As the world's thought leaders, business elites and political heavyweights gather in Davos, Switzerland, this week, the University of Chicago will be well represented.
Four members of the University's faculty and administration have been invited to participate in this year's World Economic Forum annual meeting, taking place in Davos and Klosters from Jan. 26 through Jan. 31. The organizing theme for the 40th annual meeting is a call to action: "Improve the State of the World: Rethink, Redesign and Rebuild."
President Robert J. Zimmer is making his first visit to the World Economic Forum's annual meeting. He will participate in two panels and take part in the Global University Leaders Forum. The Global University Leaders Forum is a subgroup of the World Economic Forum, which was established in 2006, and seeks to bring together key leaders from about 25 of the world's best universities to discuss issues related to higher education.
The faculty members participating in Davos this year are Richard H. Thaler, the Ralph and Dorothy Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business; Raghuram G. Rajan, the Eric J. Gleacher Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at Chicago Booth; and Eric E. Whitaker, Executive Vice President for Strategic Affiliations and Associate Dean for Community-Based Research at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
Thaler, acclaimed co-author of the best-selling Nudge, will talk about what went wrong in the economic downturn and how to fix it in "Rebuilding Economics" and "Bringing Sense to Irrational Markets." In "What Every Person Should know about Breast Cancer," Thaler will discuss the subject of his recent article in the New York Times that outlined why the risk of false positives should be a factor in setting the right age for women to start getting mammograms.
Rajan, currently an economic advisor to the Prime Minister of India, will talk about the global economic outlook in "What is the 'New Normal' for Global Growth?" and "Redesigning the International Monetary System."
Participation in the Davos forum is by invitation, and the University has developed a relationship with the World Economic Forum that will likely extend past this week in Switzerland. Members of the University community have been invited to participate in other World Economic Forum events, and last summer the University welcomed a delegation of WEF officials to campus.