Federal Reserve Bank of New York

05/13/2022 | News release | Archived content

Climate Change: Implications for Macroeconomics

On May 13, 2022, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York hosted a Symposium on "Climate Change: Implications for Macroeconomics". The goal of the Symposium, which is organized by the Applied Macroeconomics and Econometrics Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, is to stimulate a thought-provoking debate on the topic of climate change and its implications for the macroeconomy. The Symposium will bring together both academics and policymakers to discuss four key topics: the implications of climate change for monetary policy; labor and capital reallocation due to climate change and associated policies; climate change, trade, and global production; and climate uncertainty, financial markets, and the natural rate of interest. Since research on many of these topics is still nascent, panelists will explore the key questions, ideas, and fruitful research avenues in this important field.
Audience

This event is open to the public and media virtually. All remarks are on the record and the event will be livestreamed with a recording to be made available afterwards. For Media inquiries, please contact Mariah Measey at [email protected].

Agenda

Each one-hour session will include two 15-minute presentations followed by a 30-minute roundtable discussion.


10:00am-10:05am Opening Remarks

Rajashri Chakrabarti, Federal Reserve Bank of New York

10:05am-11:05am Session I: Implications of Climate Change for Monetary Policy

James H. Stock, Harvard University Presentation
Iván Werning, MIT Presentation

What are the likely consequences of climate change and climate policy for the macroeconomy in terms of long-term productivity as well as the volatility of output growth and inflation? Will the unpredictability related to climate change and/or climate policy usher in a new "cost push shock" era, different from the pre-COVID economy where shocks rarely involved tradeoffs for the monetary authority? Does monetary policy, both traditional interest rate policy and QE, have direct or indirect effects on climate change, possibly via its impact on risk premia? What macroeconomic risks associated with climate change should a central bank especially monitor?

11:10am-12:10pm Session II: Labor and Capital Reallocation and Climate Change

Daron Acemoglu, MIT Presentation
Tatyana Deryugina, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Presentation

Climate change and related policies will bring about reallocation of both labor and capital across sectors and geographical regions. To what extent will this reallocation affect aggregate outcomes, such as the natural rate of unemployment u*? Will it affect inequality across and within demographic groups? What are the macroeconomic implications of any such changes?

12:10pm-1:00pm Lunch
1:00pm-2:00pm Session III: Climate Change, Trade, and Global Production

Solomon Hsiang, University of California, Berkeley, and Global Policy Laboratory Presentation
Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, University of Chicago Presentation

How will climate change shift economic activity within, across, and between countries? What is the potential impact of climate policy on the global supply chain? What are the implications for monetary policy makers?

2:05pm-3:05pm Session IV: Climate Uncertainty, Financial Markets, and the Natural Rate of Interest

Lars Peter Hansen, University of Chicago Presentation
Monika Piazzesi, Stanford University Presentation

How will climate change and policy-related uncertainty impact financial markets and in turn affect the macroeconomy via risk premia, the demand for safe assets, and the natural rate of interest? How will they impact households' and firms' savings and investment decisions? What could be the effects on the housing market? What could be the distributional consequences of these developments?

Speakers

MIT Institute Professor

MIT

Associate Professor of Finance

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The David Rockefeller Distinguished Service Professor

University of Chicago

Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy

University of California, Berkeley, and Global Policy Laboratory

Joan Kenney Professor of Economics

Stanford University

The Glen A. Lloyd Distinguished Service Professor

University of Chicago

Harold Hitchings Burbank Professor of Political Economy

Harvard University

Professor

MIT

organizers

Rajashri Chakrabarti, Marco Del Negro, Julian di Giovanni and Laura Pilossoph

contact

For logistical inquiries, please contact [email protected]

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