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Economics Newsletter Fall 2023

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F A L L 2 0 2 3 | V O L . 1 | I S S U E 2<br />

E C O N O M I C S<br />

A L U M N I N E W S L E T T E R<br />

WWW.HERBERT.MIAMI.EDU


C H A I R & P R O F E S S O R ,<br />

D E P A R T M E N T O F<br />

E C O N O M I C S<br />

Message from the Chair<br />

As a former Fed insider, I am often asked to comment on Federal<br />

Reserve policy and its record on inflation. Let me give you my<br />

perspective on the matter, beginning with some recent history.<br />

In the decade leading up to the Covid-19 pandemic, inflation<br />

remained mostly below the Fed’s 2% target rate. Over this same<br />

period, the U.S. labor market recovered very slowly from the Great<br />

Recession precipitated by the 2008-09 financial crisis. The Fed was<br />

blamed by many for the slow recovery, despite keeping its policy<br />

rate near zero percent. This criticism became more credible after<br />

the Fed began raising its policy rate late in 2015, despite a stillrecovering<br />

labor market and inflation nowhere in sight.<br />

Dr. David<br />

Andolfatto<br />

In 2019, the Fed hosted a series of “Fed Listens” events designed to gather feedback from the public to<br />

assess the conduct of monetary policy. In 2020, the Fed released a revised statement of its Longer-Run<br />

Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy incorporating some of this feedback. Among other things, the new<br />

framework promised that monetary policy would no longer try to “get ahead of the curve” by tightening<br />

monetary conditions prematurely to ward off perceptions of imminent inflation at the expense of the<br />

labor market. In addition, if inflation was ever to rise above target, the Fed would stand prepared to<br />

tolerate periods of above-target inflation to make up for periods of below-target inflation. For better or<br />

worse, this is the monetary policy framework we had heading into the Covid-19 crisis. It clearly did not<br />

anticipate the disruption associated with a global pandemic.<br />

When the pandemic hit the United States in early 2020, the immediate concern was to shut down or<br />

discourage “non-essential” activities in an attempt to “flatten the curve” so as not to overwhelm the<br />

nation’s intensive care units. The deep recession associated with this event was very different than the<br />

one that occurred in 2008-09. The Covid recession was a planned economic shutdown best interpreted<br />

as an investment in public health. Unlike 2008-09, there was no need to “stimulate” the economy.<br />

Indeed, the opposite was needed.<br />

Still, it was clear that some monetary and fiscal actions were needed. Because some sectors of the<br />

economy, like leisure and hospitality, were affected much more than other sectors where work-fromhome<br />

was feasible, some redistribution was in order. In principle, monetary transfers to those in need<br />

could have been financed with a temporary surtax on income or consumption. Monetary policy could<br />

have been limited to stabilizing financial markets, as it did in March 2020. A tax-financed transfer<br />

program would have almost surely been less inflationary. But we would still have had a rough ride and<br />

people would no doubt have complained that policymakers had promised that the surtax was<br />

supposed to be “transitory.”


Message from the Chair<br />

What we got instead was a stimulative monetary policy (the Fed lowered its policy rate) and $5 trillion<br />

(roughly 20% of annual GDP) in redistributive transfers through the CARES Act of 2020 and the ARP of<br />

2021 financed without an increase in taxes or even the prospect of future taxes. These policies were<br />

not perfect. But they were not bad either and, indeed, the policy response might have been much<br />

worse. Policymakers remembered how American households were largely left to fend for themselves<br />

in the foreclosure crisis that followed the 2008-09 financial crisis. Not only was this bad economics,<br />

but it was also bad politics given how the government stepped up to support the financial sector. We<br />

are still paying the price for that misstep in the form of a troubling political polarization that took hold<br />

at the time. It was wise not to repeat that mistake. A desire not to repeat that mistake likely<br />

contributed to a set of transfer programs that in retrospect were perhaps too generous and not<br />

sufficiently well-targeted. The generosity of these programs contributed to the inflation episode we<br />

experienced. But it was not the only factor involved.<br />

One cannot forget that the COVID-19 era was marked by a set of significant and persistent supply<br />

disruptions. First, large segments of the economy were shut down, either by mandate or because<br />

people were afraid to patronize certain types of establishments. Second, the global nature of the<br />

pandemic led to significant disruptions in global supply chains. Third, the Russian invasion of Ukraine<br />

in 2022 led to a significant spike in the global price of oil and gas. While these shocks contributed to<br />

inflationary pressure during the pandemic, the Fed rightly (in my opinion) interpreted their inflationary<br />

consequences to be “transitory.” Thus, even if the desired fiscal transfers were financed by taxes instead<br />

of money-printing, we would likely have experienced an above target rate of inflation on top of a<br />

“transitory” surtax. The fact that the transfers were financed by money creation rather than taxes had<br />

the effect of replacing transitory surtax with a transitory inflation tax. Alternatively, the Fed could have<br />

raised its policy interest rate to very high levels to keep inflation in check. This would have come at the<br />

cost of increasing the unemployment rate and slowing down the economic recovery. The bottom line<br />

is that Americans were going to have to pay for these programs one way or another. And there would<br />

have been a different and more terrible price to pay had the support for American households not<br />

been forthcoming.<br />

It is notable that many people attribute the robust recovery of the U.S. economy relative to other<br />

countries as attributable to differences in fiscal policy. Most other countries were much less generous<br />

with their income support policies. Having said this, there are a number of ways in which monetary<br />

and fiscal policies could have been improved.<br />

To begin with, I do not believe it was necessary for the Fed to lower its policy rate in 2020. Lowering<br />

the policy rate is appropriate when aggregate demand collapses, as in the 2008-09 recession. The<br />

COVID-19 shock was mostly a negative supply shock. Moreover, we did not want to stimulate economic<br />

activity—we wanted to suppress it to flatten the curve. The low policy rate likely contributed to asset<br />

price inflation—a phenomenon the Fed began reversing in 2022. At the same time, the large fiscal<br />

transfers in 2020 and 2021 were doing the needed job of redistributing income in the desired<br />

direction. Given their hasty design, these programs were allegedly subject to a considerable amount of<br />

fraud. And even absent fraud, money went to people who did not need it.<br />

Given the trauma and uncertainty associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and given the haste with<br />

which policymakers had to respond, I am inclined to forgive these shortcomings. It will be less<br />

forgivable if a well-thought-out contingency plan is not in place for the next pandemic. The good news<br />

is that such a plan is being developed. (link to https://www.gao.gov/blog/what-about-next-pandemichow-can-federal-government-better-prevent-and-plan-next-public-health-emergency).


David Andolfatto<br />

Department Chair,<br />

Professor<br />

MEET OUR FACULTY<br />

Stefania Albanesi<br />

Professor<br />

Daniel Hicks<br />

Lecturer<br />

Alex R Horenstein<br />

Associate Professor<br />

David Kelly<br />

Professor<br />

Ricardo Lago<br />

Lecturer<br />

Michael B Connoly<br />

Professor<br />

Ayca Kaya<br />

Associate Professor<br />

Rong Hai<br />

Asst. Professor<br />

Esteban Petruzzello<br />

Asst. Professor of<br />

Professional Practice<br />

Maria Jesus Lorca<br />

Lecturer<br />

Miguel Iraola<br />

Associate Professor of<br />

Professional Practice Educator<br />

Track<br />

David F Spigelman<br />

Senior Lecturer<br />

Augustine C. W.<br />

Nelson<br />

Lecturer<br />

Luis Locay<br />

Associate Professor<br />

Manuel Santos<br />

Professor<br />

Christopher F Parmeter<br />

Associate Professor<br />

Hugo Faria<br />

Lecturer<br />

Noah Williams<br />

Professor<br />

Ian Wright<br />

Asst. Professor<br />

Staminir Morfov<br />

Lecturer<br />

Daniela Valdivia<br />

Office Manager


Welcome Back<br />

Reunion<br />

On September 8th, the faculty of the <strong>Economics</strong><br />

Department came together for a delightful gathering,<br />

indulging in a shared feast and exchanging insights as<br />

they inaugurated the commencement of the new<br />

academic year.


Hyperion Annual Council<br />

This year, 5 students alongside their advisor<br />

Dr. Esteban Petruzzello travelled to Barbados<br />

from May 15th to May 21st to conduct a series<br />

of workshop presentations as well as one-onone<br />

business consulting to 15 entrepreneurs.<br />

The Hyperion Council led this<br />

entrepreneurial development series in<br />

partnership with Tradewind Tankers and<br />

Barbados National Oil Company Limited. The<br />

students presented 3 workshops<br />

highlighting the following: Social Media &<br />

Marketing, Finance and Accounting, and<br />

Sustainability (Meeting ESG Goals).<br />

Throughout the week and outside of the<br />

workshop presentations, the students<br />

conducted one-on-one consulting which<br />

targeted the specific business needs of the<br />

entrepreneurs.<br />

Their needs ranged from brand development, and<br />

social media presence, to developing budgets and<br />

accounting practices. The group of student<br />

consultants (Jordyn Desir, Alison Granirer, Laura<br />

Hopman, Harsh Shah, and Mikaela Sanders<br />

provided expertise in different areas and were able<br />

to use their strengths to make an impact on each<br />

and every one of the participants. The dynamic<br />

nature of the engagement allowed them to<br />

provide a plethora of information through formal<br />

workshops and personal conversations. The series<br />

ended with a presentation on pricing by Dr.<br />

Petruzzello. Overall, it was a learning experience<br />

for all, and it was very well received. The<br />

entrepreneurs have expressed their interest in<br />

staying connected and to have us back again.<br />

Several entrepreneurs referred to this as being lifechanging<br />

for them.<br />

Professor Esteban Petruzzello


YOUTH<br />

CIGARETTE<br />

ADDICTION &<br />

EDUCATION<br />

RESEARCH PAPER<br />

David Andolfatto: Welcome, Rong! ! Tell me--what is a<br />

question that you are working on these days?<br />

Rong Hai: Thank you very much, David, for offering me<br />

the opportunity to discuss my research. In my recent<br />

research paper with Nobel Laureate James Heckman, we<br />

are investigating the question: To what extent does<br />

cigarette addiction impact educational attainment?<br />

Understanding the long-term impacts of addictive<br />

substances on human capital helps policymakers<br />

determine their posture towards regulation and taxation<br />

of such substances.<br />

David Andolfatto: How do you address this question in<br />

your research?<br />

Rong Hai: To investigate this question, we construct a<br />

mathematical model of economic behavior. We use the<br />

model to analyze how young people decide how much<br />

schooling to attain, whether to smoke or not, how much to<br />

work, and how much to consume. We estimate our model<br />

using data from National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997,<br />

so that our estimated model provides a reasonably good<br />

account of how young people appear to behave.<br />

We then use our estimated model as a laboratory to<br />

conduct policy experiments. That is, we can use the<br />

model to predict the likely effect of any number of<br />

hypothetical policy interventions and use the model<br />

to evaluate outcomes.<br />

David Andolfatto: Okay, that's fascinating. So, tell<br />

me, how do you use this laboratory to answer the<br />

question -- whether or not smoking has a causal<br />

impact on educational attainment? What are your<br />

main findings?<br />

Rong Hai<br />

Rong Hai: To evaluate the causal impact of smoking on<br />

education, we take our estimated model and assume that<br />

young people no longer have an ability to smoke, say,<br />

because cigarette sales are taxed at a prohibitively high<br />

excise tax rate. Our main experiment shows that if we<br />

eliminate smoking from our laboratory environment, the<br />

effect is to increase college attendance by two percentage<br />

points in the population. This result suggests that<br />

cigarette smoking has a negative causal impact on<br />

education. Furthermore, we find substantial variation<br />

across individuals with different levels of measured<br />

intelligence and self-control/social-emotional abilities.<br />

Youth at the top of the intelligence distribution or the<br />

self-control spectrum are less affected by the policy<br />

experiment.<br />

David Andolfatto: So, you find some significant effect of<br />

the impact of smoking on educational attainment, and<br />

that this effect seems to be concentrated in certain<br />

segments of the population. These are very interesting<br />

findings. What do you think that policymakers can take<br />

away from this?<br />

Rong Hai: To the extent that policymakers think that<br />

higher educational attainment is a worthy goal, our paper<br />

suggests that reducing youth cigarette addiction helps<br />

improve educational attainment. Moreover, the effect is<br />

likely to be strongest for those segments of the population<br />

that are more likely to find themselves at the lower end of<br />

the earnings spectrum.<br />

Of course, eliminating cigarettes from the population is<br />

not a realistic policy proposal. A practical alternative that<br />

achieves similar results may be to further increase the tax<br />

on cigarettes and use the tax revenue generated in this<br />

manner to help finance the cost of education. The result is<br />

likely to be less youth smoking, less cigarette addiction,<br />

lower educational costs, and higher educational<br />

attainment.


A L L A N H E R B E R T ’ S<br />

D I S S E R T A T I O N<br />

Congratulations<br />

We are thrilled to share exciting news within our<br />

academic community. Dr. Allan Herbert recently<br />

achieved a significant milestone by successfully<br />

defending his dissertation, marking the culmination<br />

of dedicated research and exploration into the<br />

intricacies of “The Rise of Wealth and Income<br />

Inequality.”<br />

Dr. Herbert's study, which spans four major<br />

industrialized countries—the U.S., France, Germany,<br />

and the United Kingdom—dives deep into post-<br />

World War II data, with a unique focus on France<br />

reaching back to the 19th century. His work<br />

addresses the substantial rise in aggregate wealth<br />

observed over the past five decades and investigates<br />

the intricate relationship between wealth growth<br />

and income inequality.<br />

The groundbreaking aspect of Dr. Herbert's research<br />

lies in identifying the 'stock market channel' to<br />

inequality. In the U.S., the corporate sector emerges<br />

as a primary contributor to both income and wealth<br />

inequality, while France showcases minimal impact.<br />

Germany and the U.K. fall somewhere in between,<br />

presenting intriguing puzzles, and prompting<br />

further investigation.<br />

This accomplishment wouldn't have been possible<br />

without the invaluable guidance and support of<br />

Professors Alex Horenstein and Manuel Santos. Dr.<br />

Herbert expressed his gratitude in his<br />

acknowledgments, acknowledging their<br />

encouragement as crucial to the completion of this<br />

pivotal work.<br />

Dr. Herbert's Acknowledgement<br />

"This thesis has been one of my most important<br />

lifetime projects and is dedicated to the memory<br />

of my wife. I would like to express my gratitude to<br />

Professors Manuel Santos and Alex Horenstein,<br />

without whose encouragement this work may<br />

never have been completed."<br />

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Dr.<br />

Herbert on this exceptional achievement and<br />

express our deep appreciation for Professors<br />

Horenstein and Santos for their instrumental roles<br />

in the success of this research. We look forward to<br />

the continued impact of their collaborative efforts<br />

on advancing knowledge within our academic<br />

community.


North American Productivity<br />

Conference<br />

The <strong>Economics</strong> Department, in conjunction with<br />

Miami Herbert Business School, the International<br />

Society for Efficiency and Productivity Analysis<br />

and the USDA’s Economic Research Service,<br />

hosted the North American Productivity<br />

Conference from June 12-15, <strong>2023</strong>. The<br />

conference brought together nearly 100<br />

researchers, scholars, and policymakers across<br />

five continents to discuss the latest research<br />

regarding productivity measurement, regulatory<br />

frameworks, analysis of efficiency and index<br />

number theory. The conference included a<br />

keynote speech from Jordi Jaumandreu of<br />

Boston University discussing productivity and<br />

profitability. In addition there were four distinct<br />

plenary sessions and over 30 parallel sessions<br />

across the four days of the conference<br />

Organized by<br />

Dr. Christopher Parmeter<br />

The Emerging Data Science<br />

Methods for Complex Data with<br />

Endogeneity and/or Heterogeneity<br />

Workshop<br />

Speakers<br />

David Jacho-Chavez (Emory University)<br />

Ingrid van Keilegom (KU Leuven, Belgium)<br />

Shakeeb Khan (Boston College)<br />

Carlos Martins (University of Colorado at Boulder)<br />

Yiyuan She (Florida State University)<br />

Jeff Wooldridge (Michigan State University)<br />

Valentin Zelenyuk (University of Queensland,<br />

Australia)<br />

Kai Zhang (University of North Carolina)<br />

Wei Zhong (Xiamen University, China)<br />

.<br />

Organized by Dr. Parmeter and Dr.<br />

Lan Wang<br />

The <strong>Economics</strong> and Management Science<br />

departments with support from Miami Herbert<br />

Business school hosted a one-day workshop on<br />

Emerging Data Science Methods for Complex<br />

Data with Endogeneity and/or Heterogeneity. The<br />

workshop brought together scholars from around<br />

the globe, including Belgium, Australia and China,<br />

as well as here in the US, to discuss some of the<br />

latest statistical and econometric methods<br />

designed to tackle some of today’s leading<br />

challenges for working with complex data designs.


E C O N O M I C S & B U S I N E S S L A W<br />

D E P A R T M E N T<br />

SPEAKER<br />

SERIES<br />

F r a n c e s c o P a r i s i<br />

On October 23, <strong>2023</strong>, the<br />

Department of <strong>Economics</strong>,<br />

jointly with the Business<br />

Law Department, hosted<br />

Professor Francesco Parisi<br />

for a lunch seminar.<br />

Professor Parisi is a<br />

Professor of Law at the<br />

University of Minnesota,<br />

Law School and a Professor<br />

of <strong>Economics</strong> at the<br />

University of Bologna,<br />

Department of <strong>Economics</strong>.<br />

He is currently visiting the<br />

University of Miami Law<br />

School. He is a prominent<br />

researcher in the<br />

fascinating intersection of<br />

law and economics. He<br />

uses formal economic<br />

models to analyze the<br />

impact of law.<br />

For this well-attended<br />

lunch seminar on October<br />

23, Professor Parisi talked<br />

about his research on<br />

allocation of liability in<br />

accidents involving<br />

automated devices, such<br />

as self-driving cars. This<br />

research proposes that<br />

allocating liability to<br />

device manufacturers in<br />

cases where neither users<br />

nor victims are negligent<br />

provides correct incentives<br />

to all parties: it<br />

strengthens the incentives<br />

of users and potential<br />

victims to exercise due<br />

care while also<br />

incentivizing<br />

manufacturers to improve<br />

safety measures.<br />

The Department of<br />

<strong>Economics</strong> looks forward<br />

to hosting more law and<br />

economics seminars in the<br />

near future.


E C O N O M I C S<br />

D E P A R T M E N T<br />

FACULTY<br />

MIXER<br />

V I C T O R I A L O C A Y<br />

On October 26th, the <strong>Economics</strong> Club<br />

hosted a faculty-student mixer at Storer<br />

Auditorium. The Department staff,<br />

majors, club members, and faculty<br />

gathered to mingle over food and drink<br />

following a presentation about recent<br />

departmental changes, including new<br />

class announcements, curriculum<br />

requirement information, and<br />

introduction of our new professors.<br />

Students enjoyed the opportunity to<br />

get to know their professors, meet the<br />

staff, and learn about the new<br />

resources available to them through<br />

the department and the newly<br />

reactivated club.


Poets&Quants for Undergrads’ <strong>2023</strong><br />

T O P 5 0 : B E S T<br />

U N D E R G R A D U A T E<br />

P R O F E S S O R S<br />

Warmest congratulations to the remarkable Professor Esteban<br />

Petruzzello and Professor Rong Hai on their well-deserved<br />

nominations by Poets and Quants for Undergrads <strong>2023</strong>! Your<br />

dedication to excellence in teaching and impactful contributions<br />

to the field of economics has not only enriched the academic<br />

experience but also inspired countless students. This recognition<br />

is a testament to your outstanding commitment to education<br />

and research. The <strong>Economics</strong> Department takes pride in having<br />

such exceptional educators among its ranks.<br />

Rong Hai<br />

Esteban Petruzello


Women<br />

Who Lead<br />

Summit<br />

On May 4th, Professor Rong Hai, a<br />

distinguished member of our Department<br />

of <strong>Economics</strong>, took center stage at the 9th<br />

"Women Who Lead" Summit, captivating<br />

the audience with her expertise on the<br />

current economic outlook and strategies<br />

for making sound financial decisions.<br />

Her presence at the "Women Who Lead"<br />

Summit underscored the department's<br />

commitment to fostering economic<br />

literacy and empowering individuals,<br />

particularly women, to navigate the<br />

intricacies of the financial world. Her<br />

expertise and engaging presentation left a<br />

lasting impression on all those in<br />

attendance, reinforcing the summit's<br />

mission to inspire and equip women to<br />

excel in leadership roles.


<strong>2023</strong><br />

Associate Professor of Professional<br />

Practice Educator Track<br />

We are happy to announce the<br />

promotion of Miguel Iraola to Associate<br />

Professor of Professional Practice<br />

Educator Track. Miguel's dedication to<br />

excellence in teaching and contributions<br />

to our department make this<br />

achievement well-deserved.<br />

MIGUEL<br />

IRAOLA


Federal Reserve Bank of Boston<br />

RETHINKING<br />

FULL<br />

EMPLOYMENT<br />

67TH ECONOMIC<br />

CONFERENCE<br />

On November 18th, Dr. Stefania Albanesi<br />

attended the "Rethinking Full Employment"<br />

conference at the Federal Reserve Bank of<br />

Boston. The conference aimed to analyze<br />

factors preventing full labor market<br />

participation and discuss the Federal<br />

Reserve's role in achieving full employment<br />

and price stability. Dr. Albanesi, the first<br />

presenter, focused on "The Outlook for<br />

Women's Employment and Labor Force<br />

Participation." Her presentation highlighted<br />

the stagnation of US prime-age women's<br />

employment rates post-2000 and explored<br />

barriers such as limited childcare availability.<br />

She also discussed the impact of the COVID-<br />

19 pandemic on female participation,<br />

suggesting potential positive long-term<br />

effects from increased remote work<br />

opportunities for women.


MAYOR LEVINE VISITING ECO212 CLASSES<br />

Professor Ricardo Lago<br />

On October 2, the students of<br />

Principles of Macroeconomics<br />

(ECO212) at Miami Herbert<br />

Business School were thrilled with<br />

the visit of former Mayor Philip<br />

Levine of Miami Beach ( 2013-17).<br />

The topic was the economic<br />

effects of the rise in the sea level<br />

including the escalating cost of<br />

flood insurance and the risks to<br />

real estate values and to the<br />

bankability of mortgages and<br />

investments in the city<br />

The trend in the sea level rise for the last hundred<br />

years used to be one inch every eight years but in<br />

the last two decades, the speed has increased to<br />

one inch every five years. The first order of business<br />

as mayor was to figure out the infrastructure<br />

investments to put in place to save the city given<br />

that, as he put it “water was coming back off our<br />

sewers in our streets even in sunny days.” Hence,<br />

the city put together and carried out a far-reaching<br />

pipeline of projects that included raising the roads<br />

and installing an efficient pumping system to get<br />

rid of the water. Spending “ $500 million to protect<br />

$40 billion worth of real estate. That is a good<br />

investment,” said the major.


ECONOMICS<br />

STUDENT LED THE<br />

DEVELOPMENT OF<br />

TWO BEVERAGE<br />

BRANDS<br />

Fabrizio Alcobe-Garibay is an <strong>Economics</strong><br />

major student with a minor in Finance,<br />

originally from Miami, FL. His academic<br />

pursuits have been complemented by a<br />

dynamic athletic career as a former Division<br />

I tennis player at the University of Delaware.<br />

Fabrizio told us about his<br />

journey creating beverage<br />

brands<br />

“During my tennis career, I had the privilege<br />

of practicing alongside tennis professionals,<br />

including Serena Williams, Venus Williams,<br />

Tommy Robredo, Reilly Opelka, and Grigor<br />

Dimitrov.<br />

This rigorous sporting environment<br />

cultivated my dedication and discipline,<br />

traits that fueled my entrepreneurial drive<br />

to start a beverage company at the age of<br />

19.<br />

In our journey developing Athon Energy<br />

Drink, I've had the opportunity to leverage<br />

my enthusiasm for nutrition and<br />

entrepreneurship to create a brand that<br />

resonates with our generation—a<br />

demographic that places an<br />

unprecedented emphasis on wellness.<br />

Throughout every stage, from ideation and<br />

formulation to brand development, fine-tuning<br />

marketing strategies, and securing the<br />

necessary funding, I've been hands-on to ensure<br />

our vision for a great-tasting, exciting, natural,<br />

and functional energy drink comes to fruition.<br />

My role was central to Athon's brand<br />

development, in which I focused on all the<br />

intricate details that would set us apart in a<br />

competitive market.<br />

Key to embedding Athon in the cultural zeitgeist,<br />

our company has partnered with icons in the<br />

urban music scene, Nicky Jam and Manuel Turizo.<br />

These partnerships are vital, as we don't just seek<br />

endorsements—we aim to build a loyal and<br />

energized community that the industry hasn't<br />

seen since Red Bull hit the scene in the 90's.<br />

Our goal is for Athon to be synonymous with the<br />

urban music world, reflecting its energy and<br />

passion. Nicky Jam and Manuel Turizo are more<br />

than partners; they're our co-creators in this<br />

venture, helping to propel Athon as the wellness<br />

energy drink of choice for the urban music scene<br />

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11TH IMF STATISTICAL FORUM<br />

<strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2023</strong><br />

Dr. David<br />

Andolfatto<br />

NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR MONEY AND PAYMENTS: IMPLICATIONS FOR<br />

BANKS<br />

Washington D.C<br />

November 15,<strong>2023</strong><br />

Professor David Andolfatto delivered a<br />

presentation entitled "New Technologies for<br />

Money and Payments: Implications for Banks"<br />

at the 11th IMF Statistical Forum held at IMF<br />

Headquarters in Washington, D.C., on<br />

November 15, <strong>2023</strong>.<br />

In his talk, Professor Andolfatto noted how<br />

technological advances in data storage,<br />

communications, and cryptography have<br />

always disrupted the money and payments<br />

system and required central banks and<br />

regulators to adapt. On net, these innovations<br />

have been complementary to the industry,<br />

despite the disruption they cause.<br />

The question Professor Andolfatto pondered was whether<br />

one should expect future innovations to be similarly<br />

complementary, or whether anything on the horizon might<br />

pose an existential threat to banks and/or make the lives of<br />

central banks and regulators exceedingly difficult. He<br />

identified the Decentralized Autonomous Organization as<br />

something that could pose just such a threat. In his talk, he<br />

outlined ways in which this threat might manifest itself and<br />

discussed a strategy for how policymakers might contend<br />

with the threat.<br />

Professor Andolfatto's full presentation can be viewed here,<br />

beginning at the 43-minute mark:<br />

https://www.imf.org/en/Videos/view?vid=6341314913112


Our <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2023</strong> Speakers<br />

Speaker: Mehdi Shadmehr<br />

Affiliation: University of North Carolina,<br />

Chapel Hill<br />

Title: Real-time Surveillance of<br />

Repression: Theory and Implementation<br />

Date: September 8th, <strong>2023</strong><br />

Speaker: Ariel Zetlin-Jones<br />

Affiliation: Camegie Mellon University<br />

Title: Automated Exchange <strong>Economics</strong><br />

Date: October 13th, <strong>2023</strong><br />

Speaker: Francesc Dilme<br />

Affiliation: University of Bonn<br />

Title: The Role of Discounting in<br />

Bargaining with One-Sided Offers<br />

Date: September 27th, <strong>2023</strong><br />

Speaker: Andreas Neuhierl<br />

Affiliation: Washington University in St.<br />

Louis<br />

Title: Robust Stock Index Return<br />

Predictions<br />

Date: September 29th, <strong>2023</strong><br />

Speaker: Fabrizio Perri<br />

Affiliation: Federal Reserve Bank of<br />

Minneapolis<br />

Title: Reconciling macro and finance:<br />

the US corporate Sector 1929-2022<br />

Date: October 20th, <strong>2023</strong><br />

Speaker: Francesco Parisi<br />

Affiliation: University of Minnesota<br />

Title: Liability for Robots<br />

Date: October 23rd, <strong>2023</strong><br />

Speaker: Francesco Bianchi<br />

Affiliation: Johns Hopkins University<br />

Title: Who is Afraid of Eurobonds<br />

Date: October 6th, <strong>2023</strong><br />

Speaker: Adrian Peralta Alva<br />

Affiliation: International Monetary Fund<br />

Title: Costly Increases in Public Debt<br />

when r


Our <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2023</strong> Speakers<br />

Speaker: David Rivers<br />

Affiliation: University of Western<br />

Ontario<br />

Title: Financial Shocks, Productivity, and<br />

Prices<br />

Date: November 1st, <strong>2023</strong><br />

Speaker: Paula Onuchic<br />

Affiliation: University of Oxford<br />

Title: Disclosure and Incentives in Teams<br />

Date: November 15th, <strong>2023</strong><br />

Speaker: Cristina Arellano<br />

Affiliation: Federal Reserve Bank of<br />

Minnesota<br />

Title: Micro Risks and (Robust) Pareto<br />

Improving Policies<br />

Date: November 3rd, <strong>2023</strong><br />

Speaker: Nathan Lane<br />

Affiliation: University of Oxford<br />

Title: The Who, What, When, and How of<br />

Industrial Policy: A Text-Based Approach<br />

Date: December 4th, <strong>2023</strong><br />

Speaker: Leland Farmer<br />

Affiliation: University of Virginia<br />

Title: Disagreement About the Term<br />

Structure of Inflation Expectations<br />

Date: November 8th, <strong>2023</strong><br />

Speaker: Danil Dmitriev<br />

Affiliation: University of Yale<br />

Title: Motivating Creativity<br />

Date: December 6th, <strong>2023</strong><br />

Speaker: Harry Pei<br />

Affiliation: Northwestern University<br />

Title: Reputation Effects with<br />

Endogenous Records<br />

Date: November 10th, <strong>2023</strong><br />

Speaker: Christopher Boem<br />

Affiliation: University of Texas at Austin<br />

Title: The US, Economic News, and The<br />

Global Financial Cycle<br />

Date: December 8th, <strong>2023</strong>


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