2015-16 IGM Year in Review

3 brings together academic researchers, market economists, and policymakers for an annual gathering in New York. In February 2016, the USMPF featured a special report, “Language after Liftoff: Fed Communication Away from the Zero Lower Bound,” on the Fed’s communication away from the lower bound. A panel that included two members of the Federal Open Market Committee discussed the report. A pair of conferences cosponsored with the Brookings Institution addressed US economic policy questions related to interest rates. One, hosted in Washington, DC, focused on the outlook for long-term interest rates and related policy challenges as the US economy recovers. The other, hosted at Chicago Booth, examined the way the US Treasury manages the federal debt. Participants discussed options for improving the mix of short- and long- term borrowing, and for taking Fed policy more fully into account when the Treasury chooses debt instruments. The IGM also hosted the Global Issues in Accounting Conference, which is widely recognized among accounting researchers as an excellent gathering for sharing and discussing international accounting research. We also cosponsored the eighth annual China Economic Summer Institute, which fosters high-quality research on China. And we convened a small high-level meeting in Miami in November 2015, in which academics, central bank officials, and senior managers of global financial institutions discussed systemic aspects of financial regulation. These meetings allowed for frank discussions of important topics among leading decision-makers. One of the other main ways in which the IGM engages the public is through our Economic Experts Panel. The panel involves a group of leading research economists who have a keen interest in policy. We regularly send them statements about important public policy issues, and the experts respond by voting on the extent to which they agree or disagree. We display their individual views and comments, as well as the distribution of views for the panel as a whole, to the public through the IGM Forum ( igmchicago.org) . Based on the success of the Economic Experts Panel, the IGM in 2015–16 began creating a similar panel, to be launched during the 2016–17 academic year, of European economists. This report summarizes the activities described above, along with our other efforts during the past year. It includes descriptions of our conferences, Myron Scholes Forum events, visiting scholars, and recent research projects. In addition to the IGM Forum at igmchicago.org , we encourage you to visit our home page: ChicagoBooth.edu/igm.