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  The Search for Global Monetary Order
 

Thursday, October 21, 1999

The Cato Institute
F.A. Hayek Auditorium
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001

The distinctive characteristic of all monetary regimes today is the lack of any real anchor for the domestic price level. All currencies are government fiat monies whose values are determined ultimately by discretionary central banks. Countries that have pegged their currencies to the dollar have benefited from low U.S. inflation, but there is no guarantee of future price stability.

At the Cato Institute’s 17th Annual Monetary Conference, leading policy-makers and monetary experts will discuss the current global monetary order and proposals for improving that order. Those proposals range from dollarization to a new Bretton Woods system to private competing currencies.

Important questions will be raised about the Federal Reserve’s ability to control the money supply in a global economy, the future of the yen and the euro, the role of the IMF as an international lender of last resort, whether dollarization would benefit Latin America, and whether deflation is a threat to global financial markets.

The fundamental question, however, is whether we should rely more on monetary rules or on discretionary central banks. Since monetary disturbances can wreak havoc on economic decisions, the choice of monetary institutions has important implications for long-run prosperity and freedom.

 


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 9:00 - 11:00 a.m.

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Welcoming Remarks: James A. Dorn, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Cato Institute

Keynote Address: Jerry L. Jordan, President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
Full text of address: The Evolving Global Monetary Order

PANEL 1: DO WE NEED A NEW BRETTON WOODS?

Moderator: Zanny Minton-Beddoes, The Economist

Stanley Fischer, First Deputy Managing Director, International Monetary Fund

Anna J. Schwartz, Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research

Pedro Schwartz, President, IDELCO, Madrid

Judy Shelton, Professor of International Finance, DUXX Graduate School of Business Leadership, Monterrey, Mexico
 

 11:15 - 12:30 p.m.

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PANEL 2: IS DOLLARIZATION BENEFICIAL FOR LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES?

Moderator: Mary Anastasia O'Grady, Americas Column, Wall Street Journal

Juan Andrés Fontaine, Chief Executive and Partner, Fontaine y Paúl Consultores Asociados

José Piñera, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Cato Institute

Steve Hanke, Professor of Applied Economics, The Johns Hopkins University

Roberto Salinas-León, Director of Policy Analysis, TV Azteca
 

 12:30-3:15 p.m.

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LUNCHEON

David Malpass, Chief International Economist, Bear Stearns

Full text of address: Replacing the Vacuum in International Economic Policy

PANEL 3: MONETARY POLICY IN THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMY

Moderator: John M. Berry, The Washington Post

Allan H. Meltzer, Professor of Economics, Carnegie Mellon University

Ronald I. McKinnon, William D. Eberle Professor of International Economics, Stanford University

Charles W. Calomiris, Paul M. Montrone Professor of Finance and Economics, Columbia Business School

George Selgin, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Georgia
 

3:30 - 4:30 p.m.

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PANEL 4: FIXED VERSUS FLOATING EXCHANGE RATES

Moderator: William A. Niskanen, Chairman, Cato Institute

Peter B. Kenen, Walker Professor of Economics & International Finance, Princeton University

Leland B. Yeager, Ludwig von Mises Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Auburn University

Alan C. Stockman, Professor of Economics, University of Rochester
 

 

 
Jerry L. Jordan
 
David Malpass
Jerry L. Jordan
 
David Malpass
 
Allan H. Meltzer
 
 

Allan H. Meltzer

 
Anna J. Schwartz
 
José Piñera
Anna J. Schwartz
 
José Piñera
 
Ronald I. McKinnon
 
 
Ronald I. McKinnon
 
Stanley Fischer   Charles W. Calomiris
Stanley Fischer
 
Charles W. Calomiris
  Steve Hanke  
 
Steve Hanke
 
Judy Shelton   Peter B. Kenen

Judy Shelton

 
Peter B.
Kenen

| Schedule of the Conference |

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Phone (202) 842-0200 • Fax (202) 842-3490