DOES ECONOMIC THEORY MATTER?

Is modern economic theory so wrapped up in inaccessible jargon, so couched in arcane algebra, that it provides no direct help to business people, workers, consumers or policy-makers? That is the central issue addressed in a series of presentations by leading researchers on economic theory, ethics and social welfare at the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) Annual Festival of Science this month. The programme has been put together by this year's President of the BAAS Economics Section, Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. The event is open to the public and takes place at Imperial College, London in South Kensington - Lecture Theatre 640, Mechanical Engineering - at the following times:

Monday 11 September

2.15pm - Does Theory Matter? - Presidential Address
Professor Amartya Sen, Trinity College, Cambridge

3.05pm - Some Useful Economic Ideas
Sir Samuel Brittan, Columnist, Financial Times

4.15pm - Ethical Theory and Welfare Economics
Professor John Broome, University of St Andrews

5pm - Welfare Economics and Health Equity
Professor Sudhir Anand, St Catherine's College, Oxford

Tuesday 12 September

10am - The Welfare Basis of Macroeconomics
Professor Tony Atkinson, Nuffield College, Oxford

11.15am - Living with Unfairness: Limits of Equal Opportunity in a Market Economy
Professor Robert Sugden, University of East Anglia

12pm - The Vanity of Rigour of Economics
Professor Nancy Cartwright, London School of Economics

2.15pm - Can Economic Theory Predict Long-Run Investment in the UK?
Professor Ciaran Driver, Imperial College Management School

For Further Information: contact Royal Economic Society Media Consultant Romesh Vaitilingam on 0117-983-9770 or 07768-661095
(email: romesh@compuserve.com).