Event Summary
Professor Jean Tirole, chairman of the Jean-Jacques Laffont - Toulouse School of Economics Foundation and scientific director of the Institute for Industrial Economics, discussed his new book Economics for the Common Good on November 2, 2017, at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Olivier Blanchard, Bergsten Senior Fellow at the Institute, shared his own insights in response to Tirole’s conclusions in the book.
Economics for the Common Good is a passionate manifesto for a world in which economics, far from being a "dismal science," is a positive force for the common good. Tirole expresses the urgent need for economists to engage with the many challenges facing society, helping to identify key objectives and the tools needed to meet them. He shares his views on a broad array of questions affecting our everyday lives and the future of our society, including global warming, unemployment, the post-2008 global financial order, the digital revolution, and the proper balance between the free market and regulation. Providing a rich account of how economics can benefit everyone, Economics for the Common Good sets a new agenda for the role of economics in society.
Tirole is the recipient of the 2014 Sveriges Riksbank prize in economic sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel. As well as serving in his roles at the Jean-Jacques Laffont - Toulouse School of Economics Foundation and the Institute for Industrial Economics, he is also affiliated with MIT, the School for Advanced Studies in Social Science, the Institute of France, and the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, which he cofounded in 2011. He is laureate of numerous other international distinctions, including the 2007 CNRS gold medal.
Blanchard, C. Fred Bergsten Senior Fellow, has been with the Institute since October 2015. He first taught at Harvard, then at MIT, where he was chairman of the economics department from 1998 to 2003. From 2008 to 2015, he served as the chief economist of the IMF. He remains Robert M. Solow Professor of Economics emeritus at MIT. He is president-elect of the American Economic Association, a fellow and past council member of the Econometric Society, and a member of the American Academy of Sciences.