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Frank C. Pierson Lecture

Professor Frank C. Pierson '34

This lecture is in honor of Frank C. Pierson '34, who joined the College faculty in 1940 and taught for 39 years, chairing the Department of Economics from 1967 until his retirement in 1979. Professor Pierson was a distinguished scholar of labor economics as well as an arbitrator of industrial disputes and provided an important voice for moderation and tolerance on campus during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

 

Previous Frank C. Pierson Lectures

DATE SPEAKER TOPIC
10/25/23 M.V. Lee Badgett "Better Living for LGBTI People Through Economics."
3/23/23 Amitabh Chandra "The Health Costs of Cost Sharing."
4/12/22 Stephanie Schmitt-Grohé “The Neo Fisher Effect and Liquidity Traps.” 
4/18/19 Susan Dynarski, University of Michigan  "Inequality in Education: What Have We Learned and How Do We Fix It?"
2/19/18 David Wilcox, Federal Reserve Board "Okun Revisited: Who Benefits Most From a Strong Economy?"
4/6/17 Aviva Aron-Dine '05, Sr. Counselor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services "This Law Has Nine Lives."  What's Next for the Affordable Care Act?
3/16/16 Brigitte Madrian, Harvard Kennedy School "Applying Insights from Behavioral Economics to Public Policy."
10/21/14 Teresa Ghilarducci, The New School for Social Research "Do the Old Eat the Young? The False Tradeoff Between Funding for the Young and the Old."
11/4/13 Eugene Steuerle, The Urban Institute, Dean Baker '81, Center for Economic Policy Research, Michael Meeropol '64, Prof. Emeritus Western New England Univ.

Economic Policy Debate
"Debt, Deficits, and Entitlements: Should We Worry?"

2/28/13 Roberton Williams, Senior Fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center "Fiscal Cliffs, Deficits, and the 47%: Our Dysfunctional Tax System."
4/5/12 Harry Holzer, Georgetown Univ. "Can We Create More Effective Education and Workforce Development Systems in the U.S.?"
3/16/11 Gary Burtless, Brookings Institution "The Effects of the Stimulus Programs on Social Protection and the Economy"
10/29/09 Sheldon Danziger, University of Michigan "The Economy, Public Policy and the Poor: What Changes Can the Obama Administration Make?"
11/13/08 Henry Farber, Princeton "Lessons From Taxi Drivers: The Challenge of Behavioral Decision Theory to Neoclassical Economics"
2/14/08 Jeremy Nowak, President and CEO, The Reinvestment Fund "Assisting Phoenix: The Role of Development Finance in Older Industrial Cities."
12/6/06 Robert Greenstein
President and founder of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
"The Dramatic Fiscal Policy Challenges Facing the New Congress and the Nation: Tough Decisions Lie Ahead That May Affect Who We Are As A Society for Years to Come."
4/21/05 Jeffrey Frankel '74
James W. Harpel Prof. of Capital Formation and Economic Growth at the Kennedy School of Government
"What Can An Economic Advisor Do When The President Adopts Bad Economic Policies?"
(click for complete text)
4/22/04 Nancy Folbre
UMass
"The Great Imaginary Strike of Parents and Other Care Workers: An Economic Senario"
11/6/02 John Yinger '69
Maxwell School @
Syracuse Univ.
"State Aid and the Pursuit of Educational Equity"
11/8/01 Paul Osterman
MIT
"Economics and Power: The Struggle for Justice in Low Wage Communities"
11/16/00 Marcus Alexis
Northwestern
"African American Reparations: An Economic Analysis"
10/19/99 Robert Solow
Prof. Emeritus, MIT
"Why Is Unemployment So Low"
4/27/99 Alan Krueger
Princeton
"Using Education Research to Evaluate and Reform Public Education"
11/3/97 James Tobin
Prof. Emeritus, Yale
"Can the U.S. Grow Faster"
10/1/96 Douglas H. Blair
Rutgers
"For Whom the Bell Tolls: The Second Revolution in Telecommunications Regulation"
10/5/95 William Poole '59
Brown
"The Business Cycle"
3/22/94 Michael Weinstein
Editorial Board
NY Times
"Nauseating Facts About Health Care Reform"