A Primer on the Federal Reserve
Hoyt Bleakley
Thu Jan 25, 10:30am-12:00pm, E51-372
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Prereq: None
The hows and whys of Federal Reserve policy, including a tour of recent policy debates (from the perspective of an MIT and Federal Reserve "alumnus").
Web: http://web.mit.edu/economics/www
Contact: Emily Gallagher, E52-262, x3-8884, emily@mit.edu
|
An MIT Solution to the Social Security Crisis
Franco Modigliani
Wed Jan 17, 03-04:30pm, E51-372
Single session event
Prereq: None
A proposed reform of the current Public Pension System, based on replacing the pay-as-you-go financing with a funded system that insures the indefinite preservation of the current defined benefits without raising contributions, and instead gradually reducing them to a third of what they would be under pay-as-you-go.
Web: http://web.mit.edu/economics/www
Contact: Thomas Lissey, E53-420, x3-6853, thom@mit.edu
|
Are U.S. Executives Overpaid?
Bengt Holmstrom
Tue Jan 16, 01-02:30pm, E51-395
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Prereq: None
In the '90s the best paid CEOs in the US earned each year over 100 million dollars from lucractive stock option programs. Is this a sign of executive greed, or does the increased use of stock options improve corporate performance? The lecture will place this question in the larger context of the very significant corporate restructuring that has taken place in the US over the past two decades, arguing that stock option programs have played a very central role in this transition. We will also discuss the challenges facing stock option programs in a slow-growing stock market and suggest ways to make them better.
Web: http://web.mit.edu/economics/www
Contact: Deborah Garrity, E52-274, x2-1618, dgarrity@mit.edu
|
Classroom Experiments in Game Theory
Christopher Snyder
Wed Jan 31, 02:30-05:00pm, E51-361
Enrollment limited: advance sign up required (see contact below)
Signup by: 30-Jan-2001
Limited to 25 participants.
Single session event
Students will participate in simple games designed to illustrate formal concepts from game theory. Actual nominal cash payments will be paid based on performance. Session will conclude with a discussion of the results and the lessons we learn from them about the theory.
Web: http://web.mit.edu/economics/www
Contact: Ana Medeiros, E52-352, x3-3807, amede@mit.edu
|
Economic Development, Geography or Institutions?
Daron Acemoglu
Tue Jan 30, 01-02:30pm, E51-372
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Prereq: None
This talk will argue that the history of European Colonization has a first-order effect on comparative development. Europeans adopted very different colonization policies in different colonies, with different associated institutions. The choice of colonization strategy was, at least in part, determined by whether Europeans could settle in the colony. In places where Europeans faced high mortality rates, they could not settle, and they were more likely to set up worse (extractive) institutions. These early institutions have persisted to the present. The talk will document evidence supporting these hypotheses. It will also show that, once these links are taken into account, countries in Africa or those closer to the equator do not have lower incomes.
Web: http://web.mit.edu/economics/www
Contact: Lauren Fahey, E52-380, x3-4669, lola@mit.edu
|
Rethinking International Labor Standards
Michael Piore
Fri Jan 12, 01-02:30pm, E51-372
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Prereq: None
Web: http://web.mit.edu/economics/www
Contact: Deborah Garrity, E52-274, x2-1618, dgarrity@mit.edu
|
Taxation and the Mutual Fund Industry
Daniel Bergstresser
Thu Jan 11, 10:30am-12:00pm, E51-376
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Prereq: None
Personal taxes can consume a substantial portion of a mutual fund shareholder's return. In the late 1990s, taxes have cost a typical fund investor over two percent of his invested savings each year. At the aggregate level, these tax payments have contributed as much as $15 billion in revenue to the federal government. This IAP seminar presents recent economic analysis of the relationship between fund taxation and investor behavior. The focus is on recent research designed to ascertain the sensitivity of investors to the prospective tax burdens of individual mutual funds.
Web: http://web.mit.edu/economics/www
Contact: Daniel Bergstresser, E52-354, x8-0741, dberg@mit.edu
|
The 2000 Elections: What Happened (and Why)?
James Snyder , Charles Stewart, Stephen Ansolabehere
Mon Jan 22, 11am-12:30pm, E51-395
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Prereq: None
Join us for a discussion of the 2000 Elections. Find out who won the elections and why they won.
Web: http://web.mit.edu/economics/www
Contact: Anne Carbone, E53-460, x8-8780, atcarbon@mit.edu
|
The Competitive Edge of New Industrial Regions
Pat Burnett, Former Assoc. Prof. of Economic Geography, Northwestern Univ
Thu Feb 1, 01-02:30pm, E51-057
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Prereq: None
Silicon Valley, Route 128, British Sports Car Alley, Kumi S. Korea. Companies are increasingly mobile nationally and internationally, yet "sticky places" form. Why? We investigate them in Western and non-Western countries.
Web: http://web.mit.edu/economics/www
Contact: Ruth Levitsky, E52-380, x3-3399, levitsky@mit.edu
|
The Election and the Prospect for Social Security Reform
Peter Diamond
Fri Jan 19, 01-02:30pm, E51-361
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Prereq: None
This talk will describe the current status of social security and the reform proposals that have received the most attention.
Web: http://web.mit.edu/economics/www
Contact: Emily Gallagher, E52-262, x3-8884, emily@mit.edu
|
The Role of Wireless Technology in the New Economy
Jerry Hausman
Mon Jan 8, 01-02:30pm, E25-111
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Prereq: None
Professor Hausman will discuss recent developments in wireless technology. In particular, he will analyze the potential combination of wireless technology and the internet.
Web: http://web.mit.edu/economics/www
Contact: Emily Gallagher, E52-262, x3-8884, emily@mit.edu
|
Wine and Economics (or How to Pick the Perfect Bottle of Wine)
Jonathan Reuter
Thu Jan 18, 02:30-04:00pm, E51-372
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Prereq: None
In this talk, I will explore the relationship between the information contained on a bottle of wine -- such as its price and vintage -- and the quality of its contents (as measured by a rating in a wine publication). I will also discuss why the rating for a given bottle of wine may differ across wine publications and over time. (Note that no wine will be served during or after the talk).
Web: http://web.mit.edu/economics/www
Contact: Jonathan Reuter, E52-243b, x3-6445, jreuter@mit.edu
|
|
