Time: Saturday, March 8, 2007, 3:10 pm - 4:25 pm

Over the past year, critical developments in the global markets have led to rising concerns over the continuation of Asia’s stellar economic performance. Sky-rocketing commodity prices coinciding with the US subprime mortgage crisis and the fall in the US dollar have created a more volatile investment environment in Asia. This panel will explore the following questions: Will Asia be able to sustain its export-led growth and attract foreign investment? What are the implications of increasing international pressure on China to revalue the Yuan? How will the US subprime mortgage crisis impact the policy frameworks of Asian central banks? How will macroeconomic trends in Asia affect regional development and urbanization?

Jeffrey A. Frankel

James W. Harpel Professor of Capital Formation and Growth, KSG

Jeffrey A. Frankel is James W. Harpel Professor of Capital Formation and Growth. He directs the Program in International Finance and Macroeconomics at the National Bureau of Economic Research, where he is also on the Business Cycle Dating Committee, which officially declared the 2001 recession. Nominated by President Clinton in 1996 to be a member of his Council of Economic Advisers, Frankel's responsibilities included international economics, macroeconomics, and the environment. Before coming to Harvard in 1999, he was Professor of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley, having joined the faculty in 1979. Past appointments also include the Federal Reserve, Institute for International Economics, International Monetary Fund, University of Michigan, and Yale University. His research interests include international finance, monetary policy, regional blocs, and international environmental issues. Books include American Economic Policy in the 1990s (2002). Born in San Francisco in 1952, he graduated from Swarthmore College in 1974, and received his economics PhD from MIT in 1978.

Jong Nam Oh

Professor, Seoul National University, and Senior Advisor, Kim & Chang

Dr. Jong Nam Oh, who finished his term as the first Korean Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in October 2006, is currently Professor/Direcor of Science & Policy Advanced Research Course (SPARC), Seoul National University and Senior Advisor of KIM & CHANG, the most renowned law firm in Korea. He previously served the Korean government for 30 years, mostly with the Economic Planning Board, and later the Ministry of Finance and Economy. He also worked in the Office of the President (The Blue House) as Economic Secretary during Kim, Dae-jung administration. From February 2002 through September 2004, he was Commissioner of the Korea National Statistical Office, where he wrote a book entitled 'Koreans, Your Future.' He earned his Bachelor's degree in Law at Seoul National University in Korea, and a Ph.D. in Economics and an MBA at Southern Methodist University in Texas.

Tony Saich (Moderator)

Daewoo Professor of International Affairs, Faculty Chair of Asia Programs, and Director of the Harvard University Asia Center

Tony Saich is the Daewoo Professor of International Affairs, Faculty Chair of Asia Programs, and Director of the Harvard University Asia Center. From 1994 until July 1999, he was a representative for the China Office of the Ford Foundation. Before that he was Director of the Sinological Institute at Leiden University, the Netherlands. His teaching and research focus on the interplay between state and society in Asia and the respective roles they play in determining policymaking and framing socioeconomic development. Saich has written several books on developments in China, including Governance and Politics of China;China's Science Policy in the '80s; Revolutionary Discourse in Mao's China (with David E. Apter); and The Rise to Power of the Chinese Communist Party. He studied political science in the UK and has taught at universities in England, Holland, and the United States.

 

Peter Stella

Division Chief, Central Banking Division, Monetary and Capital Markets Department, IMF

Education: PhD Economics Stanford University (Palo Alto, California) 1985.

IMF Career highlights (Departments in parenthesis):

Economist Special Fiscal Studies Division (Fiscal Affairs)

Deputy Division Chief Monetary and Exchange Policy Review (Monetary and Exchange Affairs)

Resident Representative Bulgaria (1997 - 2001)

Principal Economist Credit Risk Department (secondment to World Bank)

Division Chief Central Banking Division (Monetary and Capital Markets)

Head, IMF working group on central bank response to money market turmoil

Liang Zhao

Lecturer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Liang Zhao is Lecturer at Department of Urban Studies and Planning of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he has been teaching classes on sustainable housing development in China since 2005. Zhao is also Project Director at Chan Krieger Sieniewicz Inc. He has won the competition of redesigning Shanghai's Bund waterfront area recently. Zhao got his Doctor of Design degree at Harvard Design School . As an active designer and scholar, Zhao has extensive experiences in China , US, and internationally, including Office for Metropolitan Architecture in Rotterdam , the Netherlands , Steven Holl Architects in New York , and NBBJ in Seattle . He is a consultant for American Planning Association, Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design, and Vanke Co (the largest housing developer in China ). He is also an editor for the Journal of Beijing Planning and Construction Review. In 1999, Zhao won the UNESCO Prize at the 20th Union of International Architects Conference.