Thursday, October 6, 2011
8:00 p.m.
Hogan Ballroom, Hogan Campus Center
College of the Holy Cross
Steven D. Levitt, co-author of the bestselling books FREAKONOMICS and SUPERFREAKONOMICS, will deliver the 46th Hanify-Howland Memorial Lecture on Thursday, Oct. 6 at 8 p.m. in the Hogan Campus Center Ballroom at the College of the Holy Cross. Following his talk, Levitt will be available to sign copies of his books, which will be available for purchase prior to the lecture at the Holy Cross Bookstore, as well as at the event. Levitt’s talk is free and open to the public.
Levitt is the William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, where he directs the Becker Center on Chicago Price Theory. In 2004, he was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal, which recognizes the most influential economist in America under the age of 40. More recently, he was named one of Time magazine’s “100 People Who Shape Our World.” Levitt received his B.A. from Harvard University in 1989, his Ph.D. from M.I.T. in 1994, and has taught at Chicago since 1997.
FREAKONOMICS (William Morrow, 2005) hit the bestseller lists on its first day in print and has sold over four million copies worldwide. The book demonstrates different economic theories and the title itself has become a catchphrase spoken everywhere from college campuses to corporate boardrooms. “The best thing someone could take from our books is the realization that he or she has the power to make better sense of the world,” explains Levitt. “Most of what we do is pretty simple, but we start by asking different questions, or looking at problems differently."
SUPERFREAKONOMICS (William Morrow, 2009) offers a new set of economic theories, which dives into issues including healthcare, terrorism, global warming, and the financial crisis.
Their popular blog (Freakonomics.com) recently made Time magazine’s Top 25 List of “Best Financial Blogs;” and a feature-length FREAKONOMICS movie spent its first weeks among the Top 10 iTunes film downloads.
The annual Hanify-Howland lecture honors the late Edward F. Hanify, a 1904 graduate of Holy Cross and a Massachusetts Superior Court justice for 15 years, who died in 1954. The series was started by Hanify’s friend, the late Weston Howland of Milton, Mass., board chairman of Warwick Mills, Inc., who died in 1976.
Since 1965, the Hanify-Howland lecture series has brought to the Holy Cross campus a series of distinguished speakers on public affairs who have exemplified in their own work the spirit of public service that the series was established to encourage. Past speakers include Retired Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft, USAF; Hon. Clarence Thomas '71, Supreme Court justice; Ruth Wedgwood, director of the Program in International Law and Organizations at Johns Hopkins University; Greg Mortenson, co-founder and executive director of the Central Asia Institute, founder of Pennies For Peace and co-author of Three Cups of Tea; and investigative journalist Bob Woodward.
In keeping with the traditional practice of the Hanify-Howland Series, Levitt will also conduct two seminars on campus, which will allow students to interact with the speaker in an intimate and intellectually exciting environment.