The 1st International Macroeconomics and Finance Conference

March 17-18th, 2016

HKIMR and HKUST

Day 1: March 17, 2016 (Thursday)

Venue: Harbour Room, 56th Floor, Two International Finance Centre, Central 

8:30 - 8:50am  Registration and Welcome Coffee

8:50 - 9:00am    Opening Remarks (Cho-hoi Hui, Hong Kong Monetary Authority)

Morning Session

Chair: Matthew Yiu (Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research)

9:00 - 10:15am  Keynote Speech: “Global Imbalances and Currency Wars at the ZLB”

Pierre-Olivier Gourinches (University of California-Berkeley) 

Discussant: Tomoyuki Nakajima (Kyoto University)

10:15 -10:45am Coffee Break

10:45 - 11:45am “Cross-Country Exposures to the Swiss Franc”

Agustin Benetrix (Trinity College Dublin)

11:45 - 12:45pm “The Shocks Matter: Improving our Estimates of Exchange Rate Pass-Through”

Ida Hjortsoe (Bank of England)

12:45 - 2:00pm  In-house Lunch (By  invitation)

Afternoon Session

Chair: David Cook (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)

2:00 - 3:15pm        “A New Dilemma: Capital Controls and Monetary Policy in Sudden Stop Economies”

Michael B. Devereux (University of British Columbia) 

3:15 - 3:45pm       Coffee Break

3:45 - 4:45pm    “Sustainable International Monetary Policy Cooperation”

Timothy Kam (Australian National University)

4:45 - 5:45pm    “The First Arrow Hitting the Currency Target: A Long-Run Risk Perspective”

Takashi Kano (Hitotsubashi University)

6:00 - 9:00pm    Dinner (By invitation)

Day 2: March 18, 2016 (Friday)

Venue: Room G001, G/F, Lee Shau Kee Business Building, HKUST 

8:15am Coach to University

8:45 - 9:15am    Breakfast at Conference Venue

Morning Session

Chair: Ippei Fujiwara (Keio University)

9:15 - 10:30am  Keynote Speech: “Optimal Fiscal Policy with Endogenous Product Variety”

Fabio Ghironi (University of Washington)

Discussant: Jenny Xu, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology 

10:30 -11:00am    Coffee Break

11:00 - 12:00am “Capital Controls and Monetary Policy Autonomy in a Small Open Economy”

Scott Davis (Federal Reserve Bank at Dallas) 

12:00 - 2:00pm Lunch (by special invitation).

Afternoon Session

Chair: Michael B. Devereux (University of British Columbia)

2:00 - 3:00pm    “Monetary and Financial Policies in Emerging Markets”

Gianluca Benigno (London School of Economics) 

  3:00 - 3:15pm Coffee Break

3:15 - 4:15pm    “Currency War at the Zero Lower Bound”

Ruy Lama (International Monetary Fund)

4:15 - 5:15pm    “Fiscal Policy in a Currency Union at the Zero Lower Bound”

David Cook (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)

5:30pm              Departure for Dinner (by special invitation).