Summary of Central Banking: Challenges to Monetary and Fiscal Policy in Emerging Market Economies

On Monday, April 18^th, 2016, the Center on Global Economic Governance, together with SIPA’s Program in Economic Policy Management and Central Banking Initiative, convened a roundtable of Central Bank Governors from Mexico, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Colombia, Paraguay, Chile and Peru as well as faculty from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs to discuss challenges to monetary and fiscal policy in emerging market economies. The event consisted of three main sessions focused on various current themes in monetary policy. The first session was dedicated to “Extended Low Interest Rates in Advanced Economies and Their Spillovers, Including Speculative Bubbles in Emerging Markets” and was moderated by Patricia Mosser, Senior Research Scholar and Senior Fellow; Director, Initiative on Central Banking, Columbia SIPA . The second session focused on “Macroprudential Policies and International Reserves” and was moderated by Jan Svejnar, James T. Shotwell Professor of Global Political Economy; Director, Center on Global Economic Governance. The third session was titled “Reserve Accumulation and Exchange Rate Policy in Emerging Markets, and the Prospect of the End of ‘Fear of Floating’” and was moderated by Guillermo Calvo, Professor of Economics and International and Public Affairs; Director, Program in Economic Policy Management, Columbia SIPA .  The event followed the IMF/World Bank Spring meetings and was an opportunity for governors to convene in an open, academic setting, among like-minded colleagues, and to reflect on some of the major issues which have come up in recent meetings.