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Symposium

Robert B. Menschel Economics Symposium: Economic Decision-Making During Times of Uncertainty

Event date



From Robert B Menschel Economics Symposium and Renewing America.

Inflation, the possibility of a recession, concerns in the banking industry, and implications of geopolitical conflicts, among other factors, contribute to a growing sense of economic insecurity. The 2023 Robert B. Menschel Economics Symposium discusses economic decision-making and how individuals, corporations, and governments weigh risks during times of economic instability. A full symposium agenda is available here.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Robert E. Rubin, Author, The Yellow Pad: Making Better Decisions in an Uncertain World; Chairman Emeritus, Council on Foreign Relations; Former U.S. Treasury Secretary (1995–99)

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 in 2022, the symposium continues in his honor and memory.

Menschel Symposium In-Person Session I: Weighing Economic Risks Amid Instability

Speakers

  • Şebnem Kalemli-Özcan
    Neil Moskowitz Endowed Professor of Economics and Finance, University of Maryland; Member, Economic Advisory Panel, Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Member, Advisory Panel, Bank of International Settlements; CFR Member (speaking virtually)
  • Michaela Pagel
    Roderick H. Cushman Associate Professor of Business, Columbia Business School
  • Jason Schloetzer
    Associate Professor of Business Administration and Area Chair of Accounting and Business Law, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University

Presider

  • Ali Velshi
    Host, Velshi, and Chief Correspondent, MSNBC; CFR Member

Transcript

VELSHI: Thank you, everybody. Welcome to those of you here in the room and those who are joining us electronically. It’s great to be with you this evening.

My name is Ali Velshi. I am the host of a show called Velshi and the chief correspondent at MSNBC and I’ll be presiding over today’s discussion. This is—today’s meeting is a session of the Robert B. Menschel Economic Symposium: Economic Decision-Making During Times of Uncertainty.

This symposium is made possible through the generous support of Robert B. Menschel. Since his passing in 2022 the symposium continues in his honor and memory. The audience today consists of Council members across the country who are joining us online as well as here in the room—thank you—and I am joined for this conversation by Şebnem Kalemli-Özcan, Michaela Pagel, and Jason Schloetzer for this session on “Weighing Economic Risks Amid Instability.”

So thanks very much. Thanks to my panelists who are here,

Şebnem, thank you for joining us from away. I want to start with you, actually, because when we’re talking about times of uncertainty one could wonder whether this title of this talk could be at any time ever.

But this is an unusual...

Menschel Symposium In-Person Keynote Session With Robert E. Rubin

Speaker

  • Robert E. RubinCFR Expert
    Author, The Yellow Pad: Making Better Decisions in an Uncertain World; Chairman Emeritus, Council on Foreign Relations; Former U.S. Treasury Secretary (1995–99)

Presider

Transcript

GOLODRYGA: Welcome to the keynote session of today’s Council on Foreign Relations Robert R. Menschel Economic Symposium session. This symposium is made possible through the generous support of Robert Menschel and, since his passing in 2022, the symposium continues in his honor and memory.

I am Bianna Golodryga, senior global affairs analyst and anchor at CNN, and I’m delighted to be presiding over this session with you in this discussion with Bob Rubin. He needs no introduction. Former U.S. Treasury secretary, chairman emeritus of CFR, and author of a fantastic new book, The Yellow Pad. Welcome, all of you. Welcome, Bob. Good to see you.

RUBIN: Thank you, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: So Bob told me graciously that we didn’t need to spend much time talking about the book, we can talk about news of day. And I said, no, no, no, we are going to weave in the book because it is relevant with a lot of the topics that we’ll be discussing today. We’ll have about a thirty-minute conversation just the two of us, and then we’ll open it up to questions from the audience. And we have people calling in as well via Zoom. So with that, let us...