NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH, INC.

The Great Inflation Conference

Michael Bordo and Athanasios Orphanides, Organizers

September 25-27, 2008

Woodstock Inn & Resort

Fourteen The Green

Woodstock, Vermont

PROGRAM

Thursday, September 25:

6:30 pm Panel Session I: Practical Experiences in Reducing Inflation:

A View from the Trenches

Chairman: Martin Feldstein, Harvard University and NBER

Panelists: John Crow, Former Governor, Bank of Canada Paper

Don Brash, Former Governor, Reserve Bank of New Zealand Paper

Jacob Frenkel, Former Governor, Bank of Israel

7:30 pm Adjourn

7:45 pm Reception and Dinner

Friday, September 26:

8:00 am Continental Breakfast

Session 1: Milton Friedman Revisited

Chairman: Michael Bordo, Rutgers University and NBER

8:30 am William Poole, Robert Rasche and

David Wheelock, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

The Great Inflation: Did The Shadow Know Better?

Discussant: Christina Romer, UC, Berkeley and NBER

9:30 am Andreas Beyer and Otmar Issing, European Central Bank

Vitor Gaspar, Bureau of European Policy Advisers

Christina Gerberding, Deutsche Bundesbank

Opting Out of the Great Inflation:

German Monetary Policy after the Break Down of Bretton Woods

Discussant: Benjamin Friedman, Harvard University and NBER

10:30 am Coffee Break

Session 2: Non Monetary Elements

Chairman: Athanasios Orphanides, Central Bank of Cyprus

10:45 am Alan Blinder, Princeton University and NBER

Jeremy Rudd, Federal Reserve Board

The Supply-Shock Explanation of the Great Stagflation Revisited

Discussant: Olivier Blanchard, MIT and NBER

11:45 am Christopher Sims, Princeton University and NBER

Stepping on a Rake: The Role of Fiscal Policy in the Inflation of the 1970’s

Discussant: Michael Woodford, Columbia University and NBER

12:45 pm Lunch

Session 3: Time Inconsistency and Central Bank Independence

Chairman: David Blanchflower, Dartmouth College and NBER

2:00 pm Alex Cukierman, Tel Aviv University

Misperceptions about the Frequency of Price Adjustments and Asymmetric Fed’s Preferences –

An Assessment of their Impact on Inflation and Monetary Policy Under Burns and Miller

Discussant: Gregory Hess, Claremont McKenna College

3:00 pm Takatoshi Ito, University of Tokyo and NBER

Great Inflation and Central Bank Independence in Japan

Discussant: Frederic Mishkin, Columbia University and NBER

4:00 pm Coffee Break

Session 4: The Role of a Nominal Anchor

Chairman: David Wheelock, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

4:15 pm Marvin Goodfriend, Carnegie Mellon University and NBER

Robert King, Boston University and NBER

The Great Inflation Drift

Discussant: Lars Svensson, Sveriges Riksbank and NBER

5:15 pm Andrew Levin, Federal Reserve Board

John Taylor, Stanford University and NBER

Falling Behind the Curve: A Positive Analysis of Stop-Start Monetary Policies and the Great Inflation

Discussant: Bennett McCallum, Carnegie Mellon University and NBER

6:15 pm Adjourn

7:30 pm Reception and Dinner

Saturday, September 27:

7:45 am Continental Breakfast

Session 5: International Perspectives

Chairman: Harold James, Princeton University

8:15 am Riccardo DiCecio and

Edward Nelson, Federal Reserve Bank of St.Louis

The Great Inflation in the United States and the United Kingdom:

Reconciling Policy Decisions and Data Outcomes

Discussant: Matthew Shapiro, University of Michigan and NBER

9:15 am Michael Bordo, Rutgers University and NBER

Barry Eichengreen, UC, Berkeley and NBER

Bretton Woods and the Great Inflation

Discussant: Allan Meltzer, Carnegie Mellon University

10:15 am Coffee Break

Session 6: Learning Expectations and Policy Mistakes

Chairman: Douglas Irwin, Dartmouth College and NBER

10:30 am Athanasios Orphanides, Central Bank of Cyprus

John Williams, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

Monetary Policy Mistakes and the Evolution of Inflation Expectations

Discussant: Seppo Honkapohja, Bank of Finland

11:30 am Coffee Break

11:45 am Panel Session II: Lessons from History

Chairman: Allan Meltzer, Carnegie Mellon University

Panelists: Harold James, Princeton University

Donald Kohn, Federal Reserve Board

Lucas Papademos, European Central Bank

Anna Schwartz, NBER

1:00 pm Lunch and Adjourn

2:30 pm Optional Leaf Peeping

9/22/08