Noted economist John B. Taylor to present Pope Lecture

John B. Taylor, the George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution, is presenting the annual John W. Pope Lecture on Wednesday, September 30, 2015. He is speaking on the topic, “A Renewal of First Principles.”

This public lecture will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the NC State University Poole College of Management, 3400 Nelson Hall. Poole College is located at 2801 Founders Drive in Raleigh, N.C., and visitor parking is available in the Dan Allen Parking Deck. View driving and parking directions. The lecture will be followed by a brief reception with the speaker. (Note: this lecture was originally scheduled for January but was postponed because of inclement weather at that time.)

Taylor, who also is the Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics at Stanford University, is among the most prominent economists of his generation, influencing both economic thought and public policy.

His fields of expertise are monetary policy, fiscal policy, and international economics, and he is known for his proposed rule for monetary policy which is widely used as both a guide to policy and as a reference point for evaluating or describing monetary policies. 

Taylor is an important contributor to public understanding of economic policy, is a regular contributor to the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal, and writes on his blog, Economics One

In his 2012 book, “First Principles: Five Keys for Restoring America’s Prosperity,” Taylor puts forward five defining principles of economic freedom that offer a foundation for economic success. 

“Accessibly written” is how University of Chicago economist John H. Cochran describes Taylor’s book in a review posted on his blog, The Grumpy Economist. 

At a conference on Taylor’s contributions to monetary theory, Ben Bernanke, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, referred to Taylor’s “three concepts that are central to understanding our macroeconomic experience of the past three decades—the Taylor curve, the Taylor rule, and the Taylor principle.” 

Taylor had served as senior economist for President Gerald R. Ford's Council of Economic Advisers and as a member of the Council during the George H.W. Bush administration. From 2001 to 2005, he served as Under Secretary of Treasury for International Affairs where he was responsible for U.S. policies in international finance, foreign investment, international debt and development, and oversight of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Before joining the Stanford faculty in 1984, Taylor held positions as professor of economics at Princeton University and Columbia University. 

About this lecture series

The John W. Pope Jr. Lecture Series is hosted jointly by NC State University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences and Poole College of Management to encourage dialogue on topics of political and economic interest. This series is supported by a grant from the John W. Pope Foundation. The grant includes support for Foundations for a Free Society and the Society for Political Science, Economics and Law (SPEL), which provides an intellectual forum for students to discuss public policy, politics, economics and law.