SGE Meetings
October Monthly Luncheon
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Speaker: David Warsh, author,
Affiliation: Editor of EconomicPrincipals.com
Title: "Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations"
The "new growth" literature has been a central concern of economics since Robert Lucas introduced it to the profession in 1985 with a lecture on "The Mechanics of Economic Development." At its heart is an unfamiliar distinction between rival and nonrival goods and the degree to which their use is excludable. A journalist's account of where it came from, and what it means, for governments and firms.
David Warsh is editor of EconomicPrincipals.com, an independent, subscription-supported, Web-based weekly started in 2002. He covered economics for The Boston Globe for 20 years and, earlier, reported on business for Forbes Magazine and The Wall Street Journal, and from Vietnam, for Pacific Stars and Stripes and Newsweek Magazine. He is a two-time winner of financial journalism's Loeb Award.
Opening from "Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations": This book tells the story of a single technical paper in economics--the events leading up to its publication in 1990 and some subsequent changes in our understanding of the world. My subsidiary aim is to convey something about how economics is done today in universities, for it is there, not in central banks or government offices or Wall Street firms, that the most important work takes place.
Chinatown Garden Restaurant 618 H St., NW,
Washington Metro: Gallery Place (Red, Green, and Yellow Lines). Restaurant is 1/2 block east of the Metro station's northern (H Street) exit.
Reservations by 11:30 am October 24th, to Jonathan Schwabish Jonathan.Schwabish@cbo.gov or 202-226-5667.
$15 for SGE and NEC members $20 for non-members
Upcoming SGE Luncheons
November (15 or 16): Frank Nothaft, Chief Economist at Freddie Mac.
Title and topic TBA.
Thursday, December 21: Harry Holzer, Georgetown.
Title and topic TBA.