Defining the State

Douglass North, Nobel Laureate and Spencer T. Olin Professor in Arts and Sciences, Washington University, St Louis and John J. Wallis, Professor of Economics, University of Maryland, College Park, will present their new paper and research entitled, “Defining the State.”

About our speakers:

Douglass C. North

In addition to being the Spencer T. Olin Professor in Arts and Sciences, Dr. North is also professor of history and a fellow of the Center in Political Economy. He was on the faculty of the University of Washington and held visiting chairs at Cambridge and Rice Universities. In 1993 he was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has served as president of the Economic History Association and the Western Economic Association. His major interest is the evolution of economic and political institutions. The effects of institutions on the development of economies through time is a major emphasis in his work in both economic history and development. Among his books are The Rise of the Western World (with R. P. Thomas, 2nd edition), 1973, Growth and Welfare in the American Past, 1973, Structure and Change in Economic History, 1981, and Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance, 1990.

John J. Wallis

Dr. Wallis received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1981, spent two years as a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Chicago, and joined the faculty at Maryland in 1983. His field of specialization is economic history and major area of interest is the interaction of economic and political development, particularly in the case of the United States. His primary interest is understanding why governments behave the way they do, with particular emphasis on the kinds of government policies that promote or retard economic development. This is hardly a small question, nor one confined to economics. these interests overlap considerably with political science and history, and his focus has been applying tools of economic analysis, quantitative and theoretical, to the history of American government.

Lunch will be provided.

To learn more or rsvp, please contact Megan Gandee.