"Now What?" AGORA Economic Conference
The Economic Conference of the 4th Athens Biennale 2013
October 12, 17:00 – 21:00
10 Sofokleous str., Athens

The economic crisis has caused a crisis in economics. Old theories and models no longer work. Central banks are now pursuing unprecedented, even radical economic policies, aiming to stabilize the global economy. But will they succeed? Shifts in economic theory are underlying and influencing these policy moves, leading to a new understanding of what causes financial crashes, with less consensus of how to recover from them.

Pondering this turning point, AGORA is tackling these economic questions: it is staging an economics conference, featuring influential economists from around the world, who will convey, as well as debate, current economic thinking about "the crisis" and possible ways forward. The date of the conference coincides with the World Bank / IMF Annual Meeting in Washington. The setting here, however, is not the site of global financial power but instead, the building of the National Bank of Greece in Sofokleous 8-10, that was for decades the former Athens Stock exchange, the site of the 4th Athens Biennale.

The conference offers several innovations: it is the first to bring mainstream well known economists into an art world setting. The second innovation is that these sorts of conferences are typically "closed" whereas this one is fully open to the public, and they are encouraged to participate. This is in keeping with the overall approach of AGORA, as a forum for the exchange of views, and a site of fermentation between professionals from different backgrounds.

At a time when the financial crisis in Greece and elsewhere is reaching a highpoint, the 4th Athens Biennale 2013 AGORA cannot but respond to this bleak situation through a pertinent question: Now what?

Participants

Paolo Manasse Professor of Macroeconomics and International Economic Policy at the University of Bologna.
Vito Polito,lecturer on economics at the University of Bath.
Professor Frances Ruane, Director of ESRI, Ireland.
Heiner Flassbeck, Director of the Division on Globalization and Development Strategies of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and former chief macroeconomist in the German Institute for Economic Research.
Deirdre McCloskey, Distinguished Professor of Economics, History, English, and Communication University of Illinois at Chicago; Professor of Economic History,Gothenburg University, Sweden. (by video link)
Loukas Tsoukalis, Jean Monnet Professor of European Organisation at the University of Athens and President of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy, ELIAMEP.
Nicholas Economides, (Stanford/NYU), an internationally recognized academic authority on network economics, electronic commerce and public policy. (by video link)
Elias Papaioannou, Associate Professor of Economics at London Business School. He is a research affiliate of the CEPR (Centre for Economic Policy Research) and the NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research).

Moderator: David Adler, economic analyst and author

Format

The economic forum will consist of a half day event of informal talks on the crisis. Each guest will give a short presentation (approx. 20 mins) and then answer questions from the audience. Their remarks will be based on their own research and therefore the content will be substantive (versus "pop" economics). Lecture topics include the origin of the Euro debt crisis, the ongoing labor crisis, discussions about the effectiveness of austerity vs. fiscal expansion as well as the experiences and lessons of other afflicted countries. These are not abstract academic issues in Greece today and instead are impacting millions of people's lives.

Agenda

Overview of the crisis
Paolo Manasse, Professor of Macroeconomics and International Economic Policy, University of Bologna.

Capital flows and the crisis
Vito Polito, University of Bath


Views from other countries:

Ireland
Professor Frances Ruane, Director of the ESRI, Ireland

Germany
Heiner Flassbeck, Director of the Division on Globalization and Development Strategies of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; Former chief macroeconomist in the German Institute for Economic Research.

Interlude: What’s wrong with economics
Deirdre McCloskey, Distinguished Professor of Economics, History, English, and Communication , University of Illinois at Chicago; Professor of Economic History,Gothenburg University, Sweden. (by video link)

Coffee break

Greece (part I)
Loukas Tsoukalis, Jean Monnet Professor of European Organisation, University of Athens; President of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy, ELIAMEP.
Nicholas Economides, (Stanford/NYU) Internationally recognized academic authority on network economics, electronic commerce and public policy (by video link)

Conclusion: Greece (part II)
Elias Papaioannou, Associate Professor of Economics, London Business School. He is a research affiliate of the CEPR (Centre for Economic Policy Research) and the NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research).

Moderator: David Adler, economic analyst and author

4th ATHENS BIENNALE 2013 AGORA

OPENING HOURS

ADMISSION