It looks like a regular gathering of economists, central banks and scholars. But every August, the Jackson Hole Economics Seminar makes headlines, shift markets and fuel policy debates. Since 1978, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City hosted the annual meeting, which convened about 120 participants, discussed new research and pressing economic issues. Over time, it has also become a critical stage for signaling future financial trends and monetary policies.
The workshop was first edition of the late 1970s spinning in different locations. By the early 1980s, organizers settled in the Jackson Lake Inn in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, a valley surrounded by the Great Tetons. The site has a long past. It was once owned by financier John D. Rockefeller Jr., who began purchasing land in the area in the 1920s and later donated to the National Park Service.
Jackson Hole’s choice is more than just scenery. Kansas City hoped to lure the diet chair of the time Paul Volcker, an avid fly fisherman who feeds the trout stream strategically chosen the valley. Volcker’s appearance in 1982 proved a turning point, establishing the tradition of central banks.
Ironically, the environment emphasizes the economic divide. Teton County, including Jackson Hole, is the most unequal county in the entire United States, according to the Institute for Economic Policy. There is more than 142 times the income of the remaining 99% of the income.
Originally a research-heavy conference, it now revolves around the tradition set by Volcker in 1982: the opening speech of the Federal Reserve Chairman. It is also the only publicly streaming part of the conference. The Kansas City Fed maintains the exclusiveness of the event by keeping limited invitations, limiting media access and charging attendees for participation fees.
Each workshop is built around timely topics. Media interests surged in 2007, when attention to “housing, housing finance and monetary policy” presages the financial crisis. Since then, as central banks have become more acute in economic stability, the influence of gatherings has grown.
This year’s theme, “The Transitional Labor Market: Demographics, Productivity, and Macroeconomic Policy,” will be the central phase between August 21 and August 23, with the meeting opening in remarks by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, who is expected to outline the central bank’s approach to inflation, employment and long-term growth.
Details of Powell’s speech continue until tomorrow. But one thing is certain that his words will be carefully analyzed. In its past appearance, Powell used the platform to issue interest rate changes and uncover new strategic frameworks. His speech last year marked a key shift in Fed policy, which is signaling a decrease in the long-term increase in fighting inflation.
