Summer Workshop Series in Macroeconomic Theory and Dynamic Economic Modeling (Minneapolis, MN-July 2006-2008)

This project consists of a series of workshops to be hosted jointly by the University of Minnesota and the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis during the summers of 2006, 2007 and 2008. Each workshop is one week long, concentrating on theoretical issues in macroeconomics and dynamic economic modeling. These workshops continue the series sponsored by the NSF at the University of Minnesota during 2000-05 and at Northwestern University during 1990-99. Specific topics for the three years will vary, depending on research interests of the participants. Topics in recent years have included: monetary theory, searching and matching models of labor market dynamics, technical change and technology adoption, asset pricing, macroeconomic consequences of contracting frictions and financial market incompleteness, fiscal policy, business cycles, government policy in the absence of commitment, methods for analyzing models with heterogeneous agents, and political economy issues in the choice of aggregate policy.

This series has provided a valuable forum for researchers working on substantive and methodological issues in theoretical macroeconomics, broadly defined. It has provided both an outlet for the formal presentation and intensive discussion of recent papers and an opportunity for informal discussions outside the seminar room among researchers working in related areas.

Broader Impact: The research presented in this confaerence series focuses on many of the fundamental questions facing macroeconomic policy makers currently (the design of the tax system and monetary policy, the importance of reputation, etc.). Thus, it will have a broad impact on the future design of macro policy both in the U.S. and abroad. The organizers have made a concerted effort to choose program committees each year that will reach a broad spectrum of theoretical macroeconomists, and the program committees have made a strong effort to identify and include young researchers. This workshop series is one of the few with an emphasis on the theoretical side of macroeconomics and dynamic economic modeling, and provides a useful opportunity for discussions among researchers representing somewhat distinct intellectual traditions.