Program/Sessions

Friday, November 20
13:30 - 14:00	Registration and coffee
14:00 - 14:30	Conference opening
14:30 - 15:15	Keynote address of David Robinson: Global imbalances, their future and related policy challenges?
15:15 - 17:30	Session: The role of countercyclical fiscal policy: historical experience and contemporary challenges Chairman: Thomas Laursen Speakers: Fabrizio Coricelli, Ricardo Fiorito, Istvan Pal Szekely, Wing Thye Woo Commentators: Georgy Ganev, Klaus-Juergen Gern, Jakob von Weizsacker
17:30 - 18:00	Coffee break
18:00 - 18:45	Keynote address of Jacek Rostowski: What should we learn from the global financial crisis?
19:00 - 21:00	Dinner
Saturday, November 21
8:30-11:00	Session: The financial crisis: lessons for monetary policy and financial regulations Chairman: Sergey Drobyshevskiy Speakers: Ansgar Belke, Karel Lannoo, Jean Pisani-Ferry Commentators: Mark Allen, Leszek Balcerowicz
11:00 - 11:30	Coffee break
11:30 - 13:30	Session: Energy security in Europe and other regions Chairman: Wojciech Paczyński Speakers: Ben Slay, Richard Pomfret, Karen Sund Commentators: Emmanuel Bergasse, Leonid Grigoriev, Enno Harks
13:30 - 14:30	Lunch break
14:30 - 17:00	Session: Twenty years after: from transition to crisis Chairman: Alexandr Chubrik Speakers: Anders Aslund, Jeromin Zettelmeyer, Susan Schadler Commentators: Marianne Schulze-Ghattas, Jeffrey Anderson
17:00 - 17:15	Closing remarks

Session: The role of countercyclical fiscal policy: historical experience and contemporary challenges

The financial crisis and global slowdown/ recession revived the popularity of discretionary counter-cyclical fiscal policy going well beyond the role of automatic fiscal stabilizers. The application of a large-scale fiscal stimulus is considered a last resort tool to fight the danger of a deep recession especially in US, but also in Europe. This raises many questions, for example: whether the fiscal multiplier is going to work in the time of disrupted financial intermediation, whether it will stimulate the domestic economy, or through an import channel, the economies of other countries. What implications will accompany expansionary fiscal policies for borrowing conditions of the private sector and of emerging-market economies? Will the policies result in a crowding out effect? Will the emerging-market economies experience discrimination as a result of higher public borrowing needs of developed economies? What are the long term expectations for inter-temporal fiscal constraints? The employment of a large scale stimulus also casts doubt on the microeconomic efficiency of additional spending and the political economy of fiscal fine tuning. All the aforementioned questions will be raised at the first session of the conference.

Session: The financial crisis: lessons for monetary policy and financial regulations

Accommodative monetary policies of the US Federal Reserve Board and other major central banks have been frequently blamed as responsible for building asset bubbles on real estate markets, stock markets and commodity markets. The bursting of the asset bubbles triggered the current crisis. However, pro-cyclical financial regulations, wrong incentives in financial industry and financial supervision, limited mostly to national jurisdictions and unable to follow up various kinds of innovations in financial industry, have been seen as equally responsible. Both causes and sources of responsibility recharge the debate on the mandate of central banks to secure price, macroeconomic and financial stability, and the rationale of their independence. Questions discussed in this session should involve, among others, the role of monetary policy in overcoming financial crisis and global recession; the responsibility of central banks for financial market stability vs. that of other public authorities; perspectives of better global coordination of monetary policies; and the potential role and institutional design of supra-national financial supervision, particularly within the European Union. global coordination of monetary policies; and the potential role and institutional design of supra-national financial supervision, particularly within the European Union.

Session: Energy security in Europe and other regions

In spite of the recent collapse of oil prices, the issue of long-term energy security and macroeconomic dependence on fluctuating energy prices, both in energy-exporting and energy-importing countries, will not disappear from the policy debate. Limited supply response capacity on global markets, and some natural/political monopolies in energy production and energy supply routes, make energy strategy and energy sector reform one of the key policy questions worldwide. The fourth session will concentrate on the EU energy policy with all its potential dimensions: energy-saving programs, the search for alternative source of energy, the search for new suppliers and building new transportation routes, and economic and political cooperation with energy-supplying and energy-transit countries in EU neighborhood, i.e. CIS, South Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

Session: Twenty years after: from transition to crisis

At the end of 1989 the first programs of full-scale market transition were launched in Hungary, Poland and former Yugoslavia, and consequently by other countries. After a period of painful transformation in 1990s followed by almost a decade of prosperity enjoyed by the entire developing world, the region was hit again by the consequences of global financial crisis. Neither the newly acquired EU membership status, nor the large international reserves built up during the last decade, provided sufficient insurance against the consequences of financial market turmoil. Several countries have had to resort to IMF-led international rescue packages. This panel session will not be limited to the celebration of the 20th anniversary of transition and to summing up its accomplishments and failures; more importantly, it will try to discuss anti-crisis policies in European emerging market economies in comparison with other major developing regions like Asia or Latin America.