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Lecture by Donald Cox, Professor of Economics, Boston College

Thursday, November 29, 2007

7:30pm in the Cinema, Lang Performing Arts Center.

The concept of evolution by natural selection is arguably the most important scientific idea ever invented. The rudiments can be learned by anyone in abut 15 minutes and the idea can be used to explain a whole slew of phenomena, from the epidemic of hospital infections to the spread of Christianity in the 5th century to the treatment of women in the developing world. The benefit-to-cost ratio of learning the idea, therefore, is potentially enormous. Professor Cox' aim is not to convince anyone that evolutionary thinking is the one and only path to truth but to help the audience understand the logic of the idea and to appreciate the breadth of its potential applications.

Donald Cox is a professor of economics at Boston College. His main research areas are intergenerational transfer behavior, in both developing and developed countries. His current research deals with the connection between reproductive and evolutionary biology and the economics of family behavior. He takes an interdisciplinary approach to his research and teaching, integrating concepts from biology, psychology, and anthropology to improve economic models. He has served as a consultant to the World Bank and a study section participant at the National Institutes of Health and was a National Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.