UW Now: The Great Reset of Fiscal Policy

New in 2025: Registration is free but now required to view the event live.

Since taking office in January of 2025, the Trump Administration has been implementing or considering major changes that would affect fiscal policy in America, both in taxes and spending. How have these conversations affected the markets, interest rates, and inflation? Will Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts produce significant savings? What will the likely impact of tax changes be on the future path of deficits? How should the average taxpayer plan for the future with these moves under consideration?

Join fellow UW alumni and friends online for a livestream and Q & A with a panel of experts who will discuss these topics. The talk will be moderated by Mike Knetter, from the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association.

Speakers

Ananth Seshadri, PhD, is the Mary Sue and Mike Shannon Distinguished Chair for Economics and a professor of economics at UW–Madison. He is also codirector of the Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy (CROWE). Seshadri specializes in macroeconomics and public finance. He has published extensively on the causes and consequences of demographic change and the effects of technological change in accounting for various demographic patterns. His research has appeared in leading economics journals, including the American Economic Review, Review of Economic Studies, and the Journal of Political Economy. He was awarded a research fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in 2006. He has received several competitive research grants from the National Science Foundation and from the National Institute of Aging.

Jessica Riedl ’98 is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a conservative American think tank focused on domestic policy and urban affairs. Previously, she worked as chief economist to Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) and as staff director of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth. She has also served on presidential campaigns for Marco Rubio and Mitt Romney. From 2001–11, she was the lead federal budget analyst at the Heritage Foundation, the largest think tank in Washington, D.C. In 2006, Riedl exposed the United States Senate’s attempt to add $14 billion in domestic spending (including a “railroad to nowhere” in Mississippi) to an Iraq funding bill. Her federal budget research has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times.

This event is hosted by the Wisconsin Alumni Association®.