Events

Past Event

Arrow Lecture: Origins of American Inflation by Christopher Sims

September 7, 2023
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
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Columbia Business School, 645 West 130th Street, New York, NY 10027

Opening Remarks by Jan Svejnar, Richard N. Gardner Professor of Economics and International Affairs; Director, Center on Global Economy and Governance, Columbia University 

Welcome by Minouche Shafik, President of Columbia University

Discussants: Jennifer La'O, Associate Professor of Economics, Columbia University

Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2001 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences and University Professor, Columbia University

Michael Woodford, John Bates Clark Professor of Political Economy, Columbia University

Abstract
What explains the rise of American inflation in the 1970's, its fall in the 1980's, and its recent resurgence? Explanations centered on the Phillips Curve, monetary policy, and their interaction are unsatisfying, especially recently. Implicit assumptions that justified leaving fiscal policy in the background in modeling inflation are questionable, again especially recently. Can a new look at the data, with fiscal policy's role recognized, give us a better understanding?

About the Lecturer
Christopher Sims is John J. F. Sherrerd ’52 University Professor of Economics. He has been a faculty member at Princeton since 1999. Sims is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Together with Thomas Sargent, he won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2011. The award cited their “empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy”.

About the Kenneth J. Arrow Lecture Series
The Kenneth J. Arrow Lecture Series highlights economists, from Nobel laureates to groundbreaking younger scholars, whose work builds on Kenneth J. Arrow’s scholarship as well as his innovative spirit. The books in the series are an expansion of the lectures that are held in Arrow’s honor at Columbia University.
 

Registration is required and seating is limited on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Contact Information

Theresa Murphy