"What’s my dollar worth?" It’s a question that Americans have been asking frequently ever since the global economy began to reopen in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, sending inflation soaring to levels not seen in decades. On March 29-30, 2023, political and economic experts with experience at the Federal Reserve, the Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Congress, as well as from the media and academia, will gather at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, to consider the causes, consequences and cures of inflation at a conference that is open to the public and sponsored by the Center for the Study of American Democracy (CSAD).

Conference Schedule

Wednesday, March 29

Join us for the conference's keynote address by Adam Tooze from Columbia University at 7:30 p.m. in Oden Auditorium. Tooze will discuss "Inflation, Politics and Policy: How Do We Learn from History?" 

Thursday, March 30

Join us for three panel discussions and a Common Hour talk.

The Reality of Contemporary Inflation

9 - 10:45 a.m. in the Gund Gallery's Community Foundation Theater; moderated by Bruce L. Gensemer Professor of Economics William Melick and featuring the following panelists:

  • Steven B. Kamin, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI)
  • Rakeen Mabud, chief economist and managing director of policy and research at the Groundwork Collaborative
  • Matt Winkler ‘77, co-founder and editor-in-chief emeritus of Bloomberg News

College Cost in Inflationary Times

11:10 a.m. in Oden Auditorium; by David H. Feldman '78, professor of economics at the College of William & Mary.

Addressing Inflation: Historical Experiences and Lessons for Today

1:30 - 3:15 p.m. in the Community Foundation Theater; moderated by Nancy Powers, associate director of the Center for the Study of American Democracy, and featuring the following panelists:

  • Carol Wise, professor of political science and international relations at the University of Southern California
  • Carola Binder, associate professor of economics at Haverford College
  • John Roberts, retired Federal Reserve official

Politics and Policy in the 2020s

3:30 - 5:15 p.m. in the Community Foundation Theater; moderated by Joseph Klesner, director of the Center for the Study of American Democracy, and featuring the following panelists:

  • David Beckworth, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University
  • Thomas Hogan, senior fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research

Adam Tooze (keynote speaker), author of "Shutdown: How COVID Shook the World's Economy" and the award-winning "Crashed: How A Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World." Tooze is the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of History and the director of the European Institute at Columbia University. He writes the blog and newsletter Chartbook and contributes short articles and reviews to a wide variety of magazines and newspapers. His earlier books explored the economic history of Nazi Germany and the impact of the First World War on global order.

David Beckworth is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and a former international economist at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The author of "Boom and Bust Banking: The Causes and Cures of the Great Recession," Beckworth also hosts the weekly Macro Musings podcast.

Carola Conces Binder is an associate professor of economics at Haverford College. The author of a forthcoming book on the history of inflation and responses to it in the United States ("Purchasing Power: Prices and Inflation in American Democracy"), her research has focused on expectations, perceptions, inflation, monetary policy and central bank communication.  

David H. Feldman '78 is a professor of economics at the College of William & Mary. He teaches about the economics of higher education and the policy issues facing America’s colleges and universities. His current research examines college cost, the demand for higher education and the role of federal and state policy toward higher education.

Thomas Hogan is a senior fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research, a Massachusetts-based research and educational organization focused on the importance of markets. Formerly the chief economist for the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs, his primary research interests include banking regulation and monetary policy.  

Steven B. Kamin is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Before joining AEI, he was the director of the Division of International Finance at the Federal Reserve Board, where he guided the direction of international economic research and the formulation of the staff’s global economic forecast, which he presented to the Federal Open Market Committee. 

Rakeen Mabud is the chief economist and managing director of policy and research at the Groundwork Collaborative, a Washington-based economic policy think tank. Mabud frequently testifies before Congress to help lawmakers understand how workers and small businesses are experiencing disruptions like inflation and the pandemic.

John Roberts was a deputy associate director in the Federal Reserve’s Division of Research and Statistics overseeing the Board’s domestic macroeconomic modeling efforts, where he supervised the production of alternative scenarios and model-based monetary policy analysis that were presented to the Federal Open Market Committee. The author of several published papers on macroeconomics and monetary policy, he now publishes the blog John Roberts Macroeconomics.

Matthew Winkler '77, H'00, P'13 is co-founder and former editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, which under his leadership won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting. Winkler is a Bloomberg columnist on markets, a recipient of numerous awards including the 2007 National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences “Emmy” Lifetime Achievement for business and financial reporting and is co-author of "Bloomberg by Bloomberg" and author of "The Bloomberg Way: A Guide for Reporters and Editors."

Carol Wise is professor of political science and international relations at the University of Southern California. A specialist on international political economy and development, with an emphasis on Latin America, she has written widely on trade integration, exchange rate crises, institutional reform, and the political economy of market restructuring in the region. 

What’s My Dollar Worth? Inflation’s Causes, Consequences and Cures

Political and economic experts will gather to discuss inflation's causes, consequences and cures at the Center for the Study of American Democracy's biennial conference.

Contact
Phone Number
740-427-5423
Location
Center for the Study of American Democracy 
O'Connor House 
Kenyon College
Gambier, Ohio 43022
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