If you’re in the vicinity of the University of Rochester this Thursday (November 16), check this out:
Archive for the 'Events' Category
If you’re in the vicinity of the University of Rochester Thursday evening at 5PM (that is, November 9, which is likely to be the date on which you’re reading this), please drop by Meliora 203 for a talk on the recent history of bank failures and financial panics.
Our speaker is Professor James Kahn, now of Yeshiva University, late of the New York Federal Reserve bank and the University of Rochester, and one of the people who taught me how to think about economics. The talk will be aimed primarily at undergraduate students, but all are welcome.
If you are in the vicinity of the University of Rochester this Thursday, please join us:
If you are in the vicinity of the University of Rochester tomorrow, check it out:
If you are in the vicinity of the University of Rochester this Wednesday (March 15), you have an opportunity to hear Martin Cox, the director of the John Locke Institute, talking about “How to Be Right”. See details on the poster above.
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A bit of history:
- One day in the 16th century, a student at Oxford University was sitting in the woods reading a volume of Aristotle, when he was attacked by a wild boar. The student saved himself by shoving the volume down the throat of the boar and choking it to death. He brought the boar back to Oxford, where it became the centerpiece of a great feast. The anniversary has been celebrated at Oxford ever since, with an annual Boar’s Head Dinner.
- One day in 1934, someone at the University of Rochester decided that Rochesterians should celebrate these anniversaries as well. Ever since, with a few interruptions, the University has been the site of an annual Boar’s Head Dinner, where a member of the University community is called upon to re-tell the story of the brave Oxford student, perhaps with some embellishment.
- One day in 2005, I was the one who was called upon. The event was filmed, but the sound quality was horrendous. (So was the video quality, but that seems less important.) I’ve therefore almost never shared it.
- One day a couple of months ago, I mentioned this to my awesome friend Rowan McVey, who volunteered to take the video, improve the sound quality, and add captions. (Note: Rowan was already entirely awesome even before she jumped on this task.)
Herewith the fruits of Rowan’s labors. The two videos linked below are identical except that the first has captions and the second doesn’t. The sound quality is still surely imperfect, but it’s a vast improvement over the original.
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If you are in the vicinity of the University of Rochester this Wednesday (November 30), stop by Sloan Auditorium in Goergen Hall at 5PM to hear a lecture from Doug Irwin, Professor of Economics at Dartmouth College and a prominent expert in international trade. His topic is “From Globalization to Slowbalization: The Future of World Economic Integration”.
Professor Irwin’s books include Free Trade Under Fire, Peddling Protectionism, Clashing over Commerce, and Three Simple Principles of Trade Policy.
If you’re in the vicinity of the University of Rochester tomorrow (Sunday, November 20), do stop by Dewey Hall room 1-101 at 5PM for a talk on “Applied Political Economy and the Invasion of Ukraine” by Dr. Tom Palmer of the Atlas Network and the Cato Institute.
Dr. Palmer has written extensively on issues at the cusp of economics, politics and philosophy. As the General Director of the Atlas Network’s Global Initiative, he travels extensively to advise foreign NGOs on how to foster economic development and liberal democracy. He has recently returned from doing good work in Ukraine.
If you’re in the vicinity of the University of Rochester this coming Tuesday (October 4) at 5PM, you are invited to come by Goergen Hall Room 101 to hear Jamie Whyte‘s public lecture on the topic “Regulating Rudeness: The Social Cost of Offensive Speech”.
Jamie’s talks in the past have been generally dazzling. I expect no less of this one.
I had the honor of giving the commencement address to this year’s graduating economics majors at the University of Rochester, under circumstances that were trying in several ways.
First, I learned at 10:10 PM on Friday that I was giving this talk on Saturday morning. (It’s a long story. All the communication failures leading up to this were entirely my own fault.) I got to bed rather late that night.
Second, it was so ungodly hot that I chose to shed my cap and gown.
Third, there were, I think, only about 80 students present, spread evenly around a 967 seat auditorium (family and other guests were not allowed). Laughter and applause were therefore pretty sparse (though I suppose they might have been sparse for other reasons) and even what little could be heard was mostly not picked up by the microphones.
Other than that, I thought it was a good day. Those who have seen my 2017 commencement talk will recognize roughly the first quarter and the last tenth of this one, which I recycled. The intervening 65% or so is new.
Or click here.
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This Saturday at 2PM Eastern time, I’ll be talking to the Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking on “Why is There Something Instead of Nothing?”
Unfortunately, times are such that I’ll have to give my talk over Zoom. Happily, this means that no matter where you are in the world, you can attend. Register by visiting the upcoming meetings page and scrolling down to “Click Here to Register” (near the very bottom), or just visit the registration page. Registration is free but required.
Jamie Whyte, whose has been at various times an academic philosopher (and winner of the Analysis prize for the best paper by a philosopher under 30), a consultant to the banking industry with Oliver Wyman, a foreign currency trader, the leader of New Zealand’s ACT political party, the research director at the Institute for Economic Affairs, the author of several books that every thinking person should read, a frequent contributor to the European edition of the Wall Street Journal and other publications of that ilk, the incoming editor of Standpoint Magazine, an occasional guest poster on this very blog — and the deliverer of one of the most thought-provoking and entertaining lectures I’ve ever heard when he visited Rochester a few years back — will be here again next week, with two events open to the general public. They are:
Continue reading ‘Jamie Whyte!’
This week, I’ll be in Charleston, South Carolina as part of the annual Adam Smith Week celebration at the College of Charleston. You, along with the rest of the public, are invited to attend any or all of my talks:
Thursday, March 7, 1:45PM, “Is the World Overpopulated?”, Wells Fargo Auditorium
Thursday, March 7, 6:00PM, “What Do the Rich Owe to the Poor?”, Wells Fargo Auditorium
Friday, March 8, 12:00, “Why Be an Econ Major?” (discussion with Dr. Doug Walker)
If you attend, be sure to say hello!
I am delighted to announce that Glen Weyl, of Microsoft and Princeton University, will be visiting us at the University of Rochester on Tuesday, November 6 (election day!) and will speak on the topic Radical Markets: Uprooting Capitalism for a Just Society, based on the (extremely) provocative and original book of almost the same title, co-authored by Weyl and Eric Posner. The lecture is free and open to the public. The event will be held in Wegmans Hall, room 1400, and will begin promptly at 6:30PM.
This Monday (October 15), I’ll be in at Webber International University in Babson Park, Florida, talking on the subject “What Do the Rich Owe to the Poor?”. The talk is at 7pm in the Yentes Conference Center. Please join us if you’re in the area!
With apologies for the late notice: Eric Hanushek of Stanford University, the great pioneer in the applications of economics to evaluating educational policies, will speaking tonight in Wegmans Hall, room 1400, on the University of Rochester campus. The general public is invited.
Title: Can we put a Price on Student Achievement? Financial Returns for Academic Success
The event will begin promptly at 6:30PM. The general public is welcome.
I’ll be speaking this Saturday at the Freethought Festival in Madison, Wisconsin (follow the link to register!) on the topic “Truth, Provability and the Fabric of the Universe”. I’ll be glad to see you there.
While most Americans are celebrating Thanksgiving, I’ll be in London, giving the annual Hayek Memorial Lecture sponsored by the Institute of Economic Affairs. Topic: Is the World Over or Under Populated, and How Would We Know? Tickets are required but free, and are available here. If you come to the talk, don’t leave without saying hello!
If you happen to be in the Rochester, New York area, you’ll want to know that the esteemed Robin Hanson, proprietor of the endlessly fascinating Overcoming Bias blog will be delivering the Lawrence Goldberg Memorial lecture, based on his new book The Age of Em this Monday, April 18, at 7:30 PM in Dewey 1-101 on the University of Rochester campus. The general public is warmly welcome.
(Click poster to enlarge.)
The undergraduate Finance and Economics Council here at the University of Rochester held an event at my house last week, which included pizza, informal chat with professors, a rationality test (out of 31 students, exactly one scored a perfect 5 and one scored a perfect zero), a selfie shot or two, and some time on the aerial silks, where three students were brave enough to go up in the air — and each of them accomplished more in under ten minutes than I accomplished in my first ten weeks. The evidence:
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| Demo | Lance Floto Front Salto Dive |
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| Juan Bernardo Tobar Front Salto Dive |
Lev Bokeria Crossback Straddle |
Thanks to Council president Shucen Wu for making this happen, to Zach Taylor for the video, and to everyone who participated. We should do this again.
Following in the footsteps of Jeb Bush, Alan Simpson, Erskine Bowles, James Carville, Mary Matalin, George F. Will, Tony Snow, John Bolton, Tommy Franks, Chris Wallace, Charles Krauthammer, Fred Barnes, Morton Kondracke, Christopher Hitchens, Walter Cronkite, Clarence Thomas, Queen Noor of Jordan and Milton Friedman, I will be delivering the Hatton Sumners Distinguished Lecture in Dallas this Friday. Join us if you’re free! Registration is here.
Friday March 1 Tuesday, March 5 (note date change!): Our occasional commenter Sierra Black will discuss polyamory on the Katie Couric show; 3PM eastern time in many cities, but check local listings.
Monday, March 4, 5:30PM: I’ll be speaking in the Economic Liberty Lecture Series, sponsored by the Future of Freedom Foundation, at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. I’m a little unclear on the exact location; this link and this link seem to contradict each other — but they do both give phone numbers to call for further information. Admission is free.
I gave a series of four talks last week at Cato University; only the first of them was broadcast by C-SPAN, and you can watch it here. (The title was “The Greatest Story Ever Told”, meaning the story of economic growth.)
Much of this material will look familiar to those who have watched other videos recently posted in this space, but I think it comes together a little better in this one. The remaining lectures contained more in the way of new material, and I’m hoping to be able to post at least some video excerpts in the near future.
There were a lot of fabulous talks at this event by such luminaries as Tom Palmer (here and here) and the extraordinary Robert McDonald, who held the audience in thrall with his gripping three-part series on the history of the American revolution (not, unfortunately, online, even in part).
If you missed it, there’s always next year!
If you like this blog, then you either are or should be a fan of the late Martin Gardner, the long-time “Mathematical Games” columnist for Scientific American. On the 21st of October (what would have been Gardner’s 96th birthday), “Gatherings for Gardner” will take place around the world, where fans can share their favorite puzzles, ideas, magic tricks and reminiscences in what’s being billed as a global “celebration of mind”. You’re welcome to attend one of these events — or to host one.
(Potential attendees would surely benefit from a list of locations in lieu of having to navigate that idiotic map, but that’s what’s there.)
It was at a previous Gathering for Gardner that puzzle designer Gary Foshee posed his notoriously tricky probability puzzle about the mom with a son born on a Tuesday. (Spoilers here.) If you host or attend a gathering, do come back here and share your favorite finds.
