Navigating the economic crisis during a global pandemic

You can watch a recording of this event here.

Join us for a discussion on the challenges of navigating an economic crisis during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Ford School professors Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, and Ford School Dean Michael S. Barr, will discuss some of the unprecedented economic challenges facing global leaders today. How can national, state, and local policymakers advance economic needs and the health and safety of communities? Globally, what approaches have worked so far, and where can we go from here? What have we learned, and how can we be better prepared in the future? From the speakers' bios: 

Michael S. Barr is the Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, the Frank Murphy Collegiate Professor of Public Policy, the Roy F. and Jean Humphrey Proffitt Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, and the founder and Faculty Director of the University of Michigan's Center on Finance, Law, and Policy. Professor Barr was on leave during 2009 and 2010, serving in President Barack H. Obama's Administration as the U.S. Department of the Treasury's assistant secretary for financial institutions, and was a key architect of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. Prior to his Senate confirmation, Barr served on the National Economic Council in the White House. Professor Barr previously served in the Administration of William J. Clinton as Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin's special assistant, as deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury, as special adviser to President William J. Clinton, and as a special adviser and counselor on the policy planning staff at the U.S. Department of State.

Betsey Stevenson is a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan. She is also a faculty research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a visiting associate professor of economics at the University of Sydney, a research fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research, a fellow of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research in Munich, and serves on the executive committee of the American Economic Association. She served as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers from 2013 to 2015 where she advised President Obama on social policy, labor market, and trade issues. She served as the chief economist of the U.S. Department of Labor from 2010 to 2011, advising the Secretary of Labor on labor policy and participating as the secretary's deputy to the White House economic team.

Justin Wolfers is a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan. He also serves as a member of the Congressional Budget Office Panel of Economic Advisers. Wolfers' research interests include labor economics, macroeconomics, political economy, social policy, law and economics, and behavioral economics. Previously, Wolfers was an associate professor of business and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania and a visiting professor at Princeton University. He is a research associate with the National Bureau for Economic Research, a senior fellow of the Brookings Institution, a senior fellow of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a research affiliate with the Centre for Economic Policy Research in London, and an international research fellow at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy in Germany. He is also a contributing columnist with the New York Times. 

This event is hosted by the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and co-sponsored by the Office of University Development.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with details about joining the webinar. Please note: to join the event you will need to download Zoom to your device. 

• Economics and finance
• Justin Wolfers
• Betsey Stevenson
• Michael Barr
• covid-19 impact
• covid-19
• faculty speakers
• DEI