Past Events
The Heller-Hurwicz Economics Institute brings together economic experts from the University of Minnesota and beyond to highlight key policy insights that can be drawn from economic analysis. These gatherings draw individuals from the academic, policy, media and business communities with the intent of sparking dialogue across sectors.
In a time of persistent inflation, fiscal strain, and global uncertainty, the question of central bank independence has taken on renewed urgency. Widely accepted as a cornerstone of economic stability, independence is now being reexamined as some governments push for more direct influence over monetary policy. This December 8, 2025 webinar featured a conversation with former top leaders of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank: former President, Gary Stern, and former Director of Research, Art Rolnick, and the Hoover Institution's John Cochrane exploring questions about appropriate governance of central banks in democracies–and the risks in governments exerting more political control to address today’s complex economic challenges. Panelists discussed historical perspectives, current research, and the future of central bank independence in an era defined by both crisis management and political pressure.
Wealth taxes are one of today's most debated economic policy topics and often proposed as a way to bolster increasingly strained government budgets, reduce income inequality, and make the tax system more fair.
The Fall 2025 Heller-Hurwicz Economics Institute roundtable featured Professor Florian Scheuer of the University of Zurich and HHEI Director Professor Kjetil Storesletten discussing the potential benefits and challenges of wealth taxes, highlighting recent experiences in Norway and Switzerland and discuss implications for implementing wealth taxes in the United States. Chris Farrell, a senior economics contributor for Marketplace and MPR News, moderated the discussion and audience Q&A.
Watch the recording of Fair Shares: Exploring the Role of Wealth Taxes in Modern Economies - HHEI 2025 Fall Roundtable
The Heller-Hurwicz Economics Institute was honored to host a presentation for the 2025 HHEI Spring roundtable by Dr. Adriana D. Kugler, a current member of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System. The roundtable event was moderated by Dr. Juan Pablo Nicolini, a senior research economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Watch the recording of Transmission of Monetary Policy and the U.S. Economic Outlook.
Economic Policy was a hot topic in the recent presidential campaign. Watch the Taxes, Tariffs, and Trade recording for an impromptu and informal discussion on the possible economic policies of the incoming Trump administration, focusing on tariffs, taxes, and trade. Our discussion features Professors Timothy Kehoe and Christopher Phelan from the Department of Economics.
Who Evades Taxes? Americans underpay federal taxes every year. Underpayments are seen across business types, industries, taxpayer ages, and income groups. But some groups are less compliant than others. The presentation will break out these groups and discuss how the IRS estimates the tax gap, possible limitations of these estimates, implications for GDP, and the puzzle of stable compliance rates despite falling audit rates.
In hindsight, Larry Summers' 2022 prediction that "we need five years of unemployment above 5 percent to contain inflation" seems wrong. But why? Tom Sargent argued that inflation and wage growth is determined by the expectations of future inflation. What's the role of monetary and fiscal policy for shaping these expectations? Can we add this period of decreasing inflation as one of Sargent’s Ends of Big Inflations?
Watch the inflation webinar for an answer to these questions and more.
In conversations about educational achievement, questions about what shapes our life outcomes persist. This event, with speakers Anusha Nath of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve and Aldo Rustichini of the University of Minnesota, attempts to identify whether genetics or life choices hold more weight in the direction of our lives.
This event will explore educational achievement and outcomes using two new working papers that employ significantly different data sources in an attempt to answer the same questions: What affects differences in educational attainment and income? At what point does race and gender matter?
Watch a video recording of "Beyond Nature and Nurture" for more.
In June president Biden signed the Debt Limit Bill, avoiding a U.S. Default. Before then, there were many questions about the state of the U.S. economy and fiscal policy, which our economic experts attempted to answer. Featuring panelists Chris Phelan, Marco Bassetto, and Cristina Arellano of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank, and moderated by professor Kjetil Storesletten, this webinar includes a 10-minute presentation from each panelist, followed by a 30-minute Q&A with audience questions.
March 29, 2023 Discussion with VV Chari, Terry Fitzgerald, Christopher Phelan on the failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Hosted at the University of Minnesota campus, Minneapolis MN. Watch a recording of the Silicon Valley banking crisis event here.
At a September 2022 policy forum hosted by the Heller-Hurwicz Economics Institute, University of Minnesota alumnus and Swedish economist Per Krusell explained his research on a global carbon tax and how it can curb the effects of climate change. Read a recap of his climate policy research and watch the event recording.
Decades of research clearly show substantial public and private benefits of early childhood education. But translating those findings into well-funded public programs to nurture children from the womb to age 4 has proven a greater challenge. A recent Heller-Hurwicz roundtable on transforming limited trials into widespread public policy illustrated the promise and problems of selling early childhood education to political leaders. Read the "Investing in the critical first years" policy brief highlighting research by the panelists.
Robert B. Litterman is a founding partner of Kepos Capital, an investment firm based in New York. He is also an alumnus of the University of Minnesota, where he earned a doctorate in economics. Prior to joining Kepos in 2010, Litterman enjoyed a 23-year career at Goldman Sachs, rising to partner and head of the firm-wide risk function. In November 2021, Litterman was presented the Outstanding Achievement Award, the highest nondegree award conferred on university alumni.
Join the Heller-Hurwicz Economics Institute for our virtual spring roundtable, second in a series bringing economic perspectives to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our speakers, Alessandra Fogli and Michèle Tertilt, will share insights from their research as the pandemic continues into a second year. How is this recession affecting women differently than past recessions? What do we know now that we didn't a year ago about the effectiveness of social distancing and stay-at-home orders? Watch the event recording of "The Economics of COVID-19 Part 2" for more.
In this roundtable moderated by Marissa Evans of the Star Tribune, guests heard from two researchers adding economic perspectives to the conversation about racial equity in Minnesota. Anusha Nath, research economist at the Federal Research Bank of Minneapolis, spoke about disparities in educational outcomes and the long-term achievement gap in Minnesota students. Aradhya Sood, assistant professor at University of Toronto Scarborough and the Rotman School of Management, shared her research on racial covenants in Minneapolis and the long-term impacts decades later. Watch the "Understanding Inequality" event recording.
HHEI hosted a webinar on May 20, 2020 featuring U of M economics faculty and alumni researching the COVID-19 pandemic from different angles. What are the trade-offs of different policy proposals? What can we learn from the ways different countries around the world have responded to the pandemic? Where do we go from here? Presenters were: VV Chari, Dirk Krueger, Christopher Phelan, and Aldo Rustichini. Watch the recording of the Economics of COVID-19 webinar to learn the answers to these questions and more.
At work and at home, the digital economy is changing the way we go about our daily routines. Alexa, Spotify, Match.com, Amazon, the Apple Watch, to name a few. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this trend, as the way we work, shop, connect, and consume entertainment changed practically overnight. Avi Goldfarb and Joel Waldfogel will share their research and perspectives on the economics and strategy of technological change.
With global trade issues making headlines daily and analysts carefully watching for signs of a recession, what advice do economic research and history have to offer? Will USMCA, the "new NAFTA," benefit its member nations? What trade policies have been most beneficial to Minnesota's businesses and residents? Hear from panelists Tim Kehoe, Stephanie Lenway, and Pete Kappelman on the Economics of Trade Wars.
Is a secure retirement in the U.S. a thing of the past? Hear what our experts have to say on the latest retirement research findings.
Heller-Hurwicz in Washington, D.C. for a panel discussion on building more secure retirement systems on June 3, 2019.
Heller-Hurwicz in New York City for a panel discussion on building more secure retirement systems on May 13, 2019.