SIPA: School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University

PEPM Director Guillermo Calvo Welcomes Chilean Finance Minister Andres Velasco to Columbia’s SIPA

Back to News & Events

On May 9th, 2008 Guillermo Calvo, Director of the Program in Economic Policy Management at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, welcomed Columbia alumnus and current Chilean Finance Minister Andres Velasco to SIPA. Velasco, along with a party of congressmen and members of the Finance Cabinet, participated in a discussion of macroeconomic policy in Latin America in the context of the current global financial crisis. Professor Calvo offered the delegation his perspectives on the current crisis and future prospects for Latin America.  He launched the discussion with an overview of the economic developments in Latin America during the boom years after 2002, and then proceeded to assess the present crisis, comparing it to the 1998 Russian crisis period.  The discussion ended by focusing on the major risks ahead. Calvo pointed out to the delegation that serious inflationary risks may call for sharp increases in Central Bank interest rates in the foreseeable future.  He drew parallels with the 1980 Debt Crisis that followed the sharp rise in interest rates engineered by Paul Volcker at the beginning of the 1980s. 

Minister Velasco is currently on leave from the Kennedy School of Government, where he is Sumitomo-FASID Professor of International Finance and Development.  Prior to his appointment at Harvard, Mr. Velasco spent 10 years at New York University, where he directed the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.  Mr. Velasco’s research includes international economics, economic development and political economy, and more recently has focused on emerging markets and financial crises.  Mr. Velasco received his Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia in 1989. Other members of the delegation included Congressmen Raúl Sunico, Rodrigo Álvarez, Eugenio Tuma, Roberto Delmastro, José Miguel Ortiz, and Alberto Robles, and members of the Ministry of Finance Juan Luís Monsalve, Luís Felipe Céspedes and Eric Parrado.