Political conflict and fiscal crises in the United States and Europe have spurred concerns about policy-related uncertainty and its economic effects. Recent uncertainty-generating episodes in the United States include the partisan battles over the Bush-era tax cuts in late 2010, the debt-ceiling dispute in the summer of 2011, last-minute resolution of the so-called fiscal cliff in the early hours of 2013, recent implementation of the federal spending sequester, and another looming fight over the federal debt ceiling.

This conference explored research on the topic of uncertainty and its economic effects through measurement, modeling, and evaluation of empirical evidence. More…