2014 Distinguished Lecture

Innovation and growth with financial and other frictions

Presented by Professor Randall Wright 
University of Wisconsin
March 26, 2014

Professor Randall Wright is one of the most influential macroeconomic theorists today. He has made significant contributions to our understanding of labour markets, business cycles, and monetary and financial economics. His research is characterized by its focus on the frictions inherent to economic exchange, which make money an essential feature of all modern economies. 

His work addresses central issues about the role of money as a medium of exchange and it has illuminated the important ways in which a monetary economy differs from the hypothetical, frictionless models employed by economists in the past. Professor Wright's recent work addresses the implications of market frictions on economic activity to include broader aspects of the financial sector, and bridges an important theoretical divide between traditional macroeconomics and finance.

Read about the 2014 lecture: Waterloo Arts Distinguished Lecture in Economics packs the house

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More about Professor Wright

Randall Wright is the Ray Zemon Professor of Liquid Assets in the Department of Finance, Investment and Banking at the Wisconsin School of Business, and a Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Wisconsin. He is a consultant for the Federal Reserve Banks of Minneapolis and Chicago, a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a Fellow of the Econometric Society and of the Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory.