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Robert B. Menschel Economics Symposium

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From Robert B Menschel Economics Symposium and Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies.

The 2022 Robert B. Menschel Economics Symposium discusses the current state of inflation in the United States through the lens of behavioral economics, including how public perceptions might contribute to rising inflation rates. The full agenda is available here.

The Robert B. Menschel Economics Symposium, presented by the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies, generates critical thinking about the consequences of herd mentality behavior in global economics. This symposium was established in 2014 and was made possible through a generous endowment gift from Robert B. Menschel while a senior director at Goldman Sachs. Since Menschel’s death earlier this year, the symposium continues in his honor and memory.

In-Person Keynote Session: A Conversation With Meir Statman

Meir Statman will discuss how cognitive bias can exacerbate consumer concerns in an inflationary environment.

Speaker

  • Meir Statman
    Glenn Klimek Professor of Finance, Santa Clara University

Presider

  • Gillian Tett
    Chair of the Editorial Board and Editor-at-Large, U.S., Financial Times​​​​​​​

Introductory Remarks

  • Richard Haass
    President, Council on Foreign Relations; @RichardHaass

Transcript

HAASS: Welcome one and all to today’s Council on Foreign Relations symposium, named for Robert B. Menschel. This is our seventh annual Menschel Symposium. But, alas and sadly, it’s the first not to include Bob, who passed away two weeks ago. Many people in this community know him well—or most for his five decades at Goldman, but he was something of a renaissance man. He was a dedicated leader of many civic and cultural organizations, and a great photography collector. And his philanthropy ranged far and wide from medicine, to education, to criminal justice, but, obviously, also to the Council on Foreign Relations. And since joining this organization fifteen years ago, Bob contributed consistently and generously to our annual fund, and then his gift here to establish the symposium in his name was transformative because it really allowed us to expand what we do in this realm of geoeconomics.

Bob was not just generous, but he was informed and wise. His book, Markets, Mobs, and Mayhem: A Modern Look at the Madness of Crowds is unfortunately as relevant today as it was when he published it. And it really is an interesting read about the breakdown of—and breaks down the...

In-Person Session II: Addressing Inflation Expectations

Panelists will discuss whether public perceptions of inflation have been compounded from the pandemic compared to other inflationary periods, if central bank mechanisms adequately captured consumer perceptions, and how governments and policymakers communicate to moderate inflation expectations.

Speakers

  • Carola Binder
    Associate Professor of Economics, Haverford College; Visiting Scholar, Mercatus Center, George Mason University (via videoconference)
  • Willem H. Buiter
    Adjunct Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations; Adjunct Professor, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
  • Michael Weber
    Associate Professor of Finance, Booth School of Business, University of Chicago; Faculty Research Fellow, Monetary Economics and Asset Pricing, National Bureau of Economic Research (via videoconference)

Presider

Transcript

CARUSO-CABRERA: Hi, everyone. Good to see you all. It’s a pleasure. I’m Michelle Caruso-Cabrera and welcome to today’s Council on Foreign Relations Robert B. Menschel Economics Symposium session on “Addressing Inflation Expectations.”

The audience today consists of Council members across the country, who are joining us online as well as here in person in New York, which is a pleasure to see.

As I mentioned, I’m Michelle Caruso-Cabrera. I’m chief executive officer of MCC Productions. I’ll be presiding over today’s presentation.

And I am joined—you can see the screen behind us here—by Carola Binder. She’s associate professor of economics at Haverford College. Willem Buiter, sitting here with me on stage, adjunct senior fellow at CFR, and Michael Weber is associate professor of finance at the Chicago Booth School of Business.

I’ll ask questions for about a half an hour, and then we’ll take questions from both the live and virtual audience.

What I really want at the end of this is I hope we have examples of—this is a symposium on behavioral economics. What could have been done, what should be done right now, applied from behavioral economics to help us deal with inflation and inflation expectations.

Before we get...