The Nobel Prize-winning economist, Vernon Smith, will be among the speakers at this year’s Trinity Economic Forum (TEF), which will be held in early February.
Smith, who received his PhD from Harvard University at 28, is a pioneer of the study of alternative market mechanisms, and established the use of laboratory experiments as tools for the empirical analysis of markets.
The title of the talk by Smith will be: “On Changing False Benefits: Two Cases from Experimental Economics; Implications for National Economy”. The talk will address how experimental economics has helped disprove previous assumptions on economic behaviour.
TEF, which began in 2012, is Ireland’s largest student-run economic forum, and is expected to attract over 300 students from numerous disciplines from across the country to Trinity for the two-day event.
Prof Friedrich Schneider, from the Johannes Kepler University of Linz, will also speak at the event. Schneider is a preeminent authority on “shadow economies”, which are those that exist outside the regulatory framework of the state and the formal economy.
Also speaking at TEF will be Trinity BESS graduate and co-founder of the Web Summit, Paddy Cosgrave. A former President of the University Philosophical Society (The Phil), Cosgrave returns to Trinity as one of Wired UK’s 20 most influential people in Europe in the field of technology.
TEF will also feature panel discussions on the possibility of a British exit from the European Union. Speaking on this issue will be a number of significant names including John Moran, former Secretary General of the Department of Finance, and Brendan Halligan, Irish economist, former Secretary of the Labour Party and member of the European Parliament. Also speaking will be Francis Martin, Vice President of the British Chamber of Commerce and Jennifer Todd, Director of the Institute for British Irish Studies at UCD and member of the advisory board of the Northern Ireland Peace Monitoring Project.
Another panel will discuss China, and its increasing influence on the global economy. Speaking at that discussion will be Professor Linda Yueh, BBC correspondent and adjunct professor of economics at the London Business School and director of the China Growth Centre at the University of Oxford. Michael McNulty, a senior vice president at Lego Asia, and Xin Sun, assistant professor of Political Science, will also feature.
Founded by Trinity students Gary Finnerty, Patrick Lynch and Sean Gill, the event aims to provide a means by which student thinkers can engage with and influence economic policy.
Previous guests have included Patrick Honohan, Governor of the Irish Central Bank, Richard Bruton, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, and Financial Times journalist Simon Kuper.
