Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Lecture Series Offers an Interdisciplinary Perspective

Florida State University’s new Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) Lecture Series provides students, faculty, and staff with the opportunity to learn about how these disciplines are intertwined from leading academics.

The lecture series was established in Fall 2023 collaboratively by the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy and the College of Arts and Sciences at FSU.

“Our PPE Speaker Series at FSU seeks to create opportunities for gains from trade between disciplines for faculty and students by bringing in speakers where there is interest across disciplines either based on topic and/or approach,” said Doug Norton, Ph.D., Economics Faculty and Director of the PPE Program at FSU. “The disciplines really complement each other well. For example, there are questions like `What are the tradeoffs?’, ‘Is this politically feasible?’, and ‘Is this morally desirable?’ All are important questions for many issues of importance to us all.”

The Fall 2023 talks addressed a variety of issues, such as societal norms, behavioral economics, social mobility, and market price and value.


The first lecture in the series featured the Director of the PPE program and Chair of Political Science at Duke University, Dr. Michael Munger. He presented his talk “Obedience to the Unenforceable: The Surprising Continuing Relevance of Lord Moulton” on September 28, 2023. To a room filled with students, faculty, and staff, Dr. Munger weaved together Adam Smith, James Madison, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and others to make the argument that the middle ground between completely free choice and laws is governed by manners or our “obedience to the unenforceable”. When that obedience declines there are two kinds of solutions: reform the person or, take people as given and reform the rules. He then applied this to issues like the filibuster, crony capitalism, the preservation of the market economy, and more.   


Dr. Robert Frank Professor of Economics at Cornell University gave a virtual lecture on October 5, 2023, titled “The Case for Adding Darwin to Behavioral Economics.” In his lecture, Frank noted that while Adam Smith pointed out that the pursuit of self-interest can promote the group interest there are times that self-interest can actually harm the group. For example, he talked about the pursuit of “positional goods” which confer honor and status to the owner to the detriment of public investments that would benefit more individuals.  


The biggest event of the semester happened when Professor of Economics Dr. Melissa Kearney presented “The Two Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind,” on October 17, 2023. The Bellamy auditorium was packed to hear her talk about her new book, which The Wall Street Journal called one of the ten best books of 2023. In her lecture, Dr. Kearney discussed the decline in marriage from an economic standpoint. She argued that the observed shift away from marriage in the past 40 years has had a negative impact on children, worsened inequality, and eroded social mobility. The talk ended by talking both about how norms of marriage should be fostered but also policies that could affect incentives and resources for parents.


The final Philosophy, Politics, and Economics lecture of the Fall 2023 semester was on November 30, 2023, by UNC Philosophy Professor Dr. Geoffrey Sayre-McCord. Dr. Sayre-McCord is the Founding Director of the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Society and has been instrumental in helping to grow the interdisciplinary enterprise of PPE. His talk was titled, “Price and Value,” and explored the interesting connections between the market price and what is of value.


The Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Lecture Series is a collaboration between FSU’s Departments of Philosophy, Political Science, and Economics. Learn more about the PPE Program at FSU here.