Diverse group of scholars will address economic crisis and its ‘credit-crunch’

A diverse set of experts from a variety of fields will discuss the current financial crisis on Friday, April 10.

The Money and Markets Workshop of the Council on Advanced Studies in Humanities and the Social Sciences has organized “The University of Chicago Conference on the Financial Crisis,” which will begin at 9 a.m. at the Franke Institute for the Humanities, Joseph Regenstein Library, Room 102.

“We aim to bring together leading scholars for a summit on the fundamental sources, consequences and solutions to the so-called ‘credit-crunch.’ In so doing, we hope to enrich contemporary public debate on the issues,” said David Bholat, conference coordinator and Lecturer in the Social Sciences core.

Karin Knorr Cetina, the George Wells Beadle Distinguished Service Professor in Sociology and Anthropology and faculty sponsor of the workshop, said she hopes the conference will facilitate a rare and diverse conversation across a range of disciplinary and ideological perspectives.

The schedule is as follows:

• Welcome: 9 to 9:15 a.m. by David Bholat, conference coordinator.


• “Sources of the Financial Crisis,” 9:15-11:15 a.m., featuring talks by Douglas Diamond, the Merton Miller Distinguished Service Professor at Chicago Booth;
  Mark Mizruchi, professor of business administration and sociology, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan; and Duncan Foley, the Leo Model professor of economics, New School for Social Research.


• “Financial Crisis in Historical Perspective,” 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., featuring talks by Michael Bordo, professor of economics, Rutgers University; L. Randall Wray, professor of economics, University of Missouri, Kansas City; and Larry Neal, professor of economic history, London School of Economics.


• “Global Ramifications,” 2-4 p.m., featuring talks by Richard Epstein, the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor in the Law School; John Cochrane, the Theodore O. Yntema Professor of Finance at Chicago Booth; and David Ruder, the William W. Gurley memorial professor of law emeritus, Northwestern University.


• “Reimagining the Economy,” 4:15-6:15 p.m., featuring talks by Eugene Fama, the Robert R. McCormick Distinguished Service Professor at Chicago Booth; Keith Hart, professor of anthropology, Goldsmith’s College, University of London; and James Galbraith, Lloyd Bentsen Jr. chair in government/business relations and professor of government, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas, Austin.

More information is available at http://cas.uchicago.edu/workshops/money/.