18th Euroframe Conference on Economic Policy Issues in the European Union. Macroeconomic Policy Challenges in Pandemic Times

The Euroframe group of research institutes (CASE, CPB, DIW, ESRI, ETLA, IfW, NIESR, OFCE, PROMETEIA, WIFO) will hold its 18th annual Conference on Economic Policy Issues in Europe in Helsinki on 3 June 2022. The aim of this conference is to bring together academics, and policy-oriented economists by providing a forum for debate on economic policy issues relevant in the European context. The conference will focus on the macroeconomic policy challenges for European economies and advanced economies more widely in pandemic times. Since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in early 2020, fiscal and monetary policies have provided support to an unprecedented extent in peace times. In late 2021, increasing inflation, accelerated by bottlenecks in the supply-side as output recovers, raise challenges for policymakers. How should fiscal and monetary policies be adjusted to ensure a sound recovery without generating imbalances? Public debts are now higher than they were before the COVID-19 crisis, while interest rates remain historically low. In the longer term, how can public debt sustainability be ensured, while addressing the need for green investments to tackle climate change?