May 2010: Identity Economics and Democracy with George Akerlof

Personal identity, long a concern of sociology, is now being incorporated into economic models thanks to the pioneering work presented in Identity Economics (Princeton University Press, 2010), a new volume by Nobel Prize-winning economist and longtime Tobin Project friend, George Akerlof (University of California-Berkeley, Economics), and co-author Rachel Kranton (Duke University, Economics). 

In May, Professor Akerlof joined a group of scholars at the Tobin Project to examine the core ideas of Identity Economics, explored potential implications for understanding the political economy, and discussed options for building these ideas into academic and public discourse. Participants in the meeting included Michael Sandel (Harvard University, Government), Christine Desan (Harvard Law School), David Grewal (Yale Law School), Rakesh Khurana (Harvard Business School), Jane Mansbridge (Harvard Kennedy School), David Moss (Harvard Business School), Sanjay Reddy (The New School, Economics), Dani Rodrik (Harvard Kennedy School), and Richard Tuck (Harvard University, Government).