23 September 2013

SBE joint meeting with NABE

George Kahn, Vice President and Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
Ian Shepherdson, Chief Economist, Pantheon Macroeconomics

Left to right: Host Bronwyn Curtis, Ian Shepherdson & George Kahn
Left to right: Host Bronwyn Curtis, Ian Shepherdson & George Kahn

On Monday 23rd September 2013 the SBE held a joint meeting with NABE, when we were delighted to welcome as our guest speakers George Kahn, Vice President and Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and Ian Shepherdson, Chief Economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

At a lively, and well attended event, George and Ian debated the US economy and the Fed’s latest economic strategy. Ian talked about three key concerns: upcoming fiscal debates, tightening financial conditions and a macro economy that was not growing strongly enough. He tied this latter point to the relative weakness of small businesses, which could yet suffer further at the hands of fiscal uncertainties.

George discussed some of the cyclical and structural factors that had caused the decline in the labour participation rate in the US and argued that a combination of tighter financial conditions, uncertainty over fiscal policy, and a softer tone of recent data might have weighed on the minds of the FOMC in terms of their decision not to taper asset purchases in September.

He noted that members of the Federal Open Market Committee Fed Governors had expressed particularly variant opinions on where official interest rates might be further ahead, particularly in 2015 and 2016.”