The World Affairs Council presents Policymaking & Academic Freedom in the Digital Age October 17, 2013
What would you do if you found a glaring mistake in a world-renowned and government-cited economics paper, written by two Harvard scholars at the top of their field? Thomas Herndon, 28-year old doctoral student at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst was faced with this very question — and he decided to respond to it head on.
The paper in question, "Growth in a Time of Debt," published in 2010 by Harvard professors Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Ragoff, has been widely used and cited around the world by governments and people like Paul Ryan and Tim Geithner to justify economic austerity measures.
After discovering that he was unable to replicate the paper's findings, Herndon pursued Reinhart and Ragoff, who gave him their original data set and the permission to "publish whatever results" he found — and what he found was about to change not only his life, but also the face of debt policy.
Thomas Herndon joined the Council to discuss his findings, and explain how it is possible for even a 28-year-old "kid" to change policy discussions and decisions during the launch of the Council's new Ajay Raju Millennial Membership & Program Series.
This event was part of Global Philly2013(tm).
The World Affairs Council presents Policymaking & Academic Freedom in the Digital Age October 17, 2013
What would you do if you found a glaring mistake in a world-renowned and government-cited economics paper, written by two Harvard scholars at the top of their field? Thomas Herndon, 28-year old doctoral student at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst was faced with this very question — and he decided to respond to it head on.
The paper in question, "Growth in a Time of Debt," published in 2010 by Harvard professors Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Ragoff, has been widely used and cited around the world by governments and people like Paul Ryan and Tim Geithner to justify economic austerity measures.
After discovering that he was unable to replicate the paper's findings, Herndon pursued Reinhart and Ragoff, who gave him their original data set and the permission to "publish whatever results" he found — and what he found was about to change not only his life, but also the face of debt policy.
Thomas Herndon joined the Council to discuss his findings, and explain how it is possible for even a 28-year-old "kid" to change policy discussions and decisions during the launch of the Council's new Ajay Raju Millennial Membership & Program Series.
This event was part of Global Philly2013(tm).