Harcourt Visiting Professor Lecture 2018

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.