Duke Economics Alumnus to Be Featured Johnson Lecturer
22 September 2014 4:03PM
Georgia State University Professor of Economics H. Spencer Banzhaf is the featured speaker for this semester’s upcoming Allen Starling Johnson, Jr. Distinguished Lecturer Series. His talk, “Environmental Economics and Christian Ethics,” will discuss the intersections between the ethics of environmental conservation, Christian thought, and economics. It will be held at the Field Auditorium in Environment Hall at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2014.
Banzhaf’s primary field of study is environmental policy analysis, especially related to the urban environment and to issues related to air pollution and energy. It might not be immediately obvious what the connection is between environmental economics and Christian ethics, but Banzhaf sums it up with this statement: “The logic of the market is continuously extended so that everything is for sale, nothing is sacred.”
According to Banzhaf, economists like himself tend to pin environmental problems on a scarcity of resources. “Knowing a thing or two about scarce resources, we often then propose ways to price those resources, to reflect their scarcity,” he said. “For example, we might propose putting a tax on pollution emissions, or imposing a cap on total emissions and allowing people to trade pollution permits at a price set by the market.”
However, many ethicists claim those proposed solutions are part of the larger problem “because they encourage people to think of themselves primarily as consumers.” As Banzhaf puts it, “they encourage us to think of ourselves as autonomous bundles of interests, rather than as creatures living in community with God and one another.”
When presented with the opportunity to participate in this discussion at Duke, Banzhaf said he jumped at the chance to do so. His lecture, part of the department’s Johnson Lecture Series, is intended to encourage and stimulate undergraduates to engage in research.
“A lecture like this might get students who never thought they’d be interested in economics to engage with our discipline – or it might get an economics student to think about a more interdisciplinary approach to their work here at Duke,” said Social Sciences Research Institute Director and Economics Professor Tom Nechyba.
“It’s rare that we get a chance to step back and ask how very different ways of thinking can connect. So when the Center for Christianity and Scholarship proposed having Spencer give a talk that explores the intersection of faith and economic ideas, I thought that was a nice opportunity to engage everyone in a bigger conversation,” said Nechyba, who also serves on the Faculty Advisory Board for the Center. “Of course it doesn’t hurt that Spencer is an alumnus of our Ph.D. program who has done very well professionally over the past decade!”
Banzhaf graduated from Duke University with his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in economics.
“It’s always a privilege to come to Duke,” he said. “I felt that way when I first stepped on campus as an undergraduate some 25 years ago, when I came back as a graduate student, and whenever I come back to visit, for big things or small. Duke is a special place, with special people.”
In particular, Banzhaf believes Duke is unique because of the way in which “it confronts large questions and stretches to bring people from different backgrounds together to think about them.”
The number of co-sponsors for the event certainly demonstrates Duke’s ability to foster a truly interdisciplinary research and learning environment. The Johnson lecture is hosted by the Department of Economics, along with the Center for the History of Political Economy, the Nicholas School of the Environment, and the Center for Christianity and Scholarship, and it is free and open to the public.
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