Each year, the International Economics Section (IES) at Princeton University invites a member of the international economics community to deliver the prestigious Graham Lecture. This year, UCLA Professor Andrew Atkeson delivered the 68th annual (but first ever virtual) Graham Lecture on the sharp decline in the U.S. net foreign asset position.
https://youtu.be/LPcpq6zG4js
Atkeson is the Stanley M. Zimmerman Professor of Economics and Finance at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Before moving to UCLA in 2000, he held positions at the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Minnesota, and the Federal Research Bank of Minnesota. Atkeson completed his undergraduate education at Yale University—where he was a record-setting member of the cross country team—and his graduate work at the Stanford Business School.
Atkeson’s research spans a variety of topics in macroeconomics, including the sustainability of international debt, the design of monetary policy, and the measurement of the firm solvency. He has an early and well-cited paper with University of Chicago Professor Bob Lucas titled “On efficient distribution with private information” and recent influential work with his UCLA colleague Ariel Burstein on innovation and firm dynamics in the open economy. He has also been especially active in research that aims to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, with at least a half-dozen papers to his credit on the topic.
Frank Graham was a Princeton professor from 1921 to 1949 and the second Walker Professor of Economics and International Finance. Professor Graham published widely on international trade and international monetary issues.
After his untimely death in 1949, the lecture was established by his friends inside and outside the department to honor his memory. It is the signature event of the International Economics Section and has been delivered over the years by a veritable Who’s Who in International Economics, including 10 Nobel Laureates.
A complete list of previous Graham Lecturers can be found here.
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