Marquette Business was selected to host the Spring 2026 Midwest Macroeconomics Meetings, welcoming economists from academic, central bank and private sector institutions around the world.
Held last month in Dr. E. J. and Margaret O’Brien Hall, the three-day conference consisted of nearly 200 presentations. Sessions covered topics at the forefront of macroeconomic research, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, labor markets and international, behavioral, finance and empirical macroeconomics.
Since their inception in 1994, the Midwest Macroeconomics Meetings have grown from a single annual event to a biannual conference series hosted at institutions across the United States. The meetings aim to foster cutting-edge research in macroeconomics broadly defined in scope, yet firmly rooted in rigorous theoretical and empirical analysis.
The Spring 2026 conference was sponsored by the Marquette Economics Department and College of Business Administration, with co-hosts Dr. Stephen Cole, associate professor of economics, and Dr. Carolina Acuña-Armenta, assistant professor of economics. This sponsorship heightened accessibility for the Marquette community, allowing students to attend and connect with leading professionals in the field.
“I did not know what to expect at my first economics conference, but I was impressed by the energy, enthusiasm and commitment of all the economists I heard from and spoke with,” said Jake Freeze, a graduate student studying applied economics. “I was also touched by how easy it was to network. Everybody I met was friendly and encouraging as I grow and learn about my career opportunities.”
The conference featured two plenary lectures among breakout sessions and presentations. The first, titled “A Benchmark Model of Inequality and Monetary Policy”, was facilitated by James “Jim” Bullard, Dr. Samuel R. Allen Dean of the Mitch Daniels School of Business at Purdue University and Former President and CEO of Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Next, “Chopping the Onion: Input-Output Networks and Inflation Dynamics” was presented by Marco Del Negro, Director of the Applied Macroeconomic and Econometrics Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
“It was a great opportunity to experience the conference as participants,” graduate student Maxwell Murphy said. “We were able to observe professional-style presentations that not only broadened our overall economic knowledge but, more importantly, set a template for our personal presentations that are required within our MSAE program.”
Learn more about the events, degrees and programs offered by the Economics Department at Marquette Business.