BETTER LIVING THROUGH ECONOMICS The School of Economics, the
University of Adelaide invite you to the 2018 Geoff Harcourt Visiting
Professorial Lecture presented by John Siegfried, Professor of
Economics Emeritus at Vanderbilt University.
Economic research has made fundamental contributions to many important
public policy decisions that have improved the lives of countless
individuals. Several examples from the past half century are used to
illustrate these contributions.
It may surprise many people to learn that it was economics research
that built the intellectual foundation for eliminating the American
military draft in favor of an all- volunteer army in 1973, for passing
the U.S. Earned Income Tax Credit in 1975, for deregulating airlines
in 1978, and for adopting legislation in 2006 that switched the
default option to participate in U.S. defined contribution retirement
plans.
Other important but less discrete changes in policy have also resulted
from economic research, including a new approach to monetary policy
that has moderated economic fluctuations substantially, a reduction of
trade impediments so that countries can exploit their natural
(comparative) advantages better, and the adoption of tradable
emissions rights, which have enabled us to improve our living
environment without sacrificing more goods and services than
necessary.
John Siegfried is Professor of Economics Emeritus at Vanderbilt
University, where he was on the faculty from 1972 through 2010. He
grew up on a farm in eastern Pennsylvania. He was a senior staff
economist at both the US Federal Trade Commission and the US
President’s Council of Economic Advisers in 1975-76. In 2012 he
retired after 16 years of service as Secretary-Treasurer (Executive
Director) of the American Economic Association. He first came to
Australia as a Visiting Professor at the University of Adelaide in
1986, returned in 1991-92, and since then has made annual short-term
visits. His research includes industrial economics, the economics of
sport, and the economics of higher education. He has been President of
the Southern Economic Association and the Midwest Economics
Association, and served on the Board of Directors of the National
Bureau of Economic Research for 15 years.
sports
education
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19/10/2018 Last update