Exeter Hosts Economist Mankiw for Assembly Talk

Renowned Harvard macroeconomist Gregory Mankiw will speak at tomorrow’s assembly about "The Fiscal Challenges Ahead," giving Exonians a window into some of the most relevant economic issues of their time.

Mankiw will also speak at the Republican Club meeting at 6 p.m. today at the Elm Street Dining Hall. He will also give a lecture in the Assembly Hall on Thursday at 7 p.m.

Kathleen Brownback, assembly coordinator and religion instructor, said that the school chose Mankiw to visit Exeter because of his prominence in the field of economics and his ability to present a point of view less prevalent on campus. "He has been controversial at Harvard in the past, but I do not know if he will be here. We've had many political conservatives speak here, but not recently an economist," she said. "Mankiw’s views are those that students should be familiar with--and engage with--whether or not they agree. That's what a liberal arts education is about."

Mankiw resonated with campus

Mankiw is currently the chair of the economics department at Harvard University. He is most well-known for his two college textbooks about macroeconomics, including Principles of Economics. In addition, he was the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George Bush from May 2003 to February 2005.

Exonians, whether avid economists or not, are proud to welcome Mankiw to campus. Senior Connor Soltas, who was previously an economics club co-head said, "I’m really thrilled that he’s coming here. I don’t think that in any of my four years here, we’ve had a serious economist come speak at Exeter," he continued. "To have someone of Greg Mankiw’s stature come for the first time in my four years is a huge deal."

Economics instructor Giorgio Secondi believes that it is timely to have an economical expert on campus to help Exonians reflect on the pros and cons of different policy options, since the nation is facing a sluggish economic recovery, a looming fiscal crisis and political gridlock on how to address these problems. "We host economists quite rarely, and he's definitely the most prominent we have hosted in my five years at Exeter," he said. "A lot of seniors take Economics every year, so the opportunity to hear from an accomplished professional in the field is particularly valuable."

"I hope that he will help students realize that the political debate about economic issues is often oversimplified."

Secondi hopes that students will take away an understanding of economics from tomorrow’s assembly and apply that knowledge to make a difference in people’s lives. "Mankiw is both a well-respected academic and someone with substantial public policy experience," he said. "I hope that he will help students realize that the political debate about economic issues is often oversimplified; there are difficult trade-offs in economic policy-making and unless these trade-offs are acknowledged and assessed, realistic solutions are out of reach."

Economics club co-head upper Jordan Rohrlich believes that the speaker will introduce unfamiliar topics during his visit. "Having him come helps Exeter open up our focus to the broader national issues we face, as a country, and helps us all understand events and ideas with which most of us are not very familiar," he said.

Fellow co-head upper Max Sak is interested to see what Mankiw conveys at assembly. "Mankiw has much technical knowledge of economics and a lot of experience," Sak said. "I personally disagree with some of his positions on Bush’s economic policies, for which he was the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, but I think it should be interesting to see what he does during his visit here and that he could provide good perspective to these topics."

A presence at Republican Club

Republican Club co-heads were looking forward to have Mankiw come and speak at their meeting on Thursday night at Elm Street Dining Hall.

Republican Club co-head and senior Zach Young was excited to have Mankiw, whom he described as a "free-thinking economist who has made great contributions to the New Keynesian school, and has offered insights in the realm of public policy," come to Republican Club to speak. "He is an intriguing figure, who supports fiscal stimulus, but also recognizes its trade-offs and expressed skepticism about the efficacy of the 2009 package."

Young added that Mankiw is able to explain abstract and difficult concepts well in everyday common language. "In his books and articles, Mankiw guides the reader to think like an economist."

According to Young, the Republican Club meeting will be on the topic of taxes, and will consist of an outline of what Mankiw has said and done about taxes, a debate between him and members of the club on current tax policy.

Young believed that Mankiw would be able to teach and intrigue Exonians who have not formally studied economics. He said, "Mankiw has a wide breadth of topics that he covers during his lectures, which might be helpful for him to teach students at Exeter."

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