Georgetown Center for Economic Research

Events of Note

Date: Monday, December 2, 2024
Topic: Generative Artificial Intelligence: Powering Domestic Economic Growth
Time: 1:30 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. EST
Location: 125 E Street NW Auditorium

RSVP Required

As the potential for generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) expands, so does the interest in harnessing GenAI in facilitating and stimulating economic growth. In this half-day conference, leading academics and public and private industry experts will consider pressing questions related to GenAI’s potential to support economic development and its implications for the workforce.

The first panel session will discuss how GenAI can be explicitly used to stimulate economic growth and explore the potential for public-private relationships to do so. The panel will also explore the role of both federal and local governments in promoting the use of GenAI for this purpose.

The second panel ​session will consider the impact of GenAI on the workforce and how to anticipate and fill the skill gaps that are likely to arise. The panel will also focus on the role of public-private relationships in ensuring a workforce move to a GenAI economy in a productive and ethical manner.

The conference will conclude with a summary of key takeaways and concluding remarks followed by a reception.

This event is co-sponsored by Georgetown University’s Global Economic Challenges Network and Tech & Public Policy Program at the McCourt School of Public Policy with Accenture LLP.

Event Recording

For those who cannot join us in person, this event will be recorded and posted online for later viewing. Please sign up for the Global Economic Challenges Network mailing list to be notified.

Schedule

1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Registration

1:30 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks

• Tom DeLeire, Interim Dean, Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy
• ​Marty Rodgers, U.S. Health and Public Service Lead, Accenture
• Francis Vella, Edmond V. Villani Professor, Georgetown University

1:45 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. Panel Session 1: GenAI Investment, Technology, and Economic Development

Moderated by Kevin Gallagher, Senior Advisor, Accenture

Panelists:

• ​Jennifer Franks, Director, Center for Enhanced Cybersecurity, U.S. Government Accountability Office
• Bryan Rich, Global AI Lead, PublicSector, Accenture
• Elham Tabassi, Associate Director for Emerging Technologies, National Institute of Standards and Technology
• Safroadu (Saf) Yeboah-Amankwah, Chief Strategy Officer, Intel Corporation

Topics:

• ​What are global trends associated with leveraging GenAI for economic development? What are lighthouse examples of public-private partnerships leading on GenAI?
• How are the states leading on GenAI?
• How can the United States leverage funding and policies (i.e. the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors Act, or CHIPS Act) to accelerate adoption of GenAI?

3:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Coffee Break

3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Panel Session 2: Preparing and Upskilling Local Workforces for AI Revolution

Moderator TBA

Panelists:

• Antonio Delgado Fornaguera, Vice President of Innovation and Tech Partnerships, Miami Dade College​
• Scott Jensen, Director of Workforce Strategy for the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors Act (CHIPS), U.S. Department of Commerce
• Alejandra Montoya-Boyer, Senior Director, Center for Civil Rights and Technology, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
• Jennifer Sanford, Senior Director, International Trade and Workforce Policy, Cisco Systems
• Robert Seamans, Professor, New York University Stern School of Business

Topics:

• How can we identify skills gaps in the workforce and address future AI-driven job market needs?​
• How can reskilling and upskilling programs, alongside government and higher education efforts, address states’ need for advanced tech roles? What is the necessary collaboration between the public and private sectors to ensure successful workforce transitions to AI-integrated roles?
• What is the role of training in helping to promote effective and ethical GenAI implementation?

5:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. Closing Remarks

• Eyal Darmon, Americas Public Service Data and AI Lead, Accenture
• Michelle De Mooy, Director, Tech & Public Policy Program, Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy

5:15 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Reception

Featured

Eyal Darmon (closing remarks) is the Americas public service data and AI lead at Accenture. He works with clients across the public sector and higher education to help them take advantage of GenAI and AI innovations.

Tom DeLeire (opening remarks) is the interim dean of the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. His research centers on improving health care access and outcomes, especially through policies like Medicaid expansion and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies.

Antonio Delgado Fornaguera is the vice president of innovation and tech partnerships at Miami Dade College. His work spans academic innovation and strategic partnerships, with a goal of harnessing the potential of students and the broader community through exposure to cutting-edge technologies.

Michelle De Mooy (closing remarks) is the director of the Tech & Public Policy Program at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. With over 20 years of experience in emerging tech and public policy, she focuses on AI, privacy, and platform accountability. 

Jennifer Franks is a director in the information technology and cybersecurity team at the U.S. Government Accountability Office. She leads cybersecurity efforts focused on privacy, data protection, and securing federal IT infrastructure, including health care systems.

Kevin Gallagher (moderator) is a senior advisor at Accenture. Most recently, he served as the senior advisor to Secretary Gina Raimondo at the U.S. Department of Commerce, focusing on critical areas like telecommunications, emerging technologies, and workforce development.

Scott Jensen is the director of workforce strategy for CHIPS at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he drives nationwide efforts to align skilled talent pipelines with semiconductor goals. Previously, he served as CEO of a tech-for-social-impact nonprofit.

Alejandra Montoya-Boyer is the senior director for the Center for Civil Rights and Technology at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. With a strong background in policy and technology, she has driven initiatives to advance digital equity and racial justice.

Bryan Rich is a senior managing director at Accenture, leading AI for public sector, defense, and health, and heads the new generative AI lab in Europe. With over 20 years of experience, he has driven AI solutions for government clients globally.

Marty Rodgers (opening remarks) is the U.S. health and public service client group lead at Accenture and a member of the firm’s global management committee. With over 25 years at Accenture, he has driven initiatives to enhance health care and public sector outcomes through technology.

Jennifer Sanford is the senior manager for international trade and energy and environment policy at Cisco Systems. Previously, she directed trade policy at the American Electronics Association, driving key legislative wins like Trade Promotion Authority.

Robert Seamans is a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business and a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Previously he served as senior economist for technology and innovation on the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Elham Tabassi is a senior scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the associate director for emerging technologies in NIST’s Information Technology Laboratory. She leads NIST’s Trustworthy and Responsible AI program.

Francis Vella (opening remarks) is the Edmond V. Villani Professor at Georgetown University and a research associate of Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice (CEMMAP), Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), and Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

Safroadu (Saf) Yeboah-Amankwah is the senior vice president and chief strategy officer at Intel Corporation, where he leads the Corporate Strategy and Ventures Group, driving growth strategies through strategic partnerships, Intel Capital, and venture initiatives.

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November 15, 2024
Networks in Economic Models

RSVP Required

Date: Friday, November 15, 2024
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 4:15 p.m. CET
Location: Online (Zoom)

The study of social network effects has expanded in recent years, with an increased availability of data coupled with advances in theoretical and empirical modeling of these effects. These developments highlight the role of networks in influencing important aspects of individual behavior and inform a growing appreciation that behavior frequently targeted by policy can be greatly affected by the behavior of their friends and associates.

This academic conference will feature recent innovations in the literature of social networks presented by experts in this area. In addition to discussing issues related to the estimation of econometric models in the possible presence of network effects, the conference will feature several empirical investigations of social and economic issues important to social well-being.

This event is co-sponsored by Sciences Po and the Georgetown University Global Economic Challenges Network.

Event Recording

For those who cannot join us in person, this event will be recorded and posted online for later viewing. Please sign up for the Global Economic Challenges Network mailing list to be notified.

Program

10:00 a.m. CET | Conference Opening

10:15 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. CET | Session 1, chaired by Jeanne Hagenbach (Sciences Po)

• Jean-Marc Robin (Sciences Po) with Junnan He (Sciences Po): “Ridge Estimation of Two-way Fixed Effect Regression”

11:15 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. CET | Break

11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. CET | Session 2, chaired by Jeanne Hagenbach (Sciences Po)

• Emeric Henry (Sciences Po) with Sergei Guriev (London Business School), Théo Marquis (Sciences Po), and Ekaterina Zhuravskaya (Paris School of Economics): “Curtailing False News, Amplifying Truth”

12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. CET | Lunch

2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. CET | Session 3, chaired by Margherita Comola (Paris School of Economics)

• Matthew Jackson (Stanford University) with Raj Chetty (Harvard University): “Social Influences on Neighborhood Choices and Intergenerational Mobility”

3:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. CET | Break

3:15 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. CET | Session 4, chaired by Margherita Comola (Paris School of Economics)

• Julien Grenet (Paris School of Economics) with Ghazala Azmat (Sciences Po), Yann Bramoullé (Aix-Marseille University), Aristide Houndetoungan (CY Cergy Paris University), Elise Huillery (Council of Economic Analysis), and Youssef Souidi (Paris School of Economics): “Friendship Networks and Social Diversity at School: Evidence from a Desegregation Program”

Featured Speakers

Julien Grenet is a senior researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, professor of economics at the Paris School of Economics, and deputy director of the Institut des Politiques Publiques. His current research lies at the intersection of market design and the economics of education and employs various methodological approaches (quasi-experimental research design, structural estimation, fieldwork).

Emeric Henry is professor of economics and head of the Department of Economics at Sciences Po. He is also a research fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research. Henry is a microeconomist, using theory, experimental, and empirical methods. His research interests include economics of innovation, political economy, and the economics of social media. He regularly publishes in leading journals in economics and other fields.

Matthew O. Jackson is the William D. Eberle Professor of Economics at Stanford University and an external faculty member of the Santa Fe Institute. He previously worked at Northwestern University and the California Institute of Technology. Jackson’s research interests include game theory, microeconomic theory, and the study of social and economic networks, on which he has published many articles and the books The Human Network (2019) and Social and Economic Networks (2010).

Jean-Marc Robin is a professor of economics at the Department of Economics of Sciences Po, Paris. He was previously a professor of economics at the University of Paris 1-PSE and at the University College London. His research interests are microeconometrics, labor microeconomics, and search and matching. With Fabien Postel-Vinay, he was awarded the 2006 Frisch Medal for their article “Equilibrium Wage Dispersion with Worker and Employer Heterogeneity,” Econometrica, 70(6), November 2002, 2295-2350.

Chairs

Jeanne Hagenbach is director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and professor of economics at Sciences Po’s Department of Economics. Her research focuses on game theory and behavioral and experimental economics. In 2016, she was awarded the CNRS Bronze Medal for her work on strategic communication. She is on the editorial board of the Review of Economic Studies and associate editor of the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organizations.

Margherita Comola is a professor of economics at the University Paris-Saclay, which she also directed from 2017 to 2021, and an affiliate professor at the Paris School of Economics. Her area of research lies at the crossroads of network economics and econometrics. In 2021, she was appointed junior member of the Institut Universitaire de France and awarded a Fundamental Chair in Network Economics for five years to study the determinants of the formation of social ties from a behavioral point of view. 

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September 3, 2024
Trust in Elections

Date: Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Time: 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. EDT
Location: Intercultural Center (ICC) Auditorium

RSVP Required

Electorates, both in the United States and elsewhere, are increasingly losing faith in how elections are run and the veracity of their outcomes. This growing skepticism with election outcomes is endangering our democratic systems and making it difficult to ensure fair and representative governance. This decline in the trust in elections is attributed to various factors. First, voting procedures like voter ID laws and the manner in which votes are counted have affected how people perceive the fairness of elections. Second, the use of social media to spread mis- and dis-information about electoral processes has been effective in shaping people’s views. Finally, new technologies, especially artificial intelligence, have created new ways for elections to be manipulated, thereby exacerbating concerns about their integrity. This panel of experts will consider the role of these various factors in the decline of trust in elections and discuss the future of the electoral process.

This event is co-sponsored by the Global Economic Challenges Network, the Department of Government, the Georgetown Americas Institute, and the Free Speech Project at Georgetown University with the DC Political Economy Center and the Wilson Center’s Brazil Institute.

Event Recording

For those who cannot join us in person, this event will be recorded and posted online for later viewing. Please sign up for the Global Economic Challenges Network mailing list to be notified.

Featured

Julia Cagé is a professor of economics in the Department of Economics at Sciences Po Paris and a research fellow at the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and at the CESifo. She is particularly interested in media economics, political participation, and political attitudes. Her work has been published in leading journals in economics, and she has authored award-winning books on the media, on political funding, and on political conflict. In 2023, she received the Best Young French Economist Award. She completed her Ph.D. at Harvard University in 2014.

Henry Farrell is SNF Agora Institute Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and 2019 winner of the Friedrich Schiedel Prize for Politics and Technology. He has written two award-winning books, The Political Economy of Trust: Interests, Institutions and Inter-Firm Cooperation (2009) and Of Privacy and Power: The Transatlantic Fight over Freedom and Security (2019, with Abraham Newman), and his most recent book is Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy (2023, with Abraham Newman).

Miriam Kornblith is senior director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the National Endowment for Democracy, which she joined in 2006. She is an emeritus professor at the Central University in Caracas. From 1998 to 1999, she was vice president and a member of the Board of Directors of the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela, where she oversaw five electoral processes. She is a sociologist from the Catholic University Andrés Bello in Caracas and pursued doctoral studies in political science at the Central University of Venezuela.

Vincent Pons is a professor at Harvard Business School and a faculty affiliate of the Harvard University Economics Department. In his research, he examines the foundations of democracy: how democratic systems function, and how they can be improved. He received the 2023 Best Young French Economist Award. He is also a cofounder of the company Explain. He studied economics and philosophy at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris and received a Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Bruna Santos (moderator) is director at the Brazil Institute at the Wilson Center. Before joining the Brazil Institute, she served as vice president and innovation director at the National School of Public Administration in Brazil (Enap) and as an adjunct professor at Columbia University. In 2021, she was honored by Apolitical and the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Agile Governance as one of the 50 most influential leaders championing innovation in policy making.

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