A few words on the International Economics’ Association online World Congress, July 2-6, on the theme “Equity, Sustainability and Prosperity in a Fractured World.” Here is the home of the World Congress where you will find details on all the info below, registration links, and more https://ieawc2021.org/ The IEA World Congress is co-sponsored by the Indonesian government and was originally scheduled to take place in Bali, Indonesia in July 2020. Due to the pandemic, we had to postpone it and it is now being held online, along with recorded sessions. Full online program is here https://ieawc202 ..read more

There’s been much discussion in recent days about Economics’ race problem. Some of what has come out is quite disturbing. I have not said much, but I have listened and thought. Here are a few reflections I want to add. It doesn’t surprise me that the field, as a whole, reflects the ingrained attitudes and practices of the society of which it is part. But there are some features of the discipline that magnify and aggravate the problem. First, Economics is clubby. While good research does get recognized, the ability to produce good research depends on the networks one has access to. If you don’t ..read more

Concerned about where the US-China trade relationship is going, we recently formed a “US-China Trade Policy Working Group.” Yang Yao, Jeff Lehman and I are co-conveners. Other members are Meredith Crowley, Robert Howse, Jiandong Ju, Feng Lu, Justin Yifu Lin, Eric Maskin, and Rob Staiger. We released our statement today. The statement is signed by 27 additional economists and legal scholars, including Philippe Aghion, Kaushik Basu, Robert Engle, Gang Fan, Robert Frank, Gene Grossman, Gordon Hanson, Ann Harrison, Kala Krishna, Ned Phelps, Alvaro Santos, Greg Shaffer, Anne-Marie Slaughter, Mike S ..read more

Even though I post here occasionally, my regular monthly pieces are published on the Project Syndicate website and you can read them here. For a full list of my opinion pieces, go here. My research papers and books are here and here, respectively. Finally, if you want to follow me in the news, check out here ..read more

I was asked to provide in less than 3 minutes some inspirational and aspirational comments to graduates at the University of York this month, on the occasion of being awarded an honorary degree from the University. This is what I intended to say, though I think I forgot to include some of it when I rose up to make my remarks. As graduates, you are part of a small minority of the world’s population whose lives will be shaped by decisions you make, individually and collectively, instead of decisions made for you. What can an economist like me advise you? As economists, our advice has not always ..read more