Join us to hear from Yu Awaya, University of Rochester, presenting, "Spreading Information via Social Networks: An Irrelevance Result." Abstract: An informed planner wishes to spread information among a group of agents in order to induce efficient coordination—say the adoption of a new technology with positive externalities. The agents are connected via a social network. The planner informs a seed and then the information spreads via the network. While the structure of the network affects the rate of diffusion, we show that the rate of adoption is the same for all acyclic networks.

Professor Gruber will discuss how health care reform never ends, how we got to where we are on health care policy, and the central issues facing the U.S. in the coming decade.

Join us to hear from Tarun Sabarwal, University of Kansas, presenting, "General Theory of Equilibrium in Models with Complementarities". Abstract: We unify and generalize the equilibrium theory of foundational models of complementarities used widely in economics and other disciplines. Widely used results for existence of extremal equilibrium, nonempty complete lattice structure of the equilibrium set, and monotone comparative statics (MCS) of extremal equilibria are unified and generalized, subsuming the results for standard and neostandard models as special cases and allowing for new situations. Structure theorems due to Tarski (1955) and Zhou (1994) are generalized without using the strong set order or subcompleteness. Defining new set orders, we formulate new theories for structural comparisons of equilibrium sets, and prove new theorems for MCS of the infimum equilibrium set, the supremum equilibrium set, and the full equilibrium set. Order comparability of equilibrium sets provides a new theory of order approximation of equilibria as well. Our off-the-shelf theorems apply regardless of the manner in which individual choices are made as long as they satisfy our weak conditions, which are proved to hold in standard and neostandard models. The Clarence Tow Lectures in Economics Series brings high-profile researchers to Tippie College of Business to present to an audience of faculty, PhD students, and researchers from around the University of Iowa.

Join us to hear from Jason Brown, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. presenting, "Economic Benefits and Social Costs of Legalizing Recreational Marijuana".  Abstract: We analyze the effects of legalizing recreational marijuana on state economic and social outcomes (2000–20) using difference-in-differences estimation robust to staggered timing and heterogeneity of treatment. We find moderate economic gains and accompanied by some social costs. Post-legalization, average state income grew by 3 percent, house prices by 6 percent, and population by 2 percent. However, substance use disorders, chronic homelessness, and arrests increased by 17, 35, and 13 percent, respectively. Although some of our estimates are noisy, our findings suggest that the economic benefits of legalization are broadly distributed, while the social costs may be more concentrated among individuals who use marijuana heavily. States that legalized early experienced similar social costs but larger economic gains, implying a potential first-mover advantage. The Clarence Tow Lectures in Economics Series brings high-profile researchers to Tippie College of Business to present to an audience of faculty, PhD students, and researchers from around the University of Iowa.