Charting a Sustainable Fiscal Future: U.S. and Korean Insights
Wednesday, October 1, 2025
1:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Thursday, October 2, 2025
8:30 am - 5:00 pm
Fiscal Policy Forum Conference Flyer
"Charting a Sustainable Fiscal Future: U.S. and Korean Insights"
Wednesday, October 1 | 1:30-6:00 P.M.
Thursday, October 2 | 8:30 A.M.-5:00 P.M.
Lindner Family Commons (Room 602), Elliott School of International Affairs
This conference will bring together government officials, scholars, and practitioners from the United States and Korea to exchange perspectives on fiscal and budget policy and to foster dialogue and collaboration across stakeholders. Together we will explore various issues ranging from global trade policy shifts, demographic challenges, debt management, geopolitics, innovation policy and R&D, energy transformations, AI, and more, across both Korean and the U.S. contexts.
October 1 (Wednesday)
- 13:30 Registration
- 14:00 Opening Remarks
- Celeste Arrington, GWIKS Director, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs
- Alyssa Ayres, Dean, Elliott School of International Affairs
- Dr. Won Hyuk Lim, KDI School Associate Dean
- Prof. Danny Leipziger, Managing Director of The Growth Dialogue; Professor of Practice of International Business
- 14:20 Session 1: “Global Trade Policy Shifts - Fiscal Stabilizer or Growth Dampener?”
- Alan Wm. Wolff, Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics Tami Overby, Partner, DGA Group
- Moderated by Jay Shambaugh, Professor of Economics and International Affairs, GW and former Under Secretary for International Affairs at the U.S. Treasury Department
- 15:20 Session 2: “Aging Demographics, Labor Supply, and Productivity”
- Wendy Edelberg, Senior Fellow, Economic Studies, Brookings Institution
- Martha Gimbel, Executive Director, The Budget Lab
- 16:20 Coffee Break
- 16:30 Fireside Chat: “U.S. Fiscal Policy in an Uncertain World”
- Maya MacGuineas, President, Committee for the Responsible Federal Budget
- Moderated by Prof. Danny Leipziger
- 17:30 Close of first day
October 2 (Thursday)
- 08:30 Registration & Networking
- 09:00 Morning Keynote Speech “Policy Challenges for the United States”
- Douglas Holtz-Eakin, President, The American Action Forum
- Moderated by Tara Sinclair, Chair of the Economics Department and Professor of Economics and International Affairs
- 10:00 Session 3: “Fiscal Sustainability: Pro-Growth Policies & Government Debt Management”
- Jessica Riedl, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute Kent Smetters, Faculty Director of the Penn Wharton Budget Model, University of Pennsylvania (via Zoom)
- 11:00 Coffee Break
- 11:15 Session 4: “Innovation Policy and R&D: Will a Changing Landscape Lead to More Competitiveness?”
- Robert Atkinson, President, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, ITIF
- 12:15 Lunch
- 13:30 Session 5: “Geopolitics, Security, and Macroeconomic Stability”
- Jay Shambaugh, Professor of Economics and International Affairs
- 14:30 Coffee Break
- 14:45 Session 6: “Energy and Fiscal Policy: Powering the Economy Sustainably”
- Henry Haggard, Non Resident Fellow, Baker Institute
- 15:45 Session 7: “AI and Fiscal Stability: Growth, Displacement, Productivity?”
- Michael Horrigan, President, UpJohn Institute
- 16:45 Closing Remarks
- 17:00 Conference Concludes