PHI BETA KAPPA VISITING SCHOLAR LECTURE

The Rho of California chapter of Phi Beta Kappa would like to notify CSULB Teaching Departments about the forthcoming visit to campus of Professor Kathleen McGarry, the chair of the Economics Department at UCLA, who will be a Visiting Scholar at CSULB from Monday, March 9, to Wednesday, March 11, 2015.

Census Bureau

A specialist on Public Economics and Health Economics, Professor McGarry will be meeting with Faculty and students on campus during that time to speak on “50 Years of the War on Poverty: What It Meant for the Elderly”. The highlight of her visit will be a Public Lecture to be given by Professor McGarry on Tuesday, March 10, 2015, at 4pm at the Beach Auditorium in the University Student Union. 

The public lecture will focus on the impact of various social insurance programs like Medicare and Medicaid on the decline in elderly poverty rates.  On January 8, 1964 when then President Lyndon Johnson announced his War on Poverty, the poverty rate for the elderly was approximately 35 percent. In the 50 years since his speech, the poverty rate for the elderly has fallen to less than 10 percent, below that of any other age group and less than one-half of that for children. Given the nature and significance of the topic, we expect the lecture to attract a large number of students, faculty and also members of the community at large. 

Dr. McGarry is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Economics at UCLA. Her research focuses on the well-being of the elderly with particular attention paid to public and private transfers, including the Medicare and SSI programs and the transfer of resources within families. She has authored more than 30 academic publications in many of the leading economics peer-reviewed journals. She has also served as a White House Council of Economic Advisers and has received fellowships from the Brookdale Foundation and the National Bureau of Economic Research.

There will be a question and answer session at the end of the lecture followed by a reception afterwards. The lecture is open to all members of the University community and we hope to see you there!

(Source: Steven Yamarik Professor of Economics at CSULB)