On the heels of our evocative conversation with Joseph Stiglitz, we are pleased to invite you to join us for the second installment of our new Economics & Theology lecture series at Union Theological Seminary. Jointly sponsored by The Institute for New Economic Thinking and Union, this innovative series imagines creative ways for thinking about money and markets in light of the world’s economic challenges.

For our second event, we have invited the 2001 co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, George Akerlof, to speak with us. Akerlof has been recognized for his research that borrows from sociology, psychology, anthropology and other fields to determine economic influences and outcomes specifically in his book Animal Spirits, which he co-authored with Robert Schiller. His most recent book is entitled Identity Economics: How Our Identities Shape Our Work, Wages, and Well-Being.

We are then asking Robert Johnson, Betty Sue Flowers, Cornel West, and Gary Dorrien to join the conversation as well.  We don’t know what the answers will be, but we know the dialogue will be interesting.

The 2012/13 Economics & Theology series promises to provide unusual, probing discussions between economists and theologians about the deep questions that guide our search for viable economic futures. The second installment of the series will be held on Wednesday, November 28, 2012, at 6:00 in Union’s James Memorial Chapel and will be hosted by Rev. Dr. Serene Jones, President.

Please note: This event is free and open to the public. However, due to space limitations, there is no assigned or reserved seating. We strongly encourage attendees and their guests to arrive early so that we may manage our space more effectively. The doors will open 45 minutes before the start of the event.

Registration is required, RSVP online!

About the Institute for New Economic Thinking

The Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) was created to broaden and accelerate the development of new economic thinking that can lead to solutions for the great challenges of the 21st century.  The havoc wrought by our recent global financial crisis has vividly demonstrated the deficiencies in our outdated current economic theories, and has shown the need for new economic thinking – right now.

INET is supporting this fundamental shift in economic thinking through research funding, community building, and spreading the word about the need for change. We are already are a global community of thousands of new economic thinkers, ranging from Nobel Prize winning economists to teachers and students who have emerged out from the shadows of prevailing economic thought, attracted by the promise of a free and open economic discourse.

www.ineteconomics.org

About the Participants

George Akerlof is a nonresident senior fellow in the Economic Studies program at Brookings. He is the Koshland Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He was a co-winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics. Akerlof has been recognized for his research that borrows from sociology, psychology, anthropology and other fields to determine economic influences and outcomes specifically in his book Animal Spirits, which he co-authored with Robert Schiller. His most recent book is entitled Identity Economics: How Our Identities Shape Our Work, Wages, and Well-Being. Akerlof graduated from the Lawrenceville School and received his B.A. degree from Yale University in 1962, and his Ph.D. degree from MIT in 1966.

Betty Sue Flowers is the director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum. Previously, she was the Joan Negley Kelleher Centennial Professor in the English Department at the University of Texas. She also served as a consultant for the nationally televised series “The Power of Myth.”

Robert Johnson is the Executive Director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking as well as a Senior Fellow and Director of the Global Finance Project for the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in New York. He is an international investor and consultant to investment funds on issues of portfolio strategy and formerly worked as a manager for “Soros Fund Management.”

Gary Dorrien is the Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary and Professor of Religion at Columbia University. An Episcopal priest and lifelong athlete, Dr. Dorrien is the author of 14 books and approximately 250 articles that range across the fields of ethics, social theory, theology, philosophy, politics, and history.

Cornel West is Professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice at Union Theological Seminary and Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. He has also taught at Yale, Harvard, and the University of Paris. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard in three years and obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy at Princeton. He has written 20 books and has edited 13. He is best known for his classics Race Matters and Democracy Matters, and his memoir, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud. He appears frequently on the Bill Maher Show, Colbert Report, CNN and C-Span as well as on his dear Brother, Tavis Smiley’s PBS TV Show. He is also co-host of the popular radio show “Smiley & West” heard on PRI around the country. The co-hosts have recently co-authored the book titled The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto. The new book is a game-changing text on economic injustice in America

Please note: This event is free and open to the public. However, due to space limitations, there is no assigned or reserved seating. We strongly encourage attendees and their guests to arrive early so that we may manage our space more effectively. The doors will open 45 minutes before the start of the event.

Registration is required, RSVP online!