A Joint European Central Bank, Banque de France and The Conference Board Conference on
The Creation of Economic and Corporate Wealth in a Dynamic Economy

Date: 16 - 17 January 2008
Venue: European Central Bank, Frankfurt am Main
Room C IV, 2nd Floor Eurotower

Objective and topics

The main purpose of the conference is to provide a forum for economists in central banks, academia and the business world to discuss the main challenges for growth and development in the euro area relative to the rest of the world. The main questions to address will be the following:

• What are the main barriers to productivity growth businesses face?
• Do European education policies satisfy the needs of the business sector?
• How do globalisation and innovation affect the business environment?
• Does Europe’s current institutional and regulatory environment support innovation?
• What is the role of macroeconomic policy?

Attendance at the conference is by invitation only.

Preliminary programme
Note: Times are tentative and subject to change

Wednesday, 16 January 2008

09:00 - 09:30	Registration
09:30 - 09:45	Introductory session Speech: Jürgen Stark (European Central Bank)
9:45 - 11:00	Session 1: What creates multifactor productivity? Chair: Wolfgang Schill (European Central Bank) Presenter: Nicholas Crafts (University of Warwick) paper  en, slides  en Discussants: Nicholas Oulton (London School of Economics)  en and Charles Hulten (University of Maryland)  en
11:00 - 11:30	Coffee Break
11:30 - 12:45	Session 2: The economic policy environment: market structure and productivity growth. Chair: Bart van Ark (The Conference Board and University of Groningen) Presenters: Stefano Scarpetta (OECD)  en and Giuseppe Nicoletti (OECD) paper  1.05 MB en Discussants: Juan Francisco Jimeno (Banco de Espana)  en and Donald Coletti (Bank of Canada)  en
12:45 - 13:45	Lunch
13:45 - 15:00	Session 3: The Business Environment: Does management matter? Chair: Neale Kennedy (European Central Bank) Presenter: John van Reenen (London School of Economics)  en Discussants: Dietmar Harhoff (Munich School of Management) and Jacques Mairesse (INSEE)  en
15:00 - 16:15	Session 4: Financial Development, Financial Stability and Economic Growth Chair: Lucrezia Reichlin (European Central Bank) Commentators: Barry Eichengreen (Berkeley University) Philipp Hartmann (European Central Bank) paper  1.39 MB en, slides  en Luc Laeven (International Monetary Fund)  en Garry Schinasi (International Monetary Fund) paper  en, slides  en
16:15 - 16:45	Coffee Break
16:45 - 18:00	Session 5: Is the productivity slowdown in the US and acceleration in the euro area cyclical or structural? Chair: Gilbert Cette (Banque de France) Lead speaker: Dale Jorgenson (Harvard University) paper  en, slides  en Commentators: Remy Lecat (Banque de France)  en Werner Roeger (European Commission)  en Gonzalo Camba-Mendez (European Central Bank)  en Bart van Ark (The Conference Board and University of Groningen)  en
19:00	Drinks
19:30	Dinner Keynote speaker: Jean Pierre Landau (Banque de France)

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Thursday, 17th January 2008

Theme: Why do some businesses do well (and others not)?
08:30 - 09:00	Registration
09:00 - 09.15	Welcome speech Gail Fosler (The Conference Board)
09:15 - 09:45	Challenges faced by multinational companies headquartered in Europe Keynote speaker: Hans Wijers (Akzo Nobel)  1.07 MB en
09:45 - 10:30	Facing the Challenge of Globalisation Opening remarks by Martin Wolf (Financial Times)  en; followed by Panel Discussion with Global Business Leaders: Hans Wijers (Akzo Nobel) and Gerard Vittecoq (Caterpillar)
10:30 - 11:00	Coffee
11:00 - 12:00	Challenges for Business in the European Economic Environment Panel led by Gail Fosler (The Conference Board) with Thomas Henriksen (editor of Børsen), Lex Hoogduin (Robeco) and Jorgen Elmeskov (OECD).
12:00 - 13:15	Lunch
13:15 - 14:45	Breakout sessions Future Innovation Paradigms – Potential, Opportunities and Threats A short 15 minutes plenary introductory session will be followed by breakout sessions on innovation and globalisation strategies: slides  en - ICT’s next phase: Creating and managing innovation: Rolf Porsche (IBM)  en - Supply chain technologies: Kai Engel (A.T. Kearney)  1.49 MB en - Security & fraud: Duncan Hine (Identity and Passport Services, UK) slides  en - Growth driven ideation: Tim Jones (Innovaro)  2.57 MB en
14:45 - 15:00	Coffee
15:00 - 16:30	Policy Panel The Creation of Economic and Corporate Wealth in the euro area What are the main barriers to productivity growth businesses faced when operating in Europe? Do European education policies satisfy the needs of the business sector? How do the current waves of globalisation and innovation affect the business environment? Does Europe’s current institutional and regulatory environment support innovation? What is the role of macroeconomic policy? Jean Claude Trichet (European Central Bank) en Joaquin Almunia (EU Commission) Martin Baily (The Brookings Institution)  en Gail Fosler (The Conference Board) Josef Ackermann (Deutsche Bank) Moderator: Guillermo de la Dehesa (CEPR chairman) Organizing Committee: Gonzalo Camba-Mendez (European Central Bank) Gilbert Cette (Banque de France) Neale Kennedy (European Central Bank) Bart van Ark (The Conference Board) Further enquiries may be addressed to: Gonzalo Camba-Mendez gonzalo.camba-mendez@ecb.int Tel: +49 69 1344-6481.

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