On July 9 and 10, 2004 an international conference on macroeconomics was held at the University of Tokyo. The conference was organized by the Center for International Research on the Japanese Economy (CIRJE), at the University of Tokyo and the Center for International Economics and Development at Northwestern University. A Center of Excellence Grant to the University of Tokyo of the economics department provided significant funding for the conference. Other sources of funding included the Hayashi Kaken, a grant from CIRJE, the Center for International Economics and Development.

International participants in the conference included economists from leading research institutions in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the US. Most local participants were professors and graduate students from the University of Tokyo economics department. However, a limited number of professors/researchers from other leading Japanese research institutions also participated.

Nine papers were presented in this conference over a two day period. The scope of these papers ranged widely covering some of the most important research questions in economics including: optimal exchange rate and monetary policy, international flows of financial and foreign direct investment, the US great depression, nonperforming loans in Japan and the industrial revolution. The papers produced so much discussion that sessions regularly had to be extended beyond their scheduled time to give everybody a chance to make their comments.