U.S. economy in recent years.
• Discuss potential policy responses.

Agenda

Thursday, March 1: Mack Ballroom, Umphrey Lee Center, SMU
6:00 p.m.	Reception
6:30 p.m.	Welcome and Dinner James Hollifield Professor of Political Science and Director of the Tower Center, SMU Cullum Clark Lecturer and Director of the SMU Economics Center Keynote speaker: Timothy Smeeding, Lee Rainwater Distinguished Professor of Public Affairs and Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison Presentation
8:00 p.m.	Adjourn
Friday, March 2: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
7:30 a.m.	Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:30 a.m.	Welcoming Remarks Robert S. Kaplan President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
8:35 a.m.	Trade, Technology and Wage Inequality Moderator: Cullum Clark John McLaren, Professor of Economics, University of Virginia Presentation James Lake, Assistant Professor of Economics, SMU Presentation Andrea Waddle, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Richmond Presentation
10:15 a.m.	Break
10:30 a.m.	Policy Panel Moderator: Kathleen Cooper, Senior Fellow, SMU Tower Center Kent Hughes, Public Policy Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars James K. Galbraith, Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government/Business Relations and Professor of Government, University of Texas Presentation Aparna Mathur, Resident Scholar in Economic Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute Presentation
Noon	Luncheon Introduction: Mark Wynne, Vice President and Associate Director of Research, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Keynote speaker: Richard Baldwin, Professor of International Economics, Graduate Institute, Geneva Presentation
1:30 p.m.	Adjourn