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Seminar: Explaining economic inequality

– Publicerad den 26 april 2011

Seminar by Dr. Per Molander, Director General, Swedish Social Insurance Inspectorate.

Abstract:  Social contract theory represents a strong tradition in political philosophy. Within this format, the discussion about the good society is focused on the hypothetical problem of designing a contract for a number of individuals who consider forming a society. Modern representatives of this tradition—Harsanyi, Rawls, Nozick and others—rely on game theory and welfare theory in their analysis and end up with liberal, more or less egalitarian contracts. This is in stark contrast to real societies, which with few exceptions are marred by inequality far beyond what should be expected from differences in capabilities alone. During the lecture it will be shown how economic inequalities can be explained from elementary assumptions on human behaviour, and that inequality should consequently be expected in any society no matter what social contract has been signed.

Biography:  Per Molander holds a Ph.D. in control theory from Lund Institute of Technology and has worked for more than 30 years with policy analysis and public sector reform in a number of areas. He designed an agricultural policy reform in the 1980s and was responsible for a major overhaul of the central government budget process during the 1990s. He has also worked as a consultant for Swedish and international agencies and organizations – the Government Offices, Sida, the World Bank, the IMF and OECD, among others. Per Molander was the Main Secretary of the Swedish Tsunami Commission (2005-2007). He is currently Director-General of the Swedish Social Insurance Inspectorate (ISF).

Time: 06 maj 2011 kl. 10.15
Place: Lecture Hall B in the  E-House at LTH