Economics Teams Up With Darden to Host Unique Conference
Two faculty members from the Department of Economics and the Darden School of Business collaborated last month to organize a major international conference on macro-economic theory and finance. Ana Fostel, professor of economics, and Kinda Hachem, an associate professor of business administration at Darden, worked together to coordinate the first UVA Symposium on Financial Economics, which they hope to continue as an annual fall event.
John Pepper, Economics chair, praised Fostel and Hachem’s efforts in designing a two-day event that offered visiting panelists, UVA faculty and graduate students a unique opportunity to discuss the latest theoretical work grappling with real-world issues affecting monetary policy, credit cycles and other issues related to global markets.
“The symposium not only drew top-tier economists and officials from around the world,” Pepper said. “It also showcased the current research of economists working within the Department of Economics and the Darden School.”
The conference featured researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Chicago, Princeton University, UCLA and other academic institutions, as well as economists from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
Robert Bruner, Darden's Distinguished Professor in Business Administration and Dean Emeritus, participated with Eric Leeper, the College’s Paul Goodloe McIntire Professor in Economics, on a policy panel titled “Getting Ready for the Next Financial Crisis.”
Given the positive feedback that she and Hachem received from November’s symposium, Fostel said the Department of Economics and Darden hope to organize a second one next year, depending on funding.
“There is a clear demand for this type of event,” Fostel said. “There are very few conferences like this one that focus on financial economics with a special emphasis on theory. Kinda and I believe this fills an unexplored niche, and this year’s symposium really puts UVA on the map in terms of this area of research.”