The first International Research Conference, organized by the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, concluded on Oct. 31.

The participants included central banks from 15 countries, 30 research intensive universities and representatives from the country's banking and financial sectors. The research was the macroeconomic development of developing countries and issues dealing with financial stability and policy.

Data was presented by Joshua Aizenman, a professor at University of Southern California, and Refet Gürkaynak from Bilkent University in Turkey. Aizenman discussed the U.S. emerging from a crisis and its role in developing countries with a sizable amount of natural resources. He also touched on the fiscal, monetary and exchange rate policies and fragility issues in a pro-cyclical sector.

Gürkaynak spoke largely on the use of oil reserves and optimal extraction of the material and how that influences macroeconomic factors.