URPP Public lecture by Gordon Hanson
How to Help Left Behind Regions and Workers
The decline in production and the acceleration of technological change have led to a concentration of unemployment in disadvantaged regions and denied many workers access to good jobs. The lecture highlights the causes of job losses, the reasons for their geographical concentration, and the insights gained from measures designed to help disadvantaged regions adapt more successfully.
This lecture is open to the public.
Date: Monday, November 3, 2025
Time: 6 pm - 7 pm
Venue: RAA G-01
Gordon Hanson is the Peter Wertheim Professor in Urban Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. He is also Chair of the Social and Urban Policy Area at HKS, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is past co-editor of the Journal of Economic Perspectives, the Review of Economics and Statistics, and the Journal of Development Economics. Hanson received his PhD in economics from MIT in 1992 and his BA in economics from Occidental College in 1986. Prior to joining Harvard in 2020, he held the Pacific Economic Cooperation Chair in International Economic Relations at UC San Diego, where he was founding director of the Center on Global Transformation. Hanson previously served on the economics faculties of the University of Michigan and the University of Texas. In his scholarship, Hanson studies the labor market consequences of globalization. He has published extensively in top economics journals, is widely cited for his research by scholars from across the social sciences and is frequently quoted in major media outlets. Hanson’s current research addresses the causes and consequences of regional job loss, the effectiveness of place-based policies in alleviating regional economic distress, and the labor market consequences of the energy transition. This work is part of the Reimagining the Economy project at HKS, which Hanson co-directs with Dani Rodrik.
Directions
Take tram 9 or 5 to "Kantonsschule". The lecture hall is located at Rämistrasse 59 (Asien-Orient-Institut).