What role do scholarly ideas play in influencing policy?
How have they mattered for policies in different countries?
Coase Institute alumni and faculty examined these issues
at a roundtable April 12, 2013 at the University of Chicago.
See the videos below for highlights.
The Presenters
Scott Gehlbach (University of Wisconsin-Madison) argued that during
Russian privatization, ideas in Russia interacted with policy constraints
to determine the specific designs of firm privatization.
Alberto Simpser (University of Chicago) discussed the technical role
and the political economy role that ideas have played in the redesign
of anti-poverty programs in Mexico, in particular the food
subsidy programs.
Ning Wang (Arizona State University & Ronald Coase Institute)
examined the introduction of the idea that practice should be
the criterion for testing truth, and its subsequent impact on the
market for ideas and China's transition to a modern economy.
The Discussants
Discussants were
Richard Epstein (New York University & University of Chicago),
Douglass North (Washington University in St. Louis), and
Sam Peltzman (University of Chicago).
Q & A
The program concluded with a question-and-answer session with the audience.
To watch a video, click on its controls
The roundtable was sponsored by the Coase Institute and the Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State, Booth School, University of Chicago. Mary Shirley (Ronald Coase Institute) chaired the session. The videos were filmed and edited by Philip Hsu.