There is a joint European Commission / TCD conference today “Future Directions for the Irish Economy”.
The webpage is here , which has some of the papers. (Others will be added after the event and in the coming days.)
My Irish Times op-ed is here.
This speech by Jeremy Stein is interesting.
From Brendan Kennelly at NUIG
The Obesity Problem:
Insights and analysis from economics, medicine and public health
The Health Economics and Policy Analysis research group at NUI Galway is delighted to announce that it will host a one day conference on obesity on January 17, 2014. Obesity is a complex, interdisciplinary problem that involves genetics, physiology, the environment, psychology, and economics. Economic factors have played a significant role in the development of the obesity crisis and economics offers many insights into various solutions to ameliorate the crisis and to prevent more people from becoming obese. The conference will be of interest to researchers, clinicians and policymakers working in this area.
The keynote speaker at the conference will be Professor John Cawley from Cornell University. Professor Cawley is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading economists on this issue and we are delighted that he has agreed to attend our event. Professor Cawley’s research has covered three major issues: the economic causes of obesity; the economic consequences of obesity; and the economic analysis of interventions to reduce obesity. Professor Cawley will give an overview of his research in this area and will also participate in a roundtable discussion that will focus on policy options to reduce obesity.
The other speakers and the topics they will address will include the following:
· An overview of the extent of the obesity problem in Ireland (Professor Tim O’Brien, NUI Galway)
· Cost-effectiveness of bariatric surgery (Dr. Francis Finucane, University Hospital Galway)
· Socioeconomic inequalities in childhood obesity in Ireland (Brendan Walsh, NUI Galway)
· Exploring individual preferences for obesity treatment and willingness to pay for treatments (Michelle Queally, NUI Galway)
· Economic cost of obesity in Ireland (Dr. Anne Dee, Mid-West HSE)
· The distributional effects of a ‘fat tax’ in Ireland (Professor David Madden, University College Dublin)
Format of the conference:
9.00: Welcome
9.15 – 9.45: Overview of the obesity problem in Ireland (Tim O’Brien)
9.45 – 10.45: Economic Analysis of Obesity (John Cawley)
11.15 – 12.45: Series of presentations on ongoing work on obesity in Ireland (Michelle Queally; Brendan Walsh; Francis Finucane; John Cullinan)
2.00 – 2.20: Economic cost of obesity in Ireland (Anne Dee)
2.20 – 2.50: Distributional effects of a fat tax in Ireland (David Madden)
3.00 – 4.00: Roundtable discussion on interventions to reduce obesity
The conference will be held in the Aula Maxima at NUI Galway. For more details please contact Brendan Kennelly at brendan.kennelly@nuigalway.ie or 091 493094
Registration is free but is required for catering and logistical purposes. To register, please go to http://www.conference.ie/.
New VOX pieces:
FMC2 SEMINAR ANNOUNCEMENT
Speaker: Dr. Michael Brennan, Emeritus Professor at UCLA & FMC2 Scientific Advisory Board Member.
Title: Malfeasance in Financial Markets
Date: Monday, January 13th 2014 at 6:00 PM (All are welcome to attend)
Location: Institute of Bankers
Directions to IOB may be found here: http://www.iob.ie/?q=Contact
Summary:
In this presentation Professor Brennan will survey recent cases of malfeasance in financial markets, suggest reasons for the apparent increase in instances of malfeasance in recent years and discuss the role of economic theory in creating a climate in which unethical behavior is expected.
Speaker Bio:
Dr. Brennan is the former Irwin and Goldyne Hearsh Professor of Banking and Finance at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Professor of Finance at the London Business School. He is currently Emeritus Professor at UCLA and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Manchester. He was educated at Oxford, Pittsburgh and MIT. Dr. Brennan’s research interests include asset pricing, corporate finance and market microstructure.
A former President of the American Finance Association, the Society for Financial Studies, and the Western Finance Association, Dr. Brennan has also served as Editor of the Journal of Finance and was the Founding Editor of the Review of Financial Studies. He has also served as a director of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
About FMC2:
The Financial Mathematics Computation Cluster (FMC2) is a collaboration between Industry, University College Dublin, Dublin City University, and NUI Maynooth. FMC2 is a Science Foundation Ireland funded Strategic Research Cluster (SRC). The cluster brings together complementary expertise in financial mathematics, financial economics and computer science to create a multi-disciplinary research programme in asset and risk management, areas that are of critical importance to the present and future development of the international financial services sector in Ireland. For further details see http://www.fmc-cluster.org/