Conferences: Spring, 2009

Twenty-fourth Annual Conference on Macroeconomics

The NBER's Twenty-fourth Annual Conference on Macroeconomics, organizer by Research Associates Daron Acemoglu of MIT, Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard University, and Michael Woodford of Columbia University, took place in Cambridge on April 10 and 11. These papers were discussed:

• John Geanakoplos, Yale University, “The Leverage Cycle”
• Christopher Foote and Lorenz Goette, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; Kristopher Gerardi, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and Paul Willen, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and NBER, “Reducing Foreclosures”
• Effi Benmelech, Harvard University and NBER, and Jennifer Dlugosz, Harvard University, “The Credit Rating Crisis”
• Fatih Guvenen, University of Minnesota and NBER, and Burhanettin Kuruscu, University of Texas at Austin, “A Quantitative Analysis of the Evolution of the U.S. Wage Distribution: 1970-2000”
• George-Marios Angeletos, MIT and NBER, and Jennifer La’O, MIT , “Noisy Business Cycles”
• Paul Beaudry, University of British Columbia and NBER, and Bernd Lucke, University of Hamburg, “Letting Different Views about Business Cycles Complete”

Innovation Policy and the Economy

The NBER’s tenth annual Conference on Innovation Policy and the Economy took place in Washington on April 14. The conference was organized by NBER Research Associates Adam B. Jaffe of Brandeis University, Joshua Lerner of Harvard University, and Scott Stern of Northwestern University. The following papers were discussed:

• Michael Kremer, Harvard University and NBER, and Heidi Williams, Harvard University, "Incentivizing Innovation: Adding to the Toolkit"
• Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Harvard University, and Koleman Strumpf, University of Kansas, "File-Sharing and Copyright"
• Antoinette Schoar, MIT and NBER, "Globalization of Entrepreneurship"
• Paula E. Stephan, Georgia State University and NBER, "The 'I's' Have It: Immigration and Innovation, the Perspective from Academe"
• Iain M. Cockburn, Boston University and NBER, and Matthew J. Slaughter, Dartmouth College and NBER, "The Global Location of Biopharmaceutical Knowledge Activity: New Findings, New Questions"
• Jerry Thursby, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Marie Thursby, Georgia Institute of Technology and NBER, "University Licensing: Harnessing or Tarnishing Faculty Research?"

Cities and Entrepreneurship

An NBER Conference on Cities and Entrepreneurship, organized by Edward L. Glaeser, NBER and Harvard University, Stuart Rosenthal of Syracuse University, and William Strange of the University of Toronto, took place in Cambridge on May 1 and 2. These papers were discussed:

• Ajay Agrawal, University of Toronto and NBER; Iain Cockburn, Boston University and NBER; and Carlos Rosell, Department of Finance, Canada, "Not Invented Here: Creative Myopia and Company Towns"
• William R. Kerr, Harvard University, "How Important Is Local Innovation for Entrepreneurship? An Assessment through U.S. Scientific Immigration"
• Paul Gompers and Josh Lerner, Harvard University and NBER; Anna Kovner, Federal Reserve Bank of New York; and Henry Chen, Harvard University, "Buy Local? The Geography of Successful and Unsuccessful Venture Capital Expansion"
• Jed Kolko, PPIC, and David Neumark, University of California, Irvine and NBER, "Does Local Business Ownership Stabilize Employment?"
• Michael Dahl, University of Aalborg, and Olav Sorenson, University of Toronto, "The Migration of Technical Workers"
• Mark Doms, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco; Ethan Lewis, Dartmouth College; and Alicia Robb, University of California, Santa Cruz, "Local Labor Market Endowments, New Business Characteristics, and Performance"
• Edward L. Glaeser, and Giacomo A. M. Ponzetto and William R. Kerr, Harvard University, "Geographic Amenities and the Agglomeration of Innovation Entrepreneurship"
• Steven Klepper, Carnegie Mellon University, "The Origin and Growth of Industry Clusters: The Making of Silicon Valley and Detroit"
• John Haltiwanger, University of Maryland and NBER, and Ron Jarmin and C.J. Krizan, U.S. Census Bureau, "Mom & Pop Meet Big Box: Complements or Substitutes?"
• Amanda Ross and Stuart Rosenthal, Syracuse University, "Violent Crime, Entrepreneurship, and Vibrant Cities"

Competition and Government Intervention in the Airline Industry

An NBER/Universities Research Conference on "“Competition and Government Intervention in the Airline Industry" took place in Cambridge on May 15. NBER Research Associates Severin Borenstein, University of California, Berkeley, and Dennis Carlton, University of Chicago, organized the conference and chose these papers for discussion:

• Silke J. Forbes, University of California, San Diego, and Mara Lederman, University of Toronto, "Does Vertical Integration Affect Firm Performance? Evidence from the Airline Industry"
• Steven L. Puller, Texas A&M University and NBER; and Anirban Sengupta and Steven N. Wiggins, Texas A&M University, "Testing Theories of Scarcity Pricing and Price Dispersion in the Airline Industry"
• James D. Dana, Jr., Northeastern University, and Eugene Orlov, Compass Lexecon, "Internet Penetration and Capacity Utilization in the US Airline Industry"

Climate Change: Past and Present

NBER Research Associates Gary D. Libecap, University of California, Santa Barbara, and Richard H. Steckel, Ohio State University, organized an NBER Conference on “Climate Change: Past and Present.” The May 30 and 31 gathering took place in Cambridge. These papers were discussed:

• John Landon-Lane, Rutgers University; Hugh Rockoff, Rutgers University and NBER, and Richard H. Steckel, “Droughts, Floods and Financial Markets in the United States”
• Karen Clay, Carnegie Mellon University, and Werner Troesken, George Mason University and NBER, “Did Frederick Brodie Discover the World's First Environmental Kuznet's Curve, and If So, Why Should Anyone Really Care?”
• Price V. Fishback and Paul W. Rhode, University of Arizona and NBER; Trevor Kollman, University of Arizona; Michael Haines, Colgate College and NBER; and Melissa Thomasson, Miami University and NBER, “The Trials of Job: Impact of Climate Change and Weather on Infant and Non-Infant Death Rates During the Great Depression”
• Anin Aroonruengsawat and Maximillian Auffhammer, University of California, Berkeley, “Impacts of Climate Change on Residential Electricity Consumption: Evidence from Billing Data”
• Morgan Kelly and Cormac O’Grada, University College, Dublin, “Did Climate Matter? The Little Ice Age and European Growth”
• Michael J. Roberts, North Carolina State University, and Wolfram Schlenker, Columbia University and NBER, “The Evolution of Heat Tolerance of Corn: Implications for Climate Change”
• Price V. Fishback and Paul W. Rhode, and Jonathan Fox, University of Arizona, “The Economic Response to Climate Change in the Farm Sector: The United States, 1895-1969”
• Alan L. Olmstead, University of California, Davis and NBER, and Paul W. Rhode, “Adjusting to Climatic Variation: Historical Perspectives from North American Agricultural Development”
• Zeynep K. Hansen, Boise State University and NBER; Gary D. Libecap, and Scott E. Lowe, Boise State University, “Climate Variability and Water Infrastructure: Historical Experience in the Western United States”
• Robert S. Pindyck, MIT and NBER, “Uncertainty, Extreme Outcomes, and Climate Change Policy”
• Richard Sutch, University of California, Riverside and NBER, “The Impact of the 1936 Corn-Belt Drought on American Farmers’ Adoption of Hybrid Corn”
• Raghav Gaiha, University of Delhi, India; Kenneth Hill and Vani S. Kulkarni, Harvard University; and Antanu Mathur, International Fund for Agricultural Development, “On Devastating Droughts”
• Martin Weitzman, Harvard University and NBER, “Additive Damages, Fat Tailed Climate Dynamics, and Uncertain Discounting”
• Alessandro Gavazza, New York University, "The Role of Trading Frictions in Real Asset Markets"
• Jan K. Brueckner, University of California, Irvine, "Price vs. Quantity-Based Approaches to Airport Congestion Management"
• Itai Ater, Tel Aviv University, “Internalization of Congestion at U.S. Hub Airports”