November 28–29, 2011
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
Overview
The Center for Financial Innovation and Stability at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta sponsored a conference on "Sovereign Debt and Default after the Financial Crisis of 2007–08." The conference addressed the ongoing difficulties associated with sovereign debt in the euro area, which have raised concerns about their effects on the countries in this area and elsewhere. This conference examined the very controversial market for credit default swaps and the role of this market in the difficulties. It also looked at the relationship between the monetary union and the fiscal difficulties and examined the experiences and difficulties of specific countries, including those currently troubled, such as Greece, and those that have dealt with difficulties in the past, such as Iceland and the Baltic States. The discussion included participants from Europe and the United States as well as participants from academic, financial, and policy institutions.
Agenda
Monday, November 28, 2011 | ||
1:15 | Welcoming remarks | |
1:30 | "U.S. Fiscal Policy or Lack of Policy" Thomas R. Saving, Texas A&M University [Presentation] Discussant William R. Dougan, Clemson University |
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2:15 | "Land, Debt, and Taxes: Origins of the U.S. State Default Crisis, 1839 to
1842." John J. Wallis, University of Maryland [Presentation] Discussant Michael Edelstein, Queen's College, City University of New York [Summary] |
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3:30 | "Do Sovereign CDS and Bond Markets Share the Same Information to Price Credit Risk? An Empirical Application to the European Monetary Union Case"
Sergio Mayordomo, Spanish Securities Market Commission [Presentation] Discussant Gerald P. Dwyer, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta [Presentation] |
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4:15 | "What Is the Risk of European Sovereign Default? Fiscal Space, CDS Spreads and Market Pricing of Risk" Joshua Aizenman, University of California at Santa Cruz [Presentation] Discussant Charles Smithson, Rutter Associates [Presentation] |
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Tuesday, November 29, 2011 | ||
9:00 | "The Varieties of European Crises" Thomas D. Willett, Claremont McKenna and Claremont Graduate University [Summary] [Presentation] Discussant Eric Fisher, California Polytechnic State University [Summary] [Presentation] |
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9:45 | "The Greek Debt Crisis: Origins and Implications" Georgios P. Kouretas, Athens University of Economics and Business Discussant David Zervos, Jefferies & Company Inc. |
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11:00 | Ireland Colm McCarthy, University College, Dublin [Presentation] Discussant John Devereux, Queen's College, City University of New York [Presentation] |
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11:45 | "From Boom to Bust: the Iceland Story" Thorvaldur Gylfason, University of Iceland [Presentation] Discussant Tom Berglund, Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki [Summary] |
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1:30 | Spain |
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2:15 | "The Financial Crisis of 2007-10 in Eastern Europe and the Baltics" Anders Aslund, Peterson Institute for International Economics [Presentation] Discussant "The Financial Crisis of 2007-10 in Eastern Europe and the Baltics" Anete Pajuste, Riga Business School [Presentation] |
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3:30 | What do we make of it all? General discussion |