Norges Bank, HEC Montréal and the Bank of Canada are organizing a joint conference on June 2nd 2015 to bring together researchers working on empirical and theoretical aspects of business cycle analysis. The aim of the workshop is to discuss new approaches in modelling business cycles; novel empirical evidence on the behaviour of households, firms and governments during expansion, recession, crisis and recovery periods; and the new policy paradigms that have emerged after the global slump started in 2007. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to:

• economic recovery following boom-bust episodes and cross-country spillovers
• the impact on business cycles and economic policy of search frictions in the labor market, worker-employer matching and the labor force participation decision
• implications of heterogeneity in households and firms in responding to macroeconomic shocks
• the macroeconomic impact and policy implications of fluctuations in commodity prices
• the analysis of sectorial, regional and international labor and capital reallocation
• the role of financial intermediation and financial channels in mitigating regional/sectorial imbalances
• policy trade-offs for small open economies

Mark Bils (University of Rochester) and Paolo Pesenti (Federal Reserve Bank of New York) will be the keynote speakers for the event.

A discussant will be assigned to each presenter. Academic participants will have travel and accommodation expenses reimbursed, subject to a cap.

The conference will be hosted by HEC Montréal.

Researchers interested in this conference may also be interested in the 6th Joint Bank of Canada and European Central Bank Conference on "The Underwhelming Global Post-Crisis Growth Performance - Determinants, Effects and Policy Implications" , June 8-9, 2015, Ottawa (submission deadline: March 8, 2015), but should note that invitations and logistics for the two conferences are not coordinated.

Program Committee:

Francesco Furlanetto (Norges Bank), Sharon Kozicki (Bank of Canada), Michel Normandin, (HEC Montréal), Federico Ravenna (HEC Montréal)

June1st: pre-conference workshop with presentations from Norges Bank, Bank of Canada and HEC Montreal economists.