CONWAY, Ark. (January 17,
2018) – The Hendrix College chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society presents 2017-2018
Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Dr. Price Fishback on Monday, February 12 at 5
p.m. Fishback’s lecture, “The Long-Term Trends in Social Welfare Spending in
the United States and the Nordic Countries,” will take place in Lecture Hall B
of the Mills Social Sciences Center. The event is free and open to the public.
Fishback is Thomas R.
Brown Professor of Economics at the University of Arizona, where in 2016 he
received the Graduate Mentor and Teacher of the Year award. He is also the
current executive director of the Economic History Association and a research
associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research. The Cliometrics
Society and the Economic History Association have honored him with numerous
awards for his research and teaching of economic history. He focuses his work
on Roosevelt’s New Deal and the Great Depression, housing booms and busts
between 1920 and 1940, and the long-term effects of climate and government
policy on agriculture. His books include Well
Worth Saving: How the New Deal Safeguarded Homeownership; Government and the American Economy: A New
History; and A Prelude to the Welfare
State: The Origins of Workers’ Compensation.
Social welfare spending, as
defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD),
includes pure transfer payments in dollars and in kind to the poor; spending by
social insurance programs like old-age pensions, workers’ compensation,
unemployment insurance, and Medicare; and other expenditures on health care.
The U.S. and the Nordic countries are seen as two extremes in the provision of
social welfare spending, and Fishback’s presentation compares and contrasts the
rise in spending over the past century. Much of the rise has come in the form
of social insurance, funded by the contributions of workers and employers,
while only a small part has come through pure transfer payments. To most
people’s surprise, the U.S. spends as much as or more than the Nordic countries
on social welfare spending, but they do it in quite different ways.
Since 1956, the Phi Beta
Kappa Society’s Visiting Scholar Program has offered undergraduates the
opportunity to spend time with some of America’s most distinguished scholars.
The purpose of the program is to contribute to the intellectual life of the
institution by making possible an exchange of ideas between the Visiting
Scholars and the resident faculty and students. Fishback and 14 other men and
women participating as Visiting Scholars during the 2017-2018 academic year will
visit 110 colleges and universities with chapters of Phi Beta Kappa, spending
two days on each campus and taking full part in the academic life of the
institution. In addition to giving a lecture open to the entire academic
community and the general public, they meet informally with students and
faculty members, and participate in classroom discussions and seminars.
For more information,
contact Ginny McMurray, 501-450-1431 or mcmurray@hendrix.edu.
About
Phi Beta Kappa
Founded in 1776, the Phi Beta Kappa Society is the nation’s most
prestigious academic honor society. It has chapters at 286 colleges and
universities and more than half a million members throughout the country. Its
mission is to champion education in the liberal arts and sciences, to recognize
academic excellence, and to foster freedom of thought and expression.
About
Hendrix College
A private liberal arts
college in Conway, Arkansas, Hendrix College consistently earns recognition as
one of the country’s leading liberal arts institutions, and is featured in Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That
Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges. Its academic quality and
rigor, innovation, and value have established Hendrix as a fixture in numerous
college guides, lists, and rankings. Founded in 1876, Hendrix has been
affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. To learn more, visit www.hendrix.edu.