Hansen Presents George S. Eccles Memorial Lecture in Economics at Utah State University

On Friday, March 17th, 2017, I gave the George S. Eccles Memorial Lecture in Economics at Huntsman Hall on the campus at Utah State University.  I was invited to do so by a former classmate of mine at USU, Douglas Anderson, who is currently the Dean of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business.  The audience included many students, faculty and friends of the university.  I was also pleased to host my brother, Roger.  Much to my surprise, an aunt and four cousins came along with other family members. Some of the cousins I had not seen in decades.

My lecture explored the theme of uncertainty as it pertains to researchers like myself who study dynamic economies, to people and enterprises whose behavior our economic models seek to capture, and to relevant policy questions such as financial market oversight and the economic links to climate change.  I described why I find it revealing to think of uncertainty in very broad terms beyond the typical scope of formal economic analyses.  These same themes are also covered in my recent contribution to new journal KNOW entitled, “Uncertainty in Economic Analysis and the Economic Analysis of Uncertainty.”