Nobel Laureate Kenneth Arrow discusses economics of new malarial drugs, Oct. 21

Nobel Laureate Kenneth J. Arrow will discuss “The Economics of New Antimalarial Drugs” at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 21 in the Bryan Cave Courtroom, Anheuser-Busch Hall. Arrow, a longtime professor of economics at Stanford University, recently chaired a National Institute of Medicine committee that issued a report titled “Saving Lives, Buying Time: Economics of Malaria Drugs in an Age of Resistance.” Malaria, along with tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, is one of the big three global killers of the world’s poorest people.

Getting your money’s worth for National Football League Tickets

Joe Angeles/WUSTL PhotoThe National Football League season has kicked off with a bang and once again, ticket prices are higher than ever. Fans who pay anywhere from $50 to $250 for a single ticket may grouse about the price, but Dan Elfenbein, a professor in the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis, said football teams routinely under-price their tickets and online ticket scalpers are reaping the benefits.

Top Bush/Kerry advisers to debate candidates’ economic plans

The top economic advisers for President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry will debate at 8 a.m. Oct. 8, the day of the second presidential debate, which will take place at Washington University in St. Louis. The event will be held at Lee Auditorium in the Missouri History Museum, Lindell Boulevard at DeBaliviere Avenue in St. Louis’ Forest Park. John Berry, columnist for Bloomberg News, will moderate the debate between the two advisers.

Murray Weidenbaum’s new book of essays offers defense of Reaganomics

“Give me a one-armed economist,” President Harry S. Truman once demanded as he vented his frustration over economic advisors who offer straightforward recommendations, then hedge their bets by tacking on a slew of caveats, often beginning with the phrase “but, on the other hand…” Now, Murray Weidenbaum, the chairman of President Ronald Reagan’s first Council of Economic Advisers, has published a compilation of essays that offers the clear, no-nonsense economic policy analysis that Truman craved. Titled One-Armed Economist: On the Intersection of Business and Government, the book provides a distillation of four decades of Weidenbaum’s writings on key public policy issues.

Advances in technology impact value of workers’ skills

MacDonaldIt is no secret that advances in technology can greatly impact the value of workers’ skills. Older workers often find the updating of complex technology uneconomic, while younger workers acquire and readily employ skills tailored to the newest technology. The result: the latter group’s productivity rises, diminishing the value of output produced by their older counterparts. A recently published study by Glenn MacDonald, Washington University’s John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics and Strategy, is the first to model and explain the nature and severity of this effect.

Law school presents “Access to Justice” speaker series

The Counsel for the NAACP, the Chief Judge Emeritus and Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and experts on American Indian water rights, globalization, civil rights, women’s legal history, disability rights, death penalty, and economics are part of the spring lineup for the School of Law’s sixth annual Public Interest Law Speaker Series.

Weidenbaum Center hosts St. Louis Forum on future of airline industry, Oct. 31

GriggsEconomic implications of the American Airlines decision to dramatically reduce flights from its St. Louis airport hub will be among the topics discussed in a free public forum on the “Future of the Airline Industry” to be held on campus Oct. 31. The discussion is timely since it comes one day before American Airlines plans to cut its St. Louis airport daily departing flights from 417 to 207. Keynote speaker is Michael Levine, a professor of law and management who directed federal airline deregulation efforts in the late 1970s and served as an executive at Northwest Airlines until 1999. Jan Druecker of the University of Illinois presents analysis on economic impact of job losses in region.

Experimental economics flourishes at Olin School of Business

Experimental economics — a fast-growing branch of economics that involves the creation of a microeconomic environment in a laboratory — is being widely used at the John M. Olin School of Business. Applications of the experimental research have multiplied, spanning many industries and producing results that have impacted everything from how airlines price their tickets to how companies manage their employees. Ronald R. King, Ph.D., is helping to lead the burgeoning new area of research at the business school.

Empirical research shows contracts form the basis for trust in business relationships

ZengerIt takes more than a firm handshake to guarantee trust in any business relationship that’s going to last. In empirical research recently published in Strategic Management Journal, Olin School of Business Professor of Organization and Strategy Todd R. Zenger completed an in-depth survey of senior corporate managers that confirms his suspicions about the importance of contracts in generating trust.
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