The Clarence Tow Lectures in Economics

This on-campus series of lectures covers a variety of economic topics and is presented by scholars from both the private and public sectors. Open to all economics faculty and students, these presentations occur roughly once a week during the academic year. 

The series is funded by a gift from Iowa alum Clarence Tow, who received his undergraduate and master's degrees from the university. Tow spent a large portion of his professional career with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, where he served as director of research, vice president, and senior vice president of economic research. His gift provides the resources to host a lecture series that would inspire discussion and progressive thought.

Upcoming seminars

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Past seminars

Clarence Tow Lecture in Economics: Phil Smith promotional image

Clarence Tow Lecture in Economics: Phil Smith

Thursday, April 4, 2024 5:30pm to 7:30pm
Pappajohn Business Building
"Principles and Priorities" Federal Budget Exercise is an interactive exercise in which participants learn how interesting and challenging it can be to assemble a federal budget.

Clarence Tow Lecture in Economics: Yu Awaya

Friday, March 29, 2024 3:30pm
Pappajohn Business Building
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.
Clarence Tow Lecture in Economics: Jonathan Gruber promotional image

Clarence Tow Lecture in Economics: Jonathan Gruber

Tuesday, March 19, 2024 5:30pm to 6:30pm
Pomerantz Center
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.

Past Seminars

Date speaker
February 27 Cameron Ellis
University of Iowa
March 6 Shakeeb Khan
Boston College
March 20 Dan Bernhardt
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
March 27 Brent Kreider
Iowa State University
April 7 Mini conference
University of Iowa
April 13 Andy Garin
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
April 17 Kristin Butcher
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
May 2 Shuyang Shen
UCLA
May 4 Edward Glaeser
Harvard University

 

Date Speaker
September 8 Emma Harrington
University of Iowa
September 19 Lili Xu
University of Iowa – Health Management & Policy
October 7 Alistair Wilson
University of Pittsburgh
October 13 Erin Krupka
University of Michigan
October 17 Przemyslaw Jeziorski
November 2 Idione Meneghel
Australian National University
November 9 Boon Han Koh
University of East Anglia
November 14 Tammy McGavock
December 1 Antonio Galvao
Michigan State University
Date Speaker
February 21 Gaurab Aryal
University of Virginia
February 28 Marco Castillo
Texas A&M University
March 7 Tayfun Sonmez
Boston College
March 24 John List
University of Chicago
April 11 Luba Petersen
Simon Fraser University
Date Speaker
September 20 Sevgi Yuksel
University of California-Santa Barbara
September 29 Philip Reny
University of Chicago
October 4 Martin Dufwenberg
University of Arizona
October 11 Robert Owen
University of Iowa
October 22 Desire Kedagni
Iowa State University
October 25 Nicolas Lambert
MIT
October 29 Mikkel Solvste
University of Wisconsin-Madison
November 8 Joe Ballard
Job Talk
November 15 Pietro Ortoleva
Princeton University
December 9 Sally Sadoff
University of California-San Diego
Date Speaker
August 23 Eric McKee
University of Iowa
August 30 Vikas Agarwal
Georgia State University
September 6 Dennis Hamilton
University of Iowa
September 11 Steve Irbeck
September 13 Keer Yang
University of Minnesota
September 20 Julie Wu
University of Nebraska
September 27 Rawley Heimer
Boston College
October 4 Mao Ye
Harvard University
October 11 Jue Wang
University of Iowa
October 18 Amrita Nain
University of Iowa
November 8 Mossab Hammoudeh
University of Iowa
November 15 Jamie Brown
Iowa State University
November 22 Prerna Agarwal
University of Iowa
December 6 Jerry Hoberg
USC