Economic Policy on Election Issues Table

American economic policy will be explored tonight, Sept. 13, at the Barrington library auditorium by a Brown University professor.

The topic is the second presentation in the “Take Six: Big Election Issues of 2012” series that runs on Thursdays. The 7 pm session is free and open to anyone.

Brian Knight, a Brown University economics professor, will talk at 7 pm. Among the questions Knight will address, said Amy Greer, community service librarian:

• What are the major schools of economic thought operating in the current American political scene?
• Where did these philosophies emanate from? 
• What are the key economic issues in the 2012 election, focusing on employment, tax policy, government expenditures, and the federal debt? 
• What have the two candidates proposed to address this set of issues? 
• What are the key differences between these policy platforms?
• How can economic theory be used to evaluate these differences?

Knight is the Mary Tefft and John Hazen White Sr. Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Economics at Brown. He is also a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Knight previously worked as an economist in the Division of Research and Statistics at the Federal Reserve Board.

Knight holds a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a B.S. from Miami University. His research has been published in the American Economic Review, the Journal of Public Economics, and the National Tax Journal.