Peter Arcidiacono, Professor of Economics at Duke University, discussed his paper on “Legacy and Athlete Preferences at Harvard.”

Michael Boskin, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and T. M. Friedman Professor of Economics at Stanford University, discussed “Why Is Social Security So Hard to Reform and What Can Be Done About It?”

Peter Thiel spoke about the basic principles that underlie innovative products and startup firms, using examples from his own experience starting up firms such as Paypal and Palantir. He  emphasized the importance of creating a firm or product with characteristics of monopoly, and contrasted that idea with the distinction between monopoly and competition taught in economics.

HOOVER INSTITUTION AND MANHATTAN INSTITUTE PRESENT

From color-blind to color-consciousness—a counterproductive approach to racial equality?

Jonathan Berk, the A.P. Giannini Professor of Finance at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, discussed “Regulation of Charlatans in High-Skill Professions,” a paper with Jules H. van Binsbergen. John Taylor, the Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics at Stanford University and the George P. Shultz Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, was the moderator.