Seminar HomeFrequently Asked Questions
Who will lead the Tikvah-Hertog Summer Institute on Economics and the Human Good?
Charles Calomiris is the Henry Kaufman Professor of Financial Institutions at Columbia Business School and a professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He is an authority in the fields of banking, corporate finance, financial history, and monetary economics. He is a member of the Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee, the Shadow Open Market Committee, the Financial Economists Roundtable, and the Hoover Institution's Task Force on Property Rights, as well as a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and a Research Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Stephen Haber is the A.A. and Jeane Welch Milligan Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University and the Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, as well as a Senior Fellow of the Stanford Institute for Economic Polity Research and a Research Economist of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is the author or editor of eight books and has published in the fields of history, political science, business, and economics. His current research focuses on two issues: the politics of financial system regulation and the impact of geology and geography on societies' fundamental political institutions.
James Otteson is a joint professor of philosophy and economics at Yeshiva University and the Charles G. Koch Senior Fellow at the Fund for American Studies in Washington, D.C. He is an authority in the fields of eighteenth-century British philosophy, political philosophy, and the history and philosophy of economics. His most recent book is Adam Smith (Continuum Press, 2011). Among his other scholarly works, Actual Ethics (Cambridge University Press, 2006) was the 2007 winner of the Templeton Enterprise Award for the best book in humane economics by an author under the age of 40.
What will the program's content and format be?
The Summer Institute on Economics and the Human Good seeks to understand how the basic facts and insights of economic history and philosophy illuminate several questions about human social life, both historically and today, and how these insights can shape and guide our thinking about the deep and enduring questions of virtue, prosperity, and the human good. The program's issues are addressed from the perspectives of economics, political philosphy, and economic and political history. These perspectives are mutually reinforcing: Economic and political events and ideas have shaped each other over time, and the lessons they hold are clearest when such events and ideas are considered as an integrated whole. Thus, in the mornings, Professor James Otteson will lead discussions of economic and political thinking, while in the afternoons Professors Charles Calomiris and Stephen Haber will lead discussions of related economic and political history and policy issues. Both morning and afternoon sessions will include presentations by, and discussions with, prominent guest speakers.
On several evenings during the program, there will be additional speakers and events.
Who is eligible to apply to the Summer Institute on Economics and the Human Good?
The Institute is open to all undergraduates at U.S., Israeli, and international colleges and universities, including current undergraduates who will have completed their undergraduate degrees by the time the Institute takes place.
What will the basic financial and housing arrangements be?
The program is free to students who are accepted. Students will receive free housing at Columbia University in New York City and, if applicable, overseas air transportation. Each student will receive a stipend of $1,000.
What is the Tikvah Fund?
The Tikvah Fund is a private philanthropic foundation based in New York. Its mission is to promote serious Jewish thought about the enduring questions of human life and the pressing challenges that confront the Jewish people. Tikvah supports many programs, projects, and individuals, including new university centers and courses, books and journals, summer seminars and scholarships. Tikvah's work is grounded in these fundamental convictions: that the great ideas, texts, and traditions of Judaism are a special inheritance, with much to teach everyone in search of wisdom about the human condition; and that the fate of the Jewish people greatly depends on the education of intellectual, religious, and political leaders, both within and outside Israel. You can find out more at www.tikvahfund.org.
What Is the Hertog Foundation?
The Hertog Foundation supports university programs, summer institutes, think tanks, and journals of ideas in a wide range of areas, including political thought, American history, economics, law, national security, and the humanities.