9th Macroeconomic Policy Research Workshop on 'Understanding Financial Frictions' September 29, 2010

The Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB), in collaboration with the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), will hold its ninth Workshop on Macroeconomic Policy Research in Budapest on September 30-October 1, 2010.

Financial frictions explain both the value added and the occasional failures of financial markets. Information asymmetries, agency problems, search costs, financial constraints and coordination problems provide reasons why finance is substantially more than a veil over the real economy, and can have influence on the growth prospects and business cycles in developed and emerging countries. Previous and recent financial crises have also underlined that these frictions influence relationships no just between intermediaries and borrowers but extend to interactions among the intermediaries themselves, raising important questions on the optimal regulation and policy frameworks countries should provide. The goal of the conference is to invite policy relevant theoretical and empirical academic contributions and bring together academic economists and central bank researchers to discuss these issues.

Topics of the 2010 meeting include:

1) Sources of financial frictions:

Sources of liquidity

Reasons of market incompleteness and dysfunctions

Role of banks

2) Financial frictions in macromodels

Financial sector and real economy

Sources and consequences of financial crises

‘Sudden stops’, financial contagion and other open economy issues

3) Optimal policy and regulation

Role of financial frictions in policy transmission

Macroprudential and capital flow regulation

New roles of central banks in financial stability

Understanding systemic risk

Keynote Speakers:

· Nobuhiro Kiyotaki (Princeton and CEPR)

· Ricardo Caballero (MIT)

The workshop will be held at the Magyar Nemzeti Bank in Budapest. Participants from central banks are expected to cover costs of travel and local expenses. Costs of participants from academic institutions may be reimbursed by the organizers upon request. No conference fee will be charged.

Conference information provided by konferenciakalauz.hu

Official Website: http://english.mnb.hu/Engine.aspx?page=mnben_konf_fomenu&ContentID=14110