Distinguished Speaker: Professor Jerry Hausman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

“Future Productivity: Pessimistic and Optimistic Viewpoints”

Speaker: Professor Jerry Hausman

Time: Tuesday, January 24, 2017. 4:00 pm

Location: Royce Hall 314

Productivity is among the most important factors in determining economic welfare.  Recently, productivity gains have been very low.  Some analysts expect this low productivity era to continue.  Other analysts expect an increase in productivity.  Prof. Hausman considers the different factors which are likely to determine future productivity.

Jerry Hausman is the John and Jennie S. MacDonald Professor of Economics at MIT where he has taught for 30 years. He is also the Director of the MIT Telecommunications Economics Research Program. Professor Hausman has received several awards including the John Bates Clark Award from the American Economic Association in 1985 for the most outstanding contributions to economics by an economist under 40 years of age and the Frisch Medal from the Econometric Society. He received his PhD from Oxford University in 1973.

Professor Hausman’s academic research has been in econometrics and applied microeconomics. His recent applied research has been in differentiated products and telecommunications. He has also researched the effects of taxation on the economy, the economics of aging, and in energy and environmental economics. His recent applied papers are on the effect of new goods on economic welfare and their measurement in the CPI, new telecommunications technologies including cellular 3G and broadband, regulation of telecommunications and railroads, and competition in network markets. His recent econometrics papers include estimation of difference in difference models, semi-parametric duration models, weak instruments, and errors in variable in non-standard situations.

More information can be found at   http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uctp39a/