The Carnegie-Rochester Conferences on Public Policy are designed to foster research and discussion of major policy issues by economists from academia and policy-making institutions. Economists in universities are often unfamiliar with the constraining effect of institutional arrangements in the shaping of policy issues and policies and economists in government are often less aware of current research and its implications. A central purpose of the conference is to provide the interaction between these groups in order to improve the economic analysis of policy issues and policy. The specific aims of the conference are to develop the implications of recent research for policy; bring together economists with different approaches or conclusions to narrow the differences; and to uncover the analysis used by institutions that set policies. The conferences are held semi-annually at Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of Rochester. About 50 participants plus faculty and graduate students from the host institutions are invited to each conference. Participants from U.S. and foreign central banks and U.S. and international agencies attend regularly. Special care is taken to involve promising younger scholars. The papers and formal discussions are edited and prepared for publication to broaden the impact of the conference. The high quality of past meetings in this conference series show that the conference organizers have the ability to accomplish the goals of this project.
