ANN ARBOR—Federal Reserve Board Governor Edward Gramlich will deliver the keynote speech at the Symposium on Electronic Payment Systems at the University of Michigan School of Information.

Gramlich will address the past and future of electronic payment systems in the U.S. and abroad at 8:45 a.m. Friday, Sept. 17, in Room 411 West Hall on the U-M Central Campus. Although Gramlich’s presentation is open to the public, remaining sessions of the symposium are by invitation only. The Program for Research on the Information Economy (PRIE), the School of Information, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago are sponsoring the symposium.

“The purpose of the symposium is to introduce faculty from associated disciplines at the U-M to officials from the Federal Reserve Bank who have an interest in or are working on electronic payment systems research,” says Prof. Jeff MacKie-Mason, founding director of PRIE. “The Federal Reserve has an active research program on electronic payments and would like to explore collaboration and other opportunities for mutual benefit.”

During the symposium, researchers from U-M and the Federal Reserve Bank will introduce their work and describe areas of future interest.

Before becoming a member of the Federal Reserve Board in 1997, Gramlich served as the first dean of the School of Public Policy at the U-M. During his years at the U-M, Gramlich was also professor of economics and public policy, chair of the Economics Department, and director of the Institute of Public Policy Studies, which later became the School of Public Policy.

Gramlich’s past governmental experience includes serving as chair of the Quadrennial Advisory Council on Social Security, a body established to examine the actuarial finances of social security and to suggest policy changes. He was both deputy director and acting director of the Congressional Budget Office; director of the Policy Research Division at the Office of Economic Opportunity; senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and a staff member of the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Board.

Gramlich has a strong research record developed on a wide range of issues, including benefit-cost analysis, macroeconomics, budget policy, income redistribution, fiscal federalism, social security, and the economics of professional sports.

Details about the symposium are available by calling (734) 763-6414.

Further information about the Program for Research on the Information Economy can be found at www.si.umich.edu/~prie/ or by phoning MacKie-Mason at (734) 647-4856 or by contacting him by E-mail at [email protected].

Jeff MacKie-MasonSchool of Public PolicyCongressional Budget Officewww.si.umich.edu/~prie/