Rice University president opens economics lecture series
Sept. 18, 2003
KALAMAZOO -- One of the country's foremost experts on fiscal economics and environmental policy will be on campus Wednesday, Sept. 24, to open the 2003-04 Werner Sichel Lecture-Seminar Series on
Dr. Malcolm Gillis, the Ervin Kenneth Zinger Professor of Economics and president of Rice University, will present "Some Understudied Dimensions of Sustainability," at 3 p.m. in Room 3508 of Knauss Hall.
A Fulbright Professor, Gillis has conducted economic analysis on public policy issues for nearly 20 countries, and for such organizations as the World Bank and the U.S. Department of Treasury. His studies in 1983 for the government of Indonesia led to a fundamental reform of that nation's entire tax system. A member of the American Forestry Association, he has served on the governor's Council of Advisers for the state of Alaska and is a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
The 2003-04 Werner Sichel Lecture-Seminar Series features six nationally known economists who will focus on this year's theme, "The Economics of Sustainable Development." The series, named for a current faculty member and longtime chairperson of the WMU's Department of Economics, is co-sponsored by that department, WMU's College of Arts and Sciences and the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
"This year's seminar focus is on sustainable economic development that enables future generations in any society to live at least as well as the current generation," says Dr. Sisay Asefa, WMU professor of economics and director of the series.
Lectures featuring the following topics and speakers are scheduled for these Wednesdays during the 2003-04 academic year:
Oct. 15, "Economic Development, Inequality and War," presented by Dr. E. Wayne Nafziger, University Distinguished Professor of Economics, Kansas State University;
Nov. 5, "Scientific and Technical Constraints on Sustainable Growth in Agricultural Production," presented by Dr. Vernon W. Ruttan, professor of economics and applied economics, University of Minnesota;
Dec. 3, "How the World Survived the Population Bomb: An Economic Perspective," presented by Dr. David Lam, professor of economics, University of Michigan;
Feb. 11, 2004, "Economic Growth and the Environment," presented by Dr. Theodore Panayotou, John Sawhill Lecturer of Environmental Policy, Harvard University; and
March 24, 2004, "Property Rights and the Urgent Challenge of Environmental Sustainability," presented by Dr. Daniel Bromley, professor of applied economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
All events in the series take place at 3 p.m. in Room 3508 of Knauss Hall and are free and open to the public.
Media contact: Matt Gerard, 269 387-8400, matthew.gerard@wmich.edu