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My @GWUEconomics class was graced with the visit of Nobel laureate economist Professor George Akerlof for a truly stimulating discussion of how economists should do better to see and understand the “small” and local—and the role of identity in economic decisions and outcomes.
And yes, George is also known as Mr. @SecYellen but we didn’t make him get her from the other room to say hi.
My class has been studying George’s “Identity Economics” (2010) book as part of my course on bringing non traditional, “heterodox” perspectives into economic policy and practice. https://www.amazon.com/Identity-Economics-Identities-Shape-Well-Being/dp/0691146489
Also George’s article in the @AEAjournals JEL on the “Sins of Omission” in the #economics profession https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jel.20191573
We told George about a feminist book we also read in my class — this gem by @katrinemarcal https://www.amazon.com/Who-Cooked-Adam-Smiths-Dinner/dp/1681774445
I asked him “so who cooked George Akerlof’s (and Janet Yellen’s) dinner tonight?” He answered “Robbie did.” —that’s George and Janet’s economist son, Robert Akerlof, who has been able to live in DC instead of England during the pandemic. https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/rakerlof/
A truly special treat for me and my class last night. When the class period was supposed to end, George said he wanted to keep going if students still had more questions (which they did). He said that their questions were generating new ideas in him as he was thinking out loud.
I told him “write it down, George!”— because people will read it if it’s your thoughts much more than if any of us were to write it. Then I realized: that in itself was a statement about Identity Economics and the still incompleteness of our profession.
