The Role of Personal Accountability and Economic Incentives in Ethical Behavior

Sheila C. Bair, former chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and now president of Washington College, presented the 2016 Annual O. John Olcay Lecture on Ethics and Economics at the Institute on May 3, 2016.

Bair has been the president of Washington College since August 2015. She previously served as the 19th chairperson of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation for a five-year term, from June 2006 through July 2011. Before joining the FDIC in 2006, she was the Dean’s Professor of Financial Regulatory Policy for the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Her other experience includes public service as assistant secretary for financial institutions at the US Department of the Treasury (2001 to 2002), senior vice president for government relations of the New York Stock Exchange (1995 to 2000), a commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (1991 to 1995), and research director, deputy counsel and counsel to Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole (1981 to 1988).

This is the second annual O. John Olcay Lecture on Ethics and Economics, held in memory of John Olcay, a longtime friend and intellectual supporter of the Institute.