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Sustainability Events

Managing the Threat of Catastrophes: Can Economic Analysis Inform Policy?

Robert Pindyck

  • Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd.
  • Professor, Finance and Economics
  • Professor, Applied Economics
  • Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Professor Pindyck will discuss a framework for evaluating the allocation of efforts to avert different types of catastrophes including: environmental, mega-viruses, nuclear, and terrorism. He considers how these events can have cascading effects, and as a result how we should evaluate the appropriate societal trade-offs, and use them to evaluate policies that avoid these threats.

Dr. Pindyck’s research and writing in microeconomics and industrial organization cover topics including financial market structure, value of patents, environmental policy, and policy implications of global catastrophic events. His most recent research focuses on economic policies related to rare disasters.

Friday, March 28, 2014
9:30 - 11:00 a.m.