No Sweat: How Sweatshops Improve Lives and Economic Growth

Join FFF and the GMU Economics Society in welcoming economist Ben Powell!

Monday, April 23rd

5:30 pm – Free Pizza ($0)

6:00 pm – Lecture with Q&A

8:00 pm – Social Hour at Brion’s Grille (across the street from George Mason in University Mall)

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Benjamin Powell is an associate professor of Economics at Suffolk University. He received his PhD at George Mason University in 2003. His areas of interest include Austrian Economics, economic development, and Public Choice. He has written many articles and three books: 'Modern Principles: Microeconomics'; 'Housing America'; and 'Making Poor Nations Rich'.

Claudia Williamson Video

For those who missed the lecture last night, here is Claudia Williamson on "The Trouble with Aid".

Economic Liberty Lecture Series - Claudia R. Williamson from The Future of Freedom Foundation on Vimeo.

Political and Economic Change in Egypt and the Middle East

Join the Mercatus Center and GMU Econ Society in welcoming four panelists to discuss the recent changes in Egypt: Dr. Ramachandran, Chris Coyne, Jack A. Goldstone, and Peshwaz Faizulla.

Thursday, March 3rd at 6pm

Johnson Center Bistro (GMU Fairfax Campus)

The majority of the event will be centered around Q&A, so come prepared with your questions for the panelists!

Dr. Ramachandran recently retired after some 25 fascinating years working on a wide range of issues and countries at the World Bank and the IMF: banking reforms in Latin America, privatisation in Eastern Europe and the transformation of their economies, and the financial crisis of East Asia. This operational experience was leavened by some years in the Operations Evaluation Department examining the effectiveness of the World Bank’s loans and country assistance. He has also contributed to and authored major reports including "Economic Growth in the 1990s: Learning from a Decade of Reform" the Development Policy Review report on Egypt and most recently "Natural Hazards, UnNatural Disasters: The Economics of Effective Prevention."

Chris Coyne is the F.A. Harper Professor of Economics at the Mercatus Center and a member of the Department of Economics at George Mason University. He is also the North American Editor of The Review of Austrian Economics, a member of the Board of Scholars for the Virginia Institute for Public Policy, and he was named the Hayek Fellow at the London School of Economics in 2008. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University and has since authored and edited numerous academic articles, book chapters, and policy studies. Prof. Coyne is the author of "After War: The Political Economy of Exporting Democracy."

Jack A. Goldstone is the Virginia E. and John T. Hazel Professor of Public Policy and a Senior Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He received his Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University. He has previously taught at Northwestern University and the University of California, Davis, where he was Professor of Sociology and International Relations. He has authored or edited ten books and published over one hundred articles in books and scholarly journals. He is currently director of the Center for Global Policy in Mason’s School of Public Policy, and editor of Foreign Policy Bulletin.

Peshwaz Faizulla is currently an editor for the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, working with their Kurdish and Persian websites. Prior to beginning this work, he was managing editor of Hawlati, the highest circulated newspaper in northern Iraq, and on the editorial board of the independent news agency, Voices of Iraq. He received his BA in English from Suliemany University, and his MS in Journalism from Columbia University in New York.

Wall Street Bail-out and Economic Development

With the recent financial crisis in the United States, most of the debate we hear currently entails whether or not the government should be involved in some sort of bail-out. While this would be a major intervention, William Easterly, in a today's op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, says that the U.S. will still remain largely capitalistic and the domestic effect is not the largest worry. To Dr. Easterly, the issue at hand is what message this policy choice sends to developing countries' governments. While we may be choosing between some or more intervention, he contends that developing nations are choosing between free markets and government planning for economic growth.

For better or worse, our actions and beliefs today will affect the policies for many years to come of these countries. The point Easterly makes is an important one, and echos that of F.A. Hayek in "The Intellectuals and Socialism". Whether you agree or disagree with government intervention, it is difficult to ignore the importance of the role our policy decisions play in steering developing governments' future actions.

If any of you feel inspired by this issue or any development issues, there will be an opportunity for you to share your ideas to other students and non-profit organizations in an upcoming conference at Mason. A private consulting firm Midego Inc. from Fairfax, Virginia will be co-hosting the conference with the student group Global Health Students Beyond Borders in February. Here is more info:

"The conference is entitled "Breaking with Business As Usual" and the purpose of the conference is to bring together students and professionals from all disciplines to discuss and develop strategies to reach the Millennium Development Goals.

If you are not familiar with the MDGs, they are a set of 8 health, welfare and environmental sustainability goals set by the United Nations in the year 2000 and are aimed at improving the lives of the world's poorest by improving issues related to education, poverty, public health and environmental degradation. Most of the worlds' governments have pledged to supporting these goals, but are falling short in delivering on that promise. In order to move towards them innovative strategies must be developed.

We are calling for student poster or oral presentations - abstracts are due November 30th - see the attached guidlines. This is a 250 word abstract for either a poster or 10-minute presentation. Your ideas do not have to be tested and proven, we're looking for new, innovative strategies. Take a look at the list of the MDG and their targets and I think you'll see a lot that economic students would be interested in. Ideas I can think of off hand are providing micro-loans for small businesses, balancing economic growth with environmental conservation,and dealing with debt problems in developing nations. "


I know that many of you could offer new thinking on these topics, and I plan to propose a talk for the conference as well. If any of you have any questions about this conference or wish to get the application, you can email the Econ Society at gmueconsociety@gmail.com or email Midego Inc at sara@midego.com .