PROGRAM

From the Ming Dynasty to Ottoman Turkey to Imperial Spain, the Great Powers of the world emerged as the greatest economic, political, and military forces of their time, only to collapse into rubble and memory. What is at the root of their demise – and how can America stop this pattern from happening again?

Glenn Hubbard, Dean of the Columbia Business School and former senior economics advisor to the Romney for President campaign, and Tim Kane, chief economist of the Hudson Institute and a former key economics advisor to the McCain for President campaign, present a bold, sweeping account of why powerful nations and civilizations break down under the heavy burden of economic imbalance. Introducing a profound new measure of economic power, Balance traces the triumphs and mistakes of imperial Britain, the paradox of superstate California, the long collapse of Rome, and the limits of the Japanese model of growth. Hubbard and Kane compare the twenty-first century United States to the empires of old, and challenge Americans to address the problems of our country’s fiscal imbalance through a new economics and politics of balance.

This program was co-sponsored by the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College and the Hudson Institute.  Hudson Institute – Security. Prosperity. Freedom.

SPEAKERS

Glenn Hubbard  Dean of Columbia University's Graduate School of Business

Glenn Hubbard is the dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business, and the Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics at Columbia. He served as deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department for Tax Policy from 1991 to 1993, and as chairman of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush from 2001 to March 2003. He is a frequent contributor to Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, as well as PBS’s The Nightly Business Report and American Public Media’s Marketplace.

Tim Kane  Chief economist of the Hudson Institute

Tim Kane is the chief economist of the Hudson Institute. A veteran Air Force officer, he has twice served at the Joint Economic Committee of the US Congress. He previously served as Director of International Economics at The Heritage Foundation, and was the lead author of the Heritage/Wall Street Journal “Index of Economic Freedom.” He regularly writes for The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and USA TODAY.