Policy Conference Set To Explore Options As Elections Near

Against the backdrop of the national elections, NABE will open its 24th annual Washington Policy Conference on March 3.  Over two full days attendees will hear from top economic policymakers and prominent private analysts on the housing crisis, prospects for a recession, monetary policy, and a wide array of policy options that will face the next president and a new Congress.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has confirmed that he will speak on Monday morning.

Arrive early and attend the NABE president’s welcome reception at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 2.  The conference will be held at the Marriott Crystal City at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Va.  The first session will start at 8 a.m. on Monday, March 3 and will adjourn at 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday, March 4. 

The presidential election will take center stage during the last session of the conference when NABE sponsors a second debate among the economic advisers to the top presidential candidates on both the Republican and Democratic sides.  Tom Keene of Bloomberg News will be the moderator.  Organizers of the 2008 annual meeting, set for Oct. 5-7 in Washington, D.C., are planning a third debate.

Held Nov. 9 at the National Press club, the first NABE-sponsored debate included five  economic advisers and drew a crowd of more 200 people and significant media coverage.

As it turns out, presidential politics played a role in NABE’s early years as well as the current election cycle, which happens to coincide with the organization’s 50th anniversary.  See how an event related to the 1960 presidential election changed the atmosphere of NABE’s second annual meeting that fall.

How to Address Economic Downturn?

Since NABE members met last fall in San Francisco at the annual meeting, the U.S. economy has turned down, prompting a growing number of economists to predict recession.  As worries about the economy displace other voter concerns, the White House and Congress negotiated a stimulus package that would boost spending.

What are the best remedies for the economic downturn?  Will the mortgage crunch stretch well into 2009?  How will the election affect health policy choices?   In general and concurrent sessions, the policy conference promises to address these key questions and many others that have come to the fore during this election cycle.

“We will strike a good balance between individual policy concerns and what the next administration and Congress will need to do,” said conference co-chair Ken Simonson, chief economist at the Associated General Contractors of America.

Conference co-chair Robert Fry, senior associate economist at DuPont, added that the conference will include two sessions on the current outlook—one focusing on the housing market and the other on “spillovers from housing to consumer spending.”   Plus, on March 3, NABE will release results of its policy survey that will show rankings of the most serious concerns and likely policy outcomes in the months ahead.

Fed Officials Will Offer Their Perspective

Two top Federal Reserve officials are scheduled to address the conference.  Federal Reserve Board Governor Frederic Mishkin will offer his views as the luncheon speaker on Tuesday, March 4.   Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Plosser will be the first speaker the morning of Monday, March 3, and will discuss “The Benefits of a Systematic Approach to Monetary Policy.”

Mishkin and Plosser will be sharing their observations just a few weeks after the central bank’s dramatic actions lowering interest rates to bolster financial markets in late January and about two weeks before the next meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on March 18.

Edward Lazear, chairman of President Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers, is scheduled to address the conference the morning of Tuesday, March 4, on the economic outlook.

In addition to Lazear and the Fed officials, the confirmed speakers include:

• Miranda Anderson, Wal-Mart
• Andrew Aulisi, World Resources Institute
• Paul Bennett, New York Stock Exchange
• David Berson, PMI Group
• Susan Binder, National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission
• Michael Cannon, Cato Institute
• Edward Cupoli, State University of New York at Albany
• K. G. Duleep, Energy and Environmental Analysis, Inc
• Ann Dunbar, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
• James Edmonds, Joint Global Change Research Institute
• Martin Feldstein, National Bureau of Economic Research President
• Jane Gravelle, Congressional Research Service
• Ethan Harris, Lehman Brothers
• Devon Herrick, National Center for Policy Analysis and Health Economics Roundtable
• Sydney Smith Hicks, SSHICKS Advisors
• Terry Holzheimer, Arlington (VA) County Economic Development
• Peter Hopper, Deutsche Bank Securities
• Lisa Jacobson, Business Council for Sustainable Energy
• Russell O. Jones, American Petroleum Institute
• J. Bruce Kellison, University of Texas, Austin
• Kathryn Kobe, Economic Consulting Services LLC
• Jeff Lemieux, America's Health Insurance Plans (to be confirmed)
• Susan Lund, McKinsey Global Institute
• Robert McGee, U.S. Trust, Bank of America Wealth Management
• Thomas F. McLarty, former chief-of-staff for President Clinton
• Len Nichols, New America Foundation
• Mary Novak, Global Insight Inc.
• C. Kenneth Orski, Transportation NewsBriefs
• Peter Orszag, Congressional Budget Office
• Richard Peach, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
• William A. Pizer, Resources for the Future
• Ben Plowman, Luna Innovations
• Adam Posen, Peterson Institute for International Economics
• Theodore Prince, Consolidated Chassis Management LLC
• Maia Pykina, TTX Company
• Vincent Reinhart, American Enterprise Institute
• Andrew Rozanov, State Street Global Advisers
• Richard Seline, New Economy Strategies
• Robert Shackleton, Congressional Budget Office
• John Silvia, Wachovia Bank N.A.
• Sean Snaith, University of Central Florida
• Charles Steindel, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
• C. Eugene Steuerle, The Urban Institute
• Marc Sumerlin, The Lindsey Group
• Chris Varvares, Macroeconomic Advisers LLC
• Alan Viard, American Enterprise Institute
• Jone-Lin Wang, Cambridge Energy Research Associates
• Karen Weaver, Deutsche Bank
• Roy Webb, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
• Nancy Wentzler, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
• Mark Zandi, Moody's Economy.com

Make hotel reservations by Feb. 22, for the discounted rate.  For hotel reservations, contact the Marriott Crystal City directly at 1-800-228-9290 or 703-413-5500.  Mention the NABE conference for the discounted rate of $239 single or double. Information on registration for the conference and program updates can be found at: http://nabe.com/pc08/index.html

Call to Jazz Musicians!

Jazz musicians, bring your saxe, horn, voice, or whatever to the Policy Conference for our third annual jam session set for the evening welcome reception on Sunday, March 2. Enthusiasm is more important than proficiency. If you sound like Stan Getz or Diana Krall, that’s cool; if you play outside – either on purpose or by accident – that’s cool, too. Our focus will be on relatively simple tunes – a mix of standards, blues, bossas and bebop tunes – in order to maximize participation. Head charts in C, B-flat, and E-flat will be provided. Also, the room will have a piano, drum set, stands and amps. We need to know how many will show up and what instruments, so please contact Bob Crow at (650) 343-7615 or rtcrow@comcast.net to let him know if you will participate and to offer comments and suggestions. Drop your inhibitions, bring your instrument, and be there!