Café des Sciences #47 - Economics: A sophisticated or irrelevant science? - May 24, 2012

When: Thursday May 24, 2012, 6:30 – 8:30pm

Where: Résidence de France, 194 Brattle Street, Mid-Cambridge, MA 02138

Language: French

The Consul General of France in Boston, Christophe Guilhou, will introduce our speaker Jacques Mistral. The presentation will be followed by refreshments.

This is a special event organized by the Café des Sciences for May 2012 with a prestigious speaker, Professor Jacques Mistral, an economist finishing a semester teaching at the Harvard Kennedy School.

We will address a paradox of economic science: how is it possible that such targeted research that is widely taught can produce so much controversy and so few unambiguous results? Today, this science is being questioned by economics students on both sides of the Atlantic: students at Harvard and the Ecole Normale in Paris have both questioned their universities in open letters. How much confidence should we have in this science? Are its teachings irrelevant? Jacques Mistral will draw on his economic experience in public administration and business to share his thoughts on this subject.

Registration:

Our Speaker:
Jacques Mistral is currently a visiting professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and has been Head of Economic Research at IFRI (Institut Français des Relations Internationales) since September 2007. His previous professional experience has included work in higher education, public administration and the private sector. He was Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister, Michel Rocard (1988-1990) and Special Advisor to Laurent Fabius, Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry (1998-2000).

Jacques Mistral also held executive positions in the large private financial group AXA (1990-1998). He has a long university teaching career, in particular, at ENSAE (Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l’Administration Economique), Sciences-Po Paris, and Ecole Polytechnique. Jacques Mistral is a former Ecole Polytechnique student and doctor of Economic Science & Applied Economics. His latest book, “La troisième révolution américaine” (“The Third American Revolution”) won Best Economics Book in France in December 2008. He recently wrote two reports for the Conseil d’analyse économique: Economic Consequences of Emerging China (May 2011) and Reform of the International Monetary System (summer 2011).

For more information, please visit CafeSciences.org