Political economist to discuss immigration as part of Oct 31 lecture

Political economist Alberto Alesina will discuss "Immigration and Redistribution: Perceptions Versus Reality” at an Oct. 31 lecture as part of the George Staller Lecture series.

Alesina is the Nathaniel Ropes Professor of Political Economy at Harvard University. His research areas include the political economy of fiscal policy and budget deficits, the process of European integration, the effect of alternative electoral systems on economic policies and differences in the economic system and welfare states in the U.S. and Europe. The lecture is free and open to the public, and will take place at 4:30 p.m. in Klarman Hall KG70.

Alesina is the author of five books, including “The Future of Europe: Reform or Decline” with Francesco Giavizzi and “Fighting Poverty in the U.S. and Europe: a World of Difference” with Edward Glaeser. His work has been published extensively in major academic economic journals he was a co-editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics and associate editor of many other journals.

Alesina obtained his undergraduate degree from Bocconi University in Milan, Italy and his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University in 1986. He is a member of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and has served as the director of the NBER Political Economy Program since 2006. He is a member of the Center for Economic Policy Research and the Econometric Society and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The lecture series was first delivered in 2009 in honor of the teaching of Dr. George Staller, a faculty member in Cornell’s economics department for 49 years. His research included studies that compared planned and free market economies and analyses of industrial growth and industrial output within Soviet Eastern Europe. He taught courses on the economies of the Soviet Union and Eastern bloc and comparative economic systems as well as introductory macroeconomics courses.