Henry George History

The Annual Henry George Lecture Series was established at the University of Scranton in 1986 through a grant from the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation. The Robert Schalkenbach Foundation was founded in 1925 to publicize and promote the study of the ideas of the 19th-century economist and social reformer, Henry George.

The Henry George Lectures are organized and presented by the Economics, Finance & International Business Department of the Kania School of Management, University of Scranton. The lecture series would not be possible without the contribution of John Kelly, a local realtor and a member of the Schalkenbach Board of Directors, who was responsible for obtaining the grant used to fund the lecture series.

Many speakers are past recipients of the John Bates Clark medal, a prestigious award given to economists under the age of 40. Ten lecturers from the Henry George Series have gone on to win the Nobel Prize.

Recent Fall Henry George Lectures

Year Speaker Institution Title of Speech Photos
2023 Robert Feenstra UC Davis The 'China Shock' After 22 Years

YouTube

2022 Parag Pathak M.I.T. Still Worth the Trip? Modern-Era Busing and other Lessons from Urban School Reform

YouTube

2021 Yuliy Sannikov Stanford University The Value of Money: Currencies, Bonds, Bitcoin

Youtube

2019 Kevin Murphy University of Chicago Human Capital, Inequality and Growth

Youtube

2018 Dave Donaldson M.I.T. Should We Embrace Protectionism? The Evidence Behind the Case for Free Trade

 Youtube

2017 David Autor M.I.T. The China Shock:  Economic and Political Consequences of China's Rise for the United States

Youtube pdf

2016 David Card University of California, Berkeley The Economics of Immigration Youtube   pdf
2015 Susan Athey Stanford University The Internet and the News Media Youtube   pdf
2014 Philippe Aghion Harvard University What Do We Learn from Schumpeterian Growth Theory Youtube   pdf
2013 John List University of Chicago Life as a Laboratory: Using Field Experiments in Economics Youtube   pdf

More information can be found in the Fall Henry George Lecture and Spring Henry George Seminar pages.

Who was Henry George?

Henry George (September 2, 1839 – October 29, 1897) was an American political economist, journalist, and philosopher. His immensely popular writing is credited with sparking several reform movements of the Progressive Era, and inspiring the broad economic philosophy known as Georgism, based on the belief that people should own the value they produce themselves, but that the economic value derived from land (natural resources) should belong equally to all members of society.

His most famous work, Progress and Poverty (1879), sold millions of copies worldwide, probably more than any other American book before that time. It investigates the paradox of increasing inequality and poverty in economic and technological progress, the cyclic nature of industrialized economies, and the use of rent capture such as land value tax and other anti-monopoly reforms as a remedy for the social problems.

More information can about Henry George can be found in wikipedia.

Robert Schalkenbach Foundation

Robert Schalkenbach Foundation (RSF) was organized in 1925 as an operating foundation to promote public awareness of the social philosophy and economic reforms advocated by Henry George (1839-1897), including the “single tax on land values”. To this end, RSF publishes and distributes books and articles, particularly those of Henry George, including Progress and Poverty, the best-selling original classic work, as well as a new abridgement using the language of the 21st century. These and other works can be found in our online library. Books by Henry George and other authors are available for purchase from our online bookstore.

Further information about the Foundation can also be found on their website.

ODE Students and the HG Lecture

ODE students are actively involved in the Henry George Lecture.  The following links show some pictures of ODE students' participation of the HG series.

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