Charles Plosser speaks during the first panel of the event. A visiting fellow at Hoover, Plosser served as president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia from 2006 to 2015.

Following each presentation, moderators leave plenty of room for questions and, as John Cochrane joked, “little speeches.” Here George P. Shultz, the Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow at Hoover and former US secretary of state, joins the discussion.

Senior Fellow Lee Ohanian (center) delivered a presentation titled “How to Stop Worrying about R-Star—and Let Go of Activist Interest Rate Policies” that offered a differing perspective on one of the conference’s principal topics. “We should consider not placing so much priority on short-run monetary policies,” said Ohanian, “that are aimed at either stimulating an economy that’s perceived to be operating below trend or trying to cool off an economy that’s considered to be overheating.”

Vice chair of the Federal Reserve System Stan Fischer (left) emphasized the importance of flexibility for monetary policy-making committees. Fischer’s perspective differs from his longtime colleague John Taylor (right) who is critical of discretionary policy and advocates closer adherence to monetary rules.

John Taylor delivered remarks during dinner on the first day of the conference. Taylor compared today’s climate of disparate views on economic policy to that surrounding the Fed under Paul Volcker in 1979. Volcker’s strategy of managing diversity through compromise, argued Taylor, can be a lesson to today’s monetary policy makers.

Hoover fellows (left to right) George P. Shultz, John Cochrane, and John Taylor chat before Shultz’s introduction to the day’s final panel.

The final panel of the conference featured three Federal Reserve Bank presidents (left to right): Eric Rosengren (Boston), James Bullard (St. Louis), and Charles Evans (Chicago).

Bloomberg and CNBC both aired live broadcasts at the event. John Taylor is pictured here during an interview with Bloomberg’s Michael McKee.