Boston College economics symposium to examine U.S. growth strategies
University of Chicago scholar Yueran Ma, whose research focuses on the intersection of finance and macroeconomics, will headline an October 6 Boston College economics symposium centered on new United States growth strategies.
“Innovation, Productivity, Growth: Economic Business and Finance Perspectives” will be held in the Murray Room of the Yawkey Athletic Center. Ma will kick off the all-day event with her talk, “Monetary Policy and Innovation, Implications for Long-Term Economic Growth,” following welcoming remarks by Economics Chair Christopher F. Baum.
“The pandemic and post-pandemic business and financial market cycle proved to be uniquely challenging,” said conference coordinator Brian Bethune, a professor of the practice in economics. “What was remarkable was the amazing ability of workers and businesses across the spectrum to innovate and adjust to a rapidly changing environment. Worker productivity saw major gains early in the expansion, paused, and then reenergized in the second and third quarters of 2023. After a brief burst in 2022, inflation declined sharply.
“This conference is designed to bring into focus unique opportunities to build sustainable, low-inflation growth in 2024 and beyond, by supporting and leveraging path-breaking innovations.”
An associate professor of finance at the UChicago Booth School of Business, Ma spoke at last month’s Jackson Hole Economic Symposium immediately following Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s keynote address. Ma, who earned a doctorate in business economics from Harvard University, researches topics such as debt contracts and macroeconomic implications; assets and production activities of nonfinancial firms; low interest rates and financial markets, and expectations in finance and macroeconomics. She also serves as a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a research affiliate at the Center for Economics and Policy Research.
The morning’s opening panel, “The ‘Big Picture’ in the U.S.,” will be moderated by Jeffrey C. Fuhrer, foundation fellow at the Eastern Bank Foundation, and a former executive vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Panelists include Professor Susanto Basu, director of graduate studies in the Economics Department; Christopher Foote, a senior economist and policy advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; and Jay Stewart, a senior research economist at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Division of Productivity Research and Program Development.
Morgan Stanley First Vice President Craig Slater will moderate a mid-day discussion on the evolving operational challenges and prospects for the accelerated adoption of new innovations, such as machine learning, clean energy, and automation. He will be joined by Suffolk Construction Chairman and CEO John F. Fish, a Boston College trustee; John Deere Inc. Director of Corporate Economics Kanlaya Barr; Caitlin R. Brumme, CEO of Boston-based non-profit MassChallenge; Colleen Gallahue ’11, vice president of alternatives lending fund finance at State Street; Adam A. Valkin, a managing director at venture capital firm General Catalyst; and Eleanor Dillon, principal economist at Microsoft Research Lab in Cambridge.
Boston Business Journal Executive Editor Douglas Banks will moderate “Looking Under the ‘Economic Hood,’” which will discuss different aspects of productivity dispersion across establishments within the manufacturing industries. Panelists include Amherst College Assistant Professor of Economics Jake Blackwood, and Cindy Cunningham and Jay Stewart of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Division of Productivity Research and Program Development.
The symposium closes with a “Advancing the Frontiers of Innovation: Energy & Materials,” moderated by Nasir Khilji, a retired senior economist at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Panelists include BC Assistant Professor of Chemistry Alexis Grimaud, an expert in energy storage; Department of Energy Bioenergy Technology Senior Analyst Zia Haq; and Sam Wurzel, an advisor at the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency.
To register for the symposium, go to https://bit.ly/BC-Economics-Symposium-2023