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Experts to Discuss Global Imbalances and the U.S. Dollar at May 1 Conference

April 8, 2008

The nation’s top authorities on the most critical issues in international finance will speak at a half-day conference May 1 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The conference, “Global Imbalances and the U.S. Dollar: Doing Business in the World Economy,” will be hosted by UW-Madison’s Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) at the Wisconsin School of Business, together with the university’s Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE) and the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs. It will be held at the Fluno Center for Executive Education from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Panelists will cover a variety of questions on the minds of area businesses: Will the U.S. trade deficit shrink? Will China, Saudi Arabia, and Russia continue to finance U.S. trade and government budget deficits? Will the value of the dollar continue to fall? What are the global implications of the U.S. financial distress? And, how do these issues affect Midwest firms competing in the global market?

“Understanding what is going to happen to the dollar is important because it will affect the competitiveness of Wisconsin manufactured and agricultural products both domestically and in world markets,” according to UW-Madison Professor Menzie Chinn. “Business executives also need to be aware of the dollar’s moves in order to take advantage of the opportunities that a weaker dollar presents.”

Speakers will include:

• Catherine Mann, senior fellow at the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics
• Jeffrey A. Frankel, James W. Harpel Professor of Capital Formation and Growth at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government
• Michael Melvin, managing director at Barclay’s Global Investors
• Shang-Jin Wei, past chief of the Trade and Investment Division at the International Monetary Fund

The panel will be moderated by Professor Chinn of UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs and Department of Economics and Professor Charles Engel of UW-Madison’s Department of Economics and the Wisconsin School of Business. A keynote address will be given by Wisconsin School of Business Dean Michael Knetter. For more information, including online registration and a schedule of events, visit: http://www.bus.wisc.edu/ciber/events/ciberevents.asp?eid=949. For questions regarding registration, contact CIBER/WAGE Outreach Director Suzanne Dove, sdove@bus.wisc.edu (608) 265-4938.

This conference is sponsored by the Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE), Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) and Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs. It is co-sponsored by the International Credit Executives Group, Madison International Trade Association (MITA), University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison European Union Center of Excellence (EUCE), Wisconsin Department of Commerce Bureau of Investment and Export and World Trade Center Wisconsin.