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Economics and Culture 2018 Annual Conference by NYU Development Research Institute, NYU Africa House, and the C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics at NYU
October 11, 2018 @ 9:00 am - 3:00 pm
RSVP on the website
New York University
Kimmel Center, Rosenthal Pavilion (10th Floor)
60 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
Overview:
There has been increasing interest over the last decade in understanding the role of culture in shaping development outcomes. The push has come from many directions: from studying economic history, from the institutions and growth literature, from political economy, and more recently from a literature that has explicitly tried to measure dimensions of culture and their evolution and their impact on economic interactions and on the process of development. Culture, defined loosely as shared ideas, customs, and social behavior, is from the perspective of economics a deeply endogenous variable, in other words, something that is determined through a history of economic, social, and political interaction. At the same time, once a culture forms, it acquires its own valence, shaping the way individuals interact, transact, and aggregate into a process of growth.
Conference Program:
MCs: Rajeev Dehejia, (New York University), and Yaw Nyarko, (New York University)
8:00am–9:00am Registration, coffee, and pastries
9:00am–9:05am DRI welcome remarks by Rajeev Dehejia, (New York University)
9:05am-9:10am Introductory remarks by Yanoula Athanassakis, Associate Vice Provost, Academic Affairs and Special Projects; Director, Environmental Humanities Initiative, (New York University)
9:10am–9:50am Nathan Nunn, (Harvard University). “The Importance of Culture and Context for Development Policy“
9:50am–10:30am Enrico Spolaore, (Tufts University). “Modern Fertility”
10:30am–10:45am Break with coffee and pastries
10:45am–11:25am William Easterly, (New York University). “Does Ethnicity Predict Culture?“
11:25am–12:05pm Raquel Fernandez, (New York University). “Cultural Change”
12:05pm–12:45pm Alberto Bisin, (New York University). “The Joint Dynamics of Culture and Institutions“
12:45pm–1:45pm Lunch for audience and speakers
1:45pm–2:25pm Gerard Roland, (University of California, Berkeley). “The Deep Historical Roots of Modern Culture”
