Mark Huggett

Full Professor

Economics Department

Georgetown University

Mark Huggett is a Full Professor in the Economics Department of Georgetown University.  Dr. Huggett’s research focuses on macroeconomics, inequality, social insurance, and computational methods.  He began his tenure with Georgetown in 1999, though he did pause temporarily in 2006 to serve as a Visiting Professor of Finance in the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.  Prior to Georgetown, he taught economics at the University of Illinois.  Dr. Huggett earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin, and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Huggett will be discussing the taxation of the highest earners in the United States.  Specifically, he will compare two schools of thought related to the identification of the revenue maximizing marginal tax rate for top earners.  The “established view”, advanced by Diamond, Saez, and others, holds that the revenue maximizing rate is roughly 73 percent.  This rate is substantially above the top rate of 42.5 percent in 2010.  Critics of the “established view”, like Badel and Dr. Huggett, argue that excessive taxation at the top end is likely to have implications for future generations.  That is, the high rates of taxation will deter future top earners from pursuing the same level of investment in human capital development.  Therefore, the optimal rate is actually much lower than 73 percent.  Dr. Huggett will present the theoretical underpinnings of both views, as well as supporting empirical evidence.

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William H. Frey

Senior Fellow

Metropolitan Policy Program

The Brookings Institution

William H. Frey is a senior fellow with the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution.  He is also a research professor in population studies at the University of Michigan. An internationally regarded demographer, he is known for his expertise in US demographics and American political demographics. Frey has authored over 200 publications and several books, most recently, Diversity Explosion: How New Racial Demographics are Remaking America (Brookings Institution Press, 2015).

Dr. Frey received a Ph.D. in sociology from Brown University with specialty in demography. He previously held positions at Rutgers University, the University of Washington, the University of Wisconsin, and the State University of New York at Albany. He has been a consultant to the U.S. Census Bureau, a fellow of the Urban Land Institute and a contributing editor to American Demographics magazine.

Dr. Frey will be discussing his book, Diversity Explosion.  The demographic landscape of America is changing faster than most people think, as “new racial minorities”- Hispanics, Asians and multiracial Americans-comprise the bulk of the nation’s population growth, and all of the growth in its younger population.  The impact on consumer patterns, public services, politics and policies has yet to be fully appreciated.  In this book, Dr. Frey lays out the dynamics of this demographic change – across generations and geography.

“In a definitive guide to America’s demographic transformation, Frey gives us the facts and figures needed to understand how we got to where we are as a people and the even greater changes still ahead. Some books speculate about the future; this one calculates certainties”

– Roberto Suro, Professor of Journalism and Public Policy, University of Southern California

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