Dear NBER Researchers and Staff Members -
Some parts of Cambridge still had snow cover this weekend, but
plans are well underway for the NBER Summer Institute. I am writing to
tell you about this year's special events as well as other recent NBER news.
The 2011 Summer Institute will begin on Monday, July 11. Ken
Rogoff of Harvard will deliver this year's Martin Feldstein lecture,
titled "Sovereign Bankruptcy: Is This Time Different?," on the afternoon
of Thursday, July 14. I know that this will be a timely and insightful
talk, and I hope that you will be able to attend.
Larry Christiano of Northwestern and Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde of
the University of Pennsylvania will present this year's "Methods
Lectures" on Thursday/Friday, July 21-22. Their lectures,
"Computational Tools and Macroeconomic Applications," will cover various
approaches to model solution as well as applications drawn from macro
and international finance. I am very grateful for Larry and Jesus for
developing a concise set of lectures that will serve as an excellent
introduction to this important area.
There are several new sessions at this year's Summer Institute,
including "Macro Public Finance," "Development and Productivity," and
"Finance and Macroeconomics." You can find a complete listing of
scheduled meetings at
http://www.nber.org/~confer/2011/SI2011/SI2011.html
Before closing, I would like to thank Howard Kunreuther of the
Wharton School, who co-directs the Insurance Working Group, and Peter
Tufano of Harvard Business School, who co-directs the Household Finance
Working Group, for their outstanding leadership of NBER research
activities. Both will be stepping down from their these roles at the
end of this academic year; Peter will become the Dean of the Said
Business School at Oxford at that time. Both Howard and Peter have done
a superb job in shaping the intellectual agenda for their working
groups, and I am very grateful to them for their outstanding
contributions. Their respective co-directors, Ken Froot of Harvard
Business School for Insurance, and Brigitte Madrian of the Harvard
Kennedy School and Nick Souleles of the Wharton School for Household
Finance, will continue to lead these groups.
I look forward to seeing you at the Summer Institute if not
before. All best wishes for the balance of the spring semester.
Jim Poterba
Received on Mon Mar 07 2011 - 11:17:48 EST
