Long-Term Fiscal Policy: The Economics of Debt and Deficits
Organized by Markus K. Brunnermeier and Ricardo Reis
Supported by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation
February 26-27, 2026
Royal Sonesta Hotel, 40 Edwin H. Land Blvd, Cambridge, MA
Format: 40 minutes for the author with questions from the floor; 10 minutes for the discussant; and 10 minutes for general discussion
Thursday, February 26
12:00pm
Lunch
1:00pm

Debt and Deficits: Fiscal Analysis with Stationary Ratios

John Y. Campbell, Harvard University and NBER
Can Gao, University of St. Gallen
Ian Martin, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

Discussant:
Stavros Panageas, University of California, Los Angeles and NBER
2:00pm
Break
2:15pm

The Role of Dispersed Information in Maintaining Low Interest Rates

Marco Bassetto, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
Carlo Galli, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Jason A. Hall, University of Minnesota

Discussant:
Sebastian A. Merkel, University of Bristol
3:15pm
Break
3:30pm

The Fragility of Government Funding Advantage

Jonathan Payne, Princeton University
Balint Szoke, Federal Reserve Board of Governors

Discussant:
Emil Verner, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NBER
4:30pm
Break
4:45pm

Dollar Erosion: Understanding the Loss of Reserve Currency Status

Zhengyang Jiang, Northwestern University and NBER
Arvind Krishnamurthy, Stanford University and NBER
Hanno Lustig, Stanford University and NBER
Robert J. Richmond, New York University and NBER

Discussant:
Viral V. Acharya, New York University and NBER
5:45pm
Adjourn
6:15pm

Reception and Dinner
Keynote Address by Douglas W. Elmendorf, Harvard University and NBER
Friday, February 27
8:00am
Breakfast
8:30am

Fiscal Inaction as Monetary Support

George-Marios Angeletos, Northwestern University and NBER
Chen Lian, University of California, Berkeley and NBER
Christian K. Wolf, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NBER

Discussant:
Mark A. Aguiar, Princeton University and NBER
9:30am
Break
9:45am

Treasury Supply Shocks: Propagation through Debt Expansion and Maturity Adjustment

Huixin Bi, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
Maxime Phillot, Swiss National Bank
Sarah Zubairy, Texas A&M University and NBER

Discussant:
Robin Greenwood, Harvard University and NBER
10:45am
Break
11:00am

Perceptions of Public Debt and Policy Expectations: Evidence from Cross Country Surveys

Era Dabla-Norris, International Monetary Fund
Francesco Bianchi, Johns Hopkins University and NBER
Salma Khalid, International Monetary Fund

Discussant:
Neil Mehrotra, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
12:00pm

The Austerity Threshold

Vadim Elenev, Johns Hopkins University
Tim Landvoigt, University of Pennsylvania and NBER
Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, Columbia University and NBER

Discussant:
Deborah J. Lucas, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NBER
1:00pm
Lunch and Adjourn