Agricultural Sciences

Princeton economist will present M.E. John Memorial Lecture on March 24

The session will discuss the value of public programs in supporting children’s mental and physical health

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Janet Currie, Henry Putnam Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University, will speak at Penn State University Park on Friday, March 24, at 2 p.m. as this year’s M.E. John Memorial Lecture speaker.

Currie — a pioneer in the economic analysis of child development — will present the talk, titled, “Child Health as Human Capital.” The session will take place at the HUB Flex Theatre and will also be available online at this Zoom link.

The presentation will provide an overview of recent work that demonstrates the key role of public programs in supporting longer-term, human capital development. This work points to improvements in child mental health as an especially important potential mechanism for realizing human potential.

The M.E. John Memorial Lecture — held every year since 1981 — is sponsored annually by the friends and family of the late Macklin E. John and the Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education at Penn State.

The purpose of the lecture, as well as the wider M.E. John Memorial Seminar Series, is to increase understanding of important historical, current and emerging social science and public policy issues important to rural people and places in Pennsylvania, across the United States and internationally.

Last Updated March 13, 2023