Zurich Workshop on the Frontier of Quantitative Macroeconomics: Models and Methods 2026
Organized by Prof. Felix Kubler and Prof. Yucheng Yang and with Special Guest Prof. Tom Sargent, Nobel Prize Winner
The Workshop on the Frontier of Quantitative Macroeconomics: Models and Methods is organized by Prof. Felix Kübler and Prof. Yucheng Yang from the UZH Department of Finance.
Workshop Details:
- Date: 19 - 20 May 2026 (Tuesday, Wednesday)
- Location: University of Zurich, KO2-F-152, Karl-Schmid-Strasse 4, 8006 Zurich, Switzerland
Our department will host this workshop, highlighting new models and methods reshaping quantitative macroeconomics. Researchers will present work using modern computational and AI tools to address key economic and policy questions.
Program
Date: Tuesday, 19 May 2026
Time: 09:25 - 17:00
| 09:00 - 09:25 |
Arrival and Registration |
| 09:25 - 09:30 | Felix Kübler, University of Zurich Welcome remarks |
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Session I |
| 09:30 - 10:30 | Aleh Tsyvinski, Yale University Dynamics of Constraint Enforcement and Consumption Responses |
| 10:30 - 10:50 | Coffee Break |
| 10:50 - 11:50 | Edouard Schaal, CREI Strategic Trade Infrastructure: Understanding China's Belt and Road Initiative |
| 11:50- 13:30 | Lunch and Group Photo |
| Special Session: Honoring Christopher A. Sims Chair: Yucheng Yang, University of Zurich |
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| 13:30 - 14:30 |
Tom Sargent, New York University |
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14:30 - 14:50 |
Coffee Break |
| 14:50 - 15:50 | Xiaohong Chen, Yale University Neural Networks for Economics: Theory and Inference |
| 15:50 - 16:10 | Coffee Break |
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16:10 - 17:10 |
Tao Zha, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Algorithm-Driven SVARs in the Age of Big Data |
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19:00 |
Dinner (by invitation)
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Date: Wednesday, 20 May 2026
Time: 09:30 - 17:00
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Session III |
| 09:30 - 10:30 | Adrien Auclert, Stanford University Beyond Certainty Equivalence: Higher-Order Perturbations in the Sequence Space |
| 10:30 - 10:50 | Coffee Break |
| 10:50 - 11:50 | Benjamin Moll, London School of Economics Structural Reinforcement Learning for Heterogeneous Agent Macroeconomics |
| 11:50 - 13:30 | Lunch |
| Session IV Chair: Simon Scheidegger, HEC Lausanne |
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| 13:30 - 14:30 | Anmol Bhandari, University of Minnesota Optimal Household Financial Portfolios |
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14:30 - 14:50 |
Coffee Break |
| 14:50 - 15:50 | Jonathan Payne, Princeton University The Fragility of Government Funding Advantage |
| 15:50 - 16:10 | Coffee Break |
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16:10 - 17:10 |
Marlon Azinovic-Yang, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Deep Learning in the Sequence Space |
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19:00 |
Dinner (by invitation)
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Group photo with all speakers and participants of the "Zurich Workshop on the Frontier of Quantitative Macroeconomics: Models and Methods 2026" -
Special Guest: Tom Sargent, Professor of Economics, New York University, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford, CA and Nobel Prize Winner -
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Tom Sargent (NYU) presented “How Should I Trade?” (with Ziyue Yang). Reinforcement learning meets Kiyotaki–Wright: can monetary exchange emerge when agents do not know the distribution and learn only from bilateral experience with MuZero? -
Xiaohong Chen (Yale) presented “Neural Networks for Economics: Theory & Inference”. Long before today’s AI boom, econometricians (Chen, White, and others) built foundations for neural nets as sieves. These tools are now crucial for NN-based estimation and inference in economics -
Ben Moll (LSE) presented “Structural Reinforcement Learning for Heterogeneous Agent Macroeconomics” with Yucheng Yang, Wang & Schaab. SRL replaces agent distribution with low-dim prices as state variable & learns price dynamics from simulated paths w/o perceived law of motion -
Adrien Auclert (Stanford) presented “Beyond Certainty Equivalence: Higher-Order Perturbations in the Sequence Space” with Rigato, Rognlie & Ludwig Straub. They extend the influential sequence-space Jacobian approach beyond the 1st order, enabling study of new questions in HA macro -
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PhD Luncheon with Tom Sargent
As part of the workshop, a PhD luncheon was also held with Tom Sargent. The PhD students had the opportunity to present their research projects to Tom Sargent and the other participants, ask specific questions, and take part in a lively and informative discussion. The luncheon was organized by Prof. Yucheng Yang.
