The child mental health crisis has been described as the 鈥渄efining public health crisis of our time.鈥� This article addresses three myths about the crisis: (i) the idea that the crisis is new; (ii) the belief that increases in youth suicide mainly reflect deterioration in children鈥檚 underlying mental health; and (iii) the myth that investments in children have little impact on children鈥檚 mental health. In fact, the crisis has existed for decades, youth suicides vary asynchronously with other mental health measures and are impacted by external factors such as firearms legislation, and investments can improve child mental health and prevent suicide.
Janet Currie is the David Swensen Professor of Economics at Yale University and the co-director of the Program on Families and Children at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Currie is a pioneer in the economic analysis of child development. Her current research focuses on socioeconomic differences in health, environmental threats to health, child mental health, and the long-run impact of child health. She has presented her work at universities around the world and in venues ranging from the White House to the European Investment Bank. She holds honorary degrees from the University of Lyon, the University of Zurich, and the Universit脿 della Svizzera Italiana and is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Art and Sciences, and the British Academy. She was the 2024 President of the American Economic Association. She is a distinguished CES Fellow, and a fellow of the Econometric Society, the Society of Labor Economists, and the American Academy of Political and Social Science. She was chosen as a NOMIS Distinguished Scientist in 2019, won the Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize in 2023, and was named a Clarivate Citation Laureate in 2024. In 2015, she was named one of the top 10 women in Economics by the World Economic Forum. Currie has served on the Board of Reviewing Editors of Science, as the Editor of the Journal of Economic Literature, and on the editorial boards of many other journals.
The lecture series is named in honor of the late Theodore F. Marburg, a long-time member of the economics department. The goal of the Marburg Memorial Lecture is to provide a forum for the discussion of moral, philosophical and social dimensions of economic issues, as well as continue Professor Marburg鈥檚 commitment to the economic aspects of peace and justice. The Marburg Lecture is made possible by the generosity of the Marburg family and through the support of the Center for Applied Economics. The Marburg lecture is generally held in November of each year.
2024-2025 Dr. David Autor, MIT
2023-2024 Dr. Marianne Bertrand, "Gender, Stereotypes and Inequality"
2022-2023 Dr. Rohini Pande, Henry J Heinz II Professor of Economics, Yale University
When the Tide Turns: Poverty, Inequality, and Power鈥�
2021-2022 Matthew O. Jackson, from Stanford University Department of Economics
The Dynamics of Social Networks and Homophily: Implications for Inequality and Economic Mobility
2020-2021 Dr. Eric Rosengren, President, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Economic Fragility: Implications for Recovery From the Pandemic
2019-2020 - Dr. Esther Duflo, MIT Economics
"Good Economics for Hard Times"
2018-2019 - Dr. Devin Pope, Booth School at the University of Chicago
"Behavioral Economics in the Real World" Using primarily observational data, Pope studies how psychological biases play out in field settings and economic markets. Examples include left-digit bias and projection bias in car markets and time inconsistency in housing markets.
2017-2018 - Dr. Joshua Angrist, Ford Professor of Economics at MIT
Dr. Angrist is also a director of MIT鈥檚 School Effectiveness and Inequality Initiative. His Marburg lecture focused on how empirical economics have evolved to answer important policy questions, how this evolution has increased the impact of economics on other disciplines, and how undergraduate economic instruction should change accordingly.
2016-2017 - Dr. Michael Greenstone, University of Chicago, "The Global Energy Challenge"
Greenstone discusses the global energy challenge that requires balancing the need for inexpensive and reliable energy, while limiting environmental and health damages and guarding against disruptive climate change.
2015-2016 - Dr. Emily Oster, Brown University, "Pregnancy, Causality and Economics" -
Research on the value of health behaviors, once the lone purview of doctors and medical journals, is increasingly available to consumers from the Internet and media coverage. What is often missing is a serious look at whether the relationships in data are really causal ones. Does drinking a lot of coffee lengthen your life, as some studies suggest? Or is it just that the kind of people who drink a lot of coffee live longer for other reasons?
2014-2015 - Professor Edward Glaeser, Harvard University, "Triumph of the City" -
Cities are often seen as the source of social problems such as poverty and crime, while we retain romantic notions of idyllic rural life. The truth is very different. In this lecture, Professor Edward Glaeser, the world鈥檚 leading expert in the economics of cities, will discuss why cities are crucial to economic development, why proximity has become ever more valuable as the cost of connecting across long distances has fallen and why, contrary to popular myths, dense urban areas are the true friends of the environment, not suburbia.
2013-2014 - Harvard University Professor of Economics Raj Chetty -
Prof. Chetty is one of the authors of a groundbreaking new study on upward mobility in America. The study examined data from cities across the country, and found that the chances of poor children鈥檚 climbing the economic ladder were considerably higher in some places than others. Prof. Chetty鈥檚 research focuses on what he calls 鈥渆quality of opportunity: how can we give children from disadvantaged backgrounds better chances of succeeding鈥�
2012-2013 - Prof. John A. List -
Department of Economics, University of Chicago
Using the world as his sandbox, Prof. List tells us why women get paid less than men, how we can shrink the racial achievement gap in one minute, and what seven words can end discrimination. Dr. List has been one of the pioneers in the development and use of field experiments in economics. A field experiment evaluates the market behavior of participants, but instead of these actions taking place in an artificial laboratory setting, the field experiment is conducted in the normal market setting for the participant.
2011-2012 - Dr. Ronald G. Ehrenberg
An expert in the economics of higher education, Ehrenberg has served as a consultant to faculty and administrative groups and trustees at a number of colleges and universities on issues relating to tuition and financial aid policies and other budgetary and planning issues. In 2002, he wrote Tuition Rising, an examination of the American higher education system. While in Milwaukee, Dr. Ehrenberg also was interviewed by the Journal Sentinel on the topic of rising tuition.
2010-2011 - Dr. Robert Putnam
Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University Dr. Putnam discussed American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us. Professor Putnam and Professor Daniels, co-director of the CGES, were interviewed for the 不良研究所 Difference Network.
2009 - Professor Marianne Ferber
Department of Economics
University of Illinois, Urbana
2008 - Professor James P. Ziliak, Gatton Chair in Microeconomics
Director, Center for Poverty Research
University of Kentucky
2007 - Professor Solomon W. Polachek
Departments of Economics and Political Science
State University of New York at Binghamtom
2006 - Professor Jerry Evensky
Department of Economics
Maxwell School of Syracuse University
2005 - Mr. Chris Lowney
Author & Special Assistant to President
Catholic Medical Mission Board
2004 - Dr. Laurence Iannaccone, Professor
Department of Economics
George Mason University
2000 - Dr. Ransford W. Palmer, Professor
Department of Economics
Howard University
1998 - Dr. Herman E. Daly, Scholar in Residence
University of Maryland
School of Public Affair
1997 - Dr. Marilyn Moon, Senior Fellow
Health Policy Center of the Urban Institute
1995 - Fr. William Byron, S.J., Director
Center for the Advanced Study of Ethics
Georgetown University
