Macroeconomics without Frontiers

December 1-2, 2006
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota

In the past thirty years, macroeconomics has undergone a radical transformation. Its tools were then primarily empirical as researchers analyzed the properties of large-scale forecasting models, as applied to aggregate data. Its focus was largely on monetary and fiscal policy, and their impact on inflation, unemployment, and Gross National Product.

Now, macroeconomists use a robust blend of sophisticated theory and rich data analyses. Their scope of research has exploded. Macroeconomic research is now a huge part of labor economics, political economy, international trade, and industrial organization. Macroeconomics is no longer a field unto itself, but a way of thinking that can attack problems of interest in all fields.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and the University of the Minnesota have been at the forefront of this transformation. The aim of the conference is to bring together frontier work in this larger vision of macroeconomics.