Dave Stockton

The recent financial crisis resulted in unprecedented policy responses from monetary and fiscal policymakers, and has led to widespread changes to the regulatory structure of the financial industry that are still in the process of unfolding. Those changes have left a legacy of historically low interest rates, still-tight credit conditions, massive federal budget deficits and burgeoning federal debt. How will these highly unusual and almost certainly unsustainable circumstances evolve over the next few years? Will the efforts to normalize monetary policy, reduce federal deficits and adjust the regulatory environment be mutually reinforcing and supportive of recovery, or will they be in some conflict with the potential to slow the process of adjustment and repair? How will the process of rebalancing monetary, fiscal and regulatory policies influence the economic environment in which businesses and households operate? Dave Stockton, during his 30 years in the Federal Reserve and his 11 years as its Chief Economist, observed and participated in the policymaking process in the United States. Using the perspectives that he gained from those experiences, he will lay out a variety of scenarios for the courses of monetary, fiscal and regulatory policies and their respective consequences for the course of financial and economic developments both here and abroad.