Events

Peter Diamond

Unemployment and debt

On 21 March 2013, the Rafael del Pino Foundation organised Peter Diamond's Keynote Lecture "Unemployment and Debt". Peter Diamond was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2010, together with Dale T. Mortensen and Christopher A. Pissarides, for their studies on the influence of the global financial system on unemployment and debt. Mortensen and Christopher A. Pissarides for their studies on the influence of regulation and policy on unemployment, wages and sick leave.

Peter A. Diamond graduated with honours in exact sciences from the prestigious Yale University in 1960 and three years later he received his PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has spent almost his entire professional career at MIT, except for a short period at the University of Berkeley, where he held various positions, including that of head of the institution from 1985 to 1986.

Among his outstanding students is the current chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke. In fact, Bernanke was particularly grateful for Diamond's support in the completion of his doctoral thesis, which he finished in 1979. He is also one of US President Barack Obama's favourite economists, as he has twice proposed his name for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. But his nomination was blocked by the Republican wing in the Senate.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Diamond worked as an advisor to the US Advisory Council on Social Security. In fact, he published a book on the subject with Peter Orszag, White House Budget Director and one of Obama's top economic advisors until he left office last July, entitled Saving Social Security: A Balanced Approach (Brookings Institution Press, 2005).

His work, mainly focused on the analysis of unemployment, tax systems, social security, pension reform, private consumption and business cycles, is condensed in an extensive bibliography that includes a dozen books and nearly 140 publications in specialised journals. His works include "A Search Equilibrium Approach to the Micro Foundations of Macro-economics" (MIT Press), "On Time" (Cambridge University Press), "Social Security Reform" (Oxford University Press), "Taxation, Incomplete Markets and Social Security" (MIT Press).

Peter Diamond is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and has received major awards during his career, including the CES (2000), the Killian Prize (2003 and 2004), the Samuelson Prize (2003), the Jean-Jacques Laffont Award (2005) and the Robert M. Ball Award (2009).

The Rafael del Pino Foundation is not responsible for the comments, opinions or statements made by the people who participate in its activities and which are expressed as a result of their inalienable right to freedom of expression and under their sole responsibility. The contents included in the summary of this conference, written for the Rafael del Pino Foundation by Professor Emilio González, are the result of the debates held at the meeting held for this purpose at the Foundation and are the responsibility of the authors.

The Rafael del Pino Foundation is not responsible for any comments, opinions or statements made by third parties. In this respect, the FRP is not obliged to monitor the views expressed by such third parties who participate in its activities and which are expressed as a result of their inalienable right to freedom of expression and under their own responsibility. The contents included in the summary of this conference, written for the Rafael del Pino Foundation by Professor Emilio J. González, are the result of the discussions that took place during the conference organised for this purpose at the Foundation and are the sole responsibility of its authors.

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