Nobel Prize-Winning Economist to Visit UA April 23

Akron, Ohio, April 11, 2008 — Nobel Prize-winning economist Dr. George A. Akerlof will present the 18th Emile Grunberg Lecture, titled "Economics and Identity," on Wednesday, April 23 at 2:30 p.m. in The University of Akron Student Union's Gardner Theatre. The lecture is free and open to the public. For tickets, visit UA's Bierce Library, or call the Department of Economics at 330-972-7546.

Akerlof, an economics professor at the University of California at Berkeley, received the Nobel Prize in 2001 for his work on markets with asymmetric information — situations in which people on one side of the market have more information than those on the other. In his talk, he will show how a person's identity, or sense of self, affects economic outcomes. By including the psychology and sociology of identity, he argues that economists can address issues of gender discrimination, poverty, race and education more effectively. He then will suggest relevant policies to address these important problems.

The Emile Grunberg Lecture Series is sponsored by the UA Department of Economics, Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences and James T. Lenehan ('71). It honors the late Emile Grunberg, professor emeritus and distinguished scholar in the fields of economic methodology and the philosophy of science.

Sixteen distinguished economists, nearly all Nobel Prize winners, have visited UA as Grunberg Lecture Series speakers: Herbert Simon, William Cooper, Franco Modigliani, Richard Cyert, James Tobin, Robert Solow, Kenneth Arrow, Lawrence Klein, Harry Markowitz, Douglas North, James Mirlees, Robert Fogel, Joseph Stiglitz, James Hechman, Vernon Smith and Finn Kydland.

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