Milano and the Center for New York City Affairs present the 2009 Henry Cohen Lecture.
The libertarian model asserts that heavy state intervention in the economy is a threat to human liberty. But the recent history of market-based democracies has shown almost the reverse. The supposedly "small-state" model of the United States has instead opened the door to massive inequalities of income, wealth, and power. The state has not taken over business; alas, business has taken over the state.
Considering the recent experiences of the United States, Scandinavia, and other market-based economies, how should we re-conceptualize the balance of state, market, and democracy?
With: Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University.
Established in 2005, the Henry Cohen Lecture focuses on public policy challenges and solutions for women, children, and families, particularly in impoverished urban settings. The Henry Cohen Professorship, which focuses on these same issues, is an endowed Chair at Milano. The Lecture and Professorship are both named after Milano's founding dean, who served from 1965 to 1983.
Bio
Jeffrey Sachs
Jeffrey Sachs is the Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Since 2010 he has also served as a Commissioner for the Broadband Commission for Digital Development which leverages broadband technologies as a key enabler for social and economic development. He has authored Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet.
Originally one of the youngest economics professors in the history of Harvard University, Sachs became renowned for implementing economic shock therapy throughout the developing world, and subsequently for his work on the challenges of economic development, environmental sustainability, poverty alleviation, debt cancellation, and globalization.
Lisa J. Servon
Lisa J. Servon is Dean of Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy. She is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Work Life Policy. Former Associate Professor and Associate Director, Community Development Research Center. Dr. Servon was also assistant professor at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. Professor Servon's teaching and research focus on urban poverty, community development, economic development, and gender issues. Her book, Bootstrap Capital: Microenterprises and the American Poor, was published by Brookings Institution Press in 1999.
I am really delighted of this conference just disapointed to be the first one to write a comments. I think this should be the source of many debate to find solutions.