Conference on Macroeconomic Policies and Poverty Reduction

Washington, DC, March 14-15, 2002
International Monetary Fund, R-710

The International Monetary Fund's Conference on "Macroeconomic Policies and Poverty Reduction" will take place in Washington, D.C., on March 14 and 15, 2002. Speakers will include academic scholars as well as researchers from the Fund. In addition, a number of invited policy-makers and representatives of civil society organizations from around the world will attend and participate in the discussion.

The conference is expected to contribute both to scholarly and policy debate on topics at the intersection of macroeconomic and poverty issues. Key themes include: aid effectiveness and debt burden in low-income countries, trade reform and inequality, the role of financial institutions in poverty reduction, the poverty and distributional consequences of financial crises and large shocks, and the politics of fiscal expenditures for the poor. The program will conclude with a high-level panel discussion featuring Anne Krueger, Chair, (First Deputy Managing Director, IMF), Nicholas Stern (Chief Economist, World Bank), Montek Ahluwalia (Director, Independent Evaluation Office, IMF), Santiago Levy (Director General, Inst. Méxicano de Seguro Social) and Nancy Birdsall, (Center for Global Development).

The conference is open to the public; however, prior registration is necessary for security reasons. If you would like to attend, please send a fax or e-mail with your name and institution (if applicable) to Usha David (fax: 202 623 4740; or e-mail: macro&povconf@imf.org).

All conference sessions will take place in the red level auditorium, Room R-710, IMF headquarters (700 19th St, NW, Washington DC 20431).

Preliminary Program

Thursday, March 16

9:00 am

Opening Remarks:
Eduardo Aninat, Deputy Managing Director, IMF
Kenneth Rogoff, Economic Counselor and Director of Research, IMF

9:30-12:15 am

Session 1: Aid and Debt

Chair: Abdoulaye Bio-Tchané, Director,
African Department, IMF
 

Michael Kremer and
Seema Jayachandran (Harvard University)
"Odious Debt"
Discussant: Raquel Fernandez (New York University)

 

Aleš Bulír and Timothy Lane (IMF)
"Aid and Fiscal Management"
Discussant: Alberto Alesina (Harvard University)

11:00 am

Coffee Break

11:30 am

Session 2: Trade and Inequality

Chair: Masood Ahmed, Deputy Director, Policy Development and Review Department, IMF

 

Orazio Attanasio (University College London), Pinelopi Goldberg (Yale University) and Nina Pavcnik (Dartmouth College)
"Trade Reforms and Income Inequality in Colombia"
Discussant: T.N. Srinivasan (Yale University)

2:00 pm

Session 3: Finance and Poverty

Chair: Stefan Ingves, Director, Monetary and Exchange Affairs Department, IMF
 

Robert Townsend (University of Chicago)
"Safety Nets and Financial Institutions in the Asia Crisis: The Allocation of Within Country Risk"
Discussant: Ahbjit Banerjee (MIT)
 

Robin Burgess (London School of Economics) and Rohini Pande (Columbia University)
"Do Rural Banks Matter? Evidence from the Indian Social Banking Experiment"
Discussant: Jonathan Morduch (New York University)

3:30 pm

Coffee Break

4:00-5:30 pm

Session 4: Poverty and Distributional Effects of Crises and Large Shocks

Chair: Carmen Reinhart, Senior Policy Advisor, Research Department, IMF
 

Emanuele Baldacci, Luiz de Mello, and Gabriela Inchauste (IMF)
"Financial Crises, Poverty and Income Distribution"
Discussant: Ceclia Garćia-Peñalosa (GREQAM)
 

Stefan Dercon (Oxford University)
"Growth, Shocks and Poverty during Economic Reform: evidence from rural Ethiopia"
Discussant: Angus Deaton (Princeton University)

Friday, March 15

9:15-10:45 am

Session 5: Crises and Political Economy
of Safety Nets

Chair: Teresa Ter-Minassian, Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF
 

Elizabeth Frankenberg (UCLA), James P. Smith (RAND), John Strauss (Michigan State University) and Duncan Thomas (UCLA)
"Economic Shocks, Wealth and Welfare"
Discussant: François Bourguignon (World Bank)
 

Martin Ravallion (World Bank)
"Who is Protected? On the Incidence of Fiscal Adjustment"
Discussants: Michael Keen (IMF) and
Lant Pritchett (Kennedy School of Government)

10:45 am

Coffee Break

11:15-12:45 pm

Panel
 

Anne Krueger, Chair (First Deputy Managing Director, IMF)
Nicholas Stern* (Chief Economist, World Bank)
Montek Ahluwalia (Director, Independent Evaluation Office, IMF)
Santiago Levy (Director General, Inst. Méxicano de Seguro Social)
Nancy Birdsall (Center for Global Development)
*Mr. Stern's remarks will draw on the paper: "Evaluating the Poverty Impact of Economic Policies: Some Analytical Challenges"