Monetary and Fiscal Policy in the Next Recession

Laurence M. Ball	Angelo Melino
Johns Hopkins University and NBER	University of Toronto, RCEA and C.D.Howe Institute

The current macroeconomic situation will make it more difficult than ever for policymakers to stimulate economies in the next recession.  Policy interest rates cannot be reduced much  since they are at record lows; public debt is, in most countries, at record high, and the new US administration is promising to roll back some of macroprudential reforms introduced in the wake of the Great Recession. The current situation makes dealing with the next recession a formidable challenge. The goal of the workshop is to discuss what can be done to prepare for the next cyclical downturn, and what to do when the next recession starts, as it inevitably will.