Chronology

2001

February

  • Center starts up with 10 founding Members: Edmund Phelps, Roman Frydman, Andrzej Rapaczynski, Amar Bhide, Richard Nelson, Glenn Hubbard, Joseph Stiglitz, Bruce Greenwald, Merritt Fox, and Pentti Kouri

September

  • Festschrift for Edmund Phelps held at Columbia University

October

  • Seminar on Joint Action, Newness, and Error Control with Amar Bhidé

December

  • Seminar on Imperfect Knowledge Economics with Roman Frydman
  • Joseph Stiglitz receives Nobel Prize in Economics 

2002

January

  • Jeffrey Sachs becomes a Member

September

  • Center joins Columbia’s Earth Institute

2003

May

  • Festschrift for Joseph Stiglitz held at Columbia University

December

  • Cambridge University Press publishes Designing Inclusion: Tools to Raise Low-end Pay and Employment in Private Enterprise, edited by Edmund Phelps

2004

April

  • Inaugural Conference: Capitalist Systems held at Columbia University; participants include Paul Volcker, Richard Nelson, Olivier Blanchard, Stanley Fischer, and William Baumol

October

  • Seminar on Financiership with Edmund Phelps

2005

March

  • Seminar on Corporate Taxation with Pentti Kouri and Edmund Phelps

June

  • 2nd Annual Conference: Aging Baby Boomers, Pensions and Medical Benefits, and Consequences for Dynamism, Prosperity and Growth held at the University of Iceland

December

  • Pentti Kouri and Richard Robb form the Center’s Advisory Board

2006

March

  • Seminar on Innovation and the Bias of Technical Progress with Joseph Stiglitz

May

  • First issue of the electronic journal Capitalism and Society published (Berkeley Electronic Press)

July

  • 3rd Annual Conference: Perspectives on the Performance of the Continent’s Economies (with CESifo) held in Venice

December

  • Edmund Phelps receives Nobel Prize

2007

July

  • Peter Jungen named Chairman of the Advisory Board

 

September

  • Jean-Paul Fitoussi becomes the first Foreign Member
  • Princeton University Press publishes Imperfect Knowledge Economics: Exchange Rates and Risk, by Roman Frydman and Michael D. Goldberg (with foreword by Edmund Phelps)

December

  • 4th Annual Conference: The Dynamism of U.S. Capitalism: Is It Deficient? Is It Endangered? held at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York; participants include Paul Volcker, Robert Litan, Leszek Balcerowicz, Jean-Paul Fitoussi, Peter Jungen, Leif Pagrotsky, and Andrew Weiss

2008

April

  • Seminar on the Financial Crisis with Richard Robb

May

  • Seminar on Minimum Wage and Public Policy with Philippe Aghion (Harvard University)

July

  • Center resumes independence, formally separating from the Earth Institute

August

  • Graciana del Castillo becomes Associate Director and Senior Research Scholar

September

  • Fred Kittler and Leo Tilman join Advisory Board
  • Seminar with Isaac Getz (ESCP-EAP European School of Management)

October

  • Seminar on the Banking Crisis with Leo Tilman
  • Princeton University Press publishes The Venturesome Economy: How Innovation Sustains Prosperity in a More Connected World by Amar Bhidé 

November

  • Seminar on the Constitutional Economy (Argentina) with Juan Vicente Sola
  • 5th Annual Conference: Economic Dynamism and Inclusion held in Mexico City; participants include Guillermo Ortiz, Patricia Armendariz, John Authers, Maurice Mason, Miguel Angel Dávila, Javier Lozano Alarcón, Alfredo Navarrete, Peter Jungen, and Javier Beristain
  • Roman Frydman and Michael Goldberg's article in Capitalism & Society is in BEPress's Top Papers in Research Now (ten most downloaded papers among all papers in the BEPress system) 

December

  • Juan Vicente Sola is named a Foreign Member

2009

January

  • Advisory Board Member Pentti Kouri passes away
  • John Kay is named a Foreign Member

February

  • 6th Annual Conference: Emerging from the Financial Crisis held at Columbia University; participants include George Soros, Christine Lagarde, Jeffrey Sachs, Joseph Stiglitz, Lucas Papademos, Paul Volcker, William McDonough, and Josef Ackermann

March

  • Conference of the Phelps Chair, University of Buenos Aires Law School

May

  • Richard Robb appointed Professor in the Practice of International Finance at Columbia’s School of International Affairs
  • Four new Members join the Center:
    Guillermo Calvo
    Ronald Gilson
    Sidney Winter
     
  • Seminar on Bank Reform with Amar Bhidé
  • Seminar on Nietzsche with Richard Robb

June

  • Sir Howard Davies is named a Foreign Member
  • Robert Mundell and Karlheinz Muhr join the Advisory Board 

July

  • Richard Robb's paper and James Heckman's comment in Capitalism & Society is in BEPress's Top Papers in ResearchNow (ten most downloaded papers among all papers in the BEPress system)

September

  • Francis Finlay joins the Advisory Board
  • Amartya Sen becomes a Member

October

  • Special Conference: Peace Through Reconstruction held at Columbia University 

December

  • 7th Annual Conference: Post-Crisis Economic Policies held at Deutsche Bank in Berlin; participants include Paul Volcker, Günther Oettinger, Lucas D. Papademos, Karl-Otto Pöhl, Robert A. Mundell, Joachim Faber, and Peter Jungen

2010

January

  • Robert Z. Aliber joins the Advisory Board
  • Esa Saarinen is named a Foreign Member

February

  • Center Members compose a letter to the G20 setting out the main policy ideas discussed and recommended at the Center's Berlin conference 
  • Seminar on Meso Foundation of Business Cycles and Market Vitality for Macro Policy: A New Trinity of Micro-Meso-Macro Economy with Ping Chen

March

  • Ping Chen is named a Foreign Member 

April

  • Edmund Phelps is appointed Founding Dean of the New Huadu Business School in Fuzhou, China 

May

  • Peter Jungen steps down as Chairman of the Advisory Board

June

  • Richard Attias named Chairman of the Advisory Board 

September

  • Saskia Sassen and Richard Sennett become Members 
  • Sheila Dow, Hian Teck Hoon, and Gylfi Zoega are named Foreign Members
  • Alfredo F. Navarrete and Patricia Armendariz join the Advisory Board 

October

  • The Center celebrates its new quarters at Columbia University's School of International Affairs building
  • Oxford University Press publishes A Call for Judgment by Amar Bhidé

November

  • 8th Annual Conference: Microfoundations for Modern Macroeconomics held at Columbia University; participants include Olivier Blanchard, Roger Guesnerie, Franklin Allen, Philippe Aghion, Roger E.A. Farmer, and Andrew G. Haldane 

2011

January

  • Center Advisory Board Chairman Richard Attias announces the continued partnership of the Center on Capitalism and Society and the New York Forum 2011

February 

  • Princeton University Press publishes Beyond Mechanical Markets: Asset Price Swings, Risk, and the Role of the State, by Roman Frydman and Michael D. Goldberg 

April

  • Professor Dominique Foray named a Foreign Member

May

  • Saifedean Ammous joins as Visiting Scholar 
  • The MIT Press publishes Perspectives on the Performance of the Continental Economies, edited by Edmund Phelps and Hans-Werner Slim, based on the Center's 2006 conference 

August

  • Richard Attias resigns as Chairman of the Advisory Board 

September

  • Mr. Robert E. Kiernan becomes a member of the Advisory Board
  • Professor Jianguo Wang becomes a Foreign Member
  • 9th Annual Conference: Philosophical Foundations of Economics and the Good Economy: Individual Values, Human Pursuits, Self-Realization and Becoming held at Columbia University; participants include Esa Saarinen, Robert Shiller, Richard Sennett, Andrzej Rapaczynski, and Saskia Sassen

November

  • The Center on Capitalism and Society is delighted at the news that Beyond Mechanical Markets (Princeton University Press) by Roman Frydman and Michael Goldberg has been chosen by Martin Wolf of the Financial Times as his non-fiction favorite for 2011
  • Saifedean Ammous becomes Foreign Member
  • Seminar on Beyond social exclusion: Emerging  logics of expulsion with Saskia Sassen

2012

March

  • 10th Annual Conference: Rethinking the State, After Keynesianism and Corporatism held at Columbia University 

2013

January

  • Princeton University Press publishes Rethinking Expectations: The Way Forward for Macroeconomics, edited by Edmund Phelps and Roman Frydman, based on the Center's 2010 conference 

March

  • Special Conference: China's Next Decade held in Beijing, China
  • Princeton University Press publishes Mass Flourishing: How Grassroots Innovation Created Jobs, Challenge, and Change by Edmund Phelps

May

  • Special Conference for the Søren Kierkegaard Bicentennial held at the Scandinavia House in New York City

September

  • 11th Annual Conference: Dynamism and Innovation in the West held at Columbia University; participants include Glenn Hubbard, Robert J. Gordon, James Mackintosh, Luigi Zingales, Assar Lindbeck, and Richard Sennett 

October 

  • The Center receives a generous grant from the Chen Fashu Charitable Foundation

2014

April

  • Edmond Alphandéry becomes joins the Advisory Board

September

  • Seminar on Economics Beyond Financial Intermediation by Saifedean Ammous

November

  • 12th Annual Conference: The Future of the Individual (with Common Good) held at the New York Times building; participants include Anthony Gottlieb, Philip K. Howard, James Mackintosh, Stephen Goldsmith, Robert Litan, Heather R. Higgins, and William Brody

2015

January

  • Edmund Phelps receives China's highest honor for foreigners, the China Friendship Award

February 

  • Seminar on Currency Turbulence and Banking Crisis by Robert Aliber

May

  • Special Conference: Decoding the Complexity of Innovation held at Columbia, in collaboration with the World Economic Forum's Economics of Innovation Council; participants include Merit Janow, David S. Rose, David Kappos, Philip K. Howard, Mariana Mazzucato, and John Hagel

August 

  • The Center receives a research grant from the Smith Richardson Foundation

July

  • David S. Rose joins Advisory Board

October 

  • Presentation on Strategy for the Global Market: Theory and Practical Applications by Vladmir Kvint

November

  • 13th Annual Conference Steps to Mass Flourishing: Social Values and Individual Experience held at Columbia University; participants include Peter Thiel, Peter Jungen, Jonathan Haidt, Lewis Lapham, Philip K. Howard, Matthew Bishop, and David S. Rose

2016

March

  • Seminar on Financial Crises, Real and Imagined: US 2008 vs. China 2016 by David Goldman

April

  • Spring Conference: The Future of Europe: Drivers of Change held at Oxford University; participants included Peter Jungen, Saskia Sassen, David P. Goldman, Christian Thimann, Ashok Gupta, Wolfgang Munchau, Colin Mayer, and Andre Sapir 
  • Seminar on How Can We do Better?: Lessons from HIV/AIDS by Amar Bhidé

October 

  • Seminar on Practical Knowledge by Amar Bhidé

November

  • 14th Annual Conference Agency, Prospering, Progress and the Working Class held at Columbia University; participants included Tryggvi Thor Herbertsson, Philip K. Howard, W. Bowman Cutter, Edmund Phelps, Raicho Bokilov, Gylfi Zoega, Saifedean Ammous, Henry Kressel, Richard Sennett, Charles Kolb, Matthew Winkler, Saskia Sassen, Alan Krueger, Simon Head, Malcom Wiener, Amity Shlaes, David Weil, David S. Rose, Katherine Cramer, Peter Jungen, Ian Goldin, Edmond Alphandéry, Richard Robb, Robert K Vischer, JD Vance, and Daniel Rose.

December

  • Charles Kolb joins Advisory Board

2017

March

  • Seminar on Frameworks to Empower Human Agency and Surmount Distrust by Philip K. Howard

April

  • Seminar on Missing Growth from Creative Destruction by Philippe Aghion
  • Rebecca Berlow joins as Editor in Chief of the Center's Journal: Capitalism and Society

May

  • Seminar on The Poverty Stoplight Approach to Eliminating Multidimensional Poverty by Martin Burt

October

  • 15th Annual Conference, The Age of the Individual: 500 Years Ago Today; participants included James Mackintosh, Christine Helmer, Mark C. Taylor, Susan Lee, Alan Mittleman, Richard Robb, George Rupp, David Sidorsky, Richard Sennett, Matthew Barzun, Charles Barzun, James Mackintosh, Juan Vicente Sola, Hans-Joachim Voth, Raicho Bojilov, Philip K. Howard, Charles Kolb, Peter Pazzaglini, Mark C. Berner, Roya Hakakian, Barnaby Marsh, W. Bowman Cutter, Saskia Sassen, David Goodhart, Michael Woodford, Robert Shiller, Edmund Phelps, Andrzej Rapaczynski, Jean-Paul Fitoussi. 

2018

February

  • Christina Nelson joins as Managing Editor of the Center's Journal: Capitalism and Society

April

  • Seminar on Social Origins of Inventors and Returns to Inventions  by Philippe Aghion
  • Seminar on Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City by Richard Sennett

June

  • Seminar on The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking by Saifedean Ammous

July

  • David Webb joins the Editorial Board of the Center's Journal: Capitalism and Society

September

  • 16th Annual Conference, The Economic Consequences of Mr. Trump: Jobs, Wages, Trade, Growth, Health and Satisfaction; participants included: Robert Aliber, Edmond Alphandéry, Charles Calomiris, Sir Angus Deaton, Barry Eichengreen, Rana Foroohar, Roman Frydman, Jason Furman, David Goldman, Geoff Heal, Philip K. Howard, Glenn Hubbard, Laurence Kotlikoff, Edward Luce, Sandra Navidi, Edmund Phelps, Richard Robb, Jeffrey Sachs, Richard Sennett, Joseph Stiglitz and Nicholas Wapshott.

2019

January

  • Italian Minister of Economy and Finance Giovanni Tria delivers the lecture "Italy’s Economic Policies: In Search of a New Course."

February

  • Half Day Conference: Bureaucracy vs. Democracy (co-hosted with Common Good); participants included: Patrick Foye, Francis Fukuyama, Nicole Gelinas, Heather R. Higgins, Sally Katzen, Paul C. Light, Robin Lake, Meghan McArdle, Paul Romer, Richard Sennett, Diana Taylor, Jeremy Waldron, Mark Whitaker, Emdund Phelps, and Philip K. Howard.

April

  • Special Conference: Women in an Inclusive Economy; participants included: Yang Lan, Merit Janow, Patricia Armendáriz, Sandra Navidi, Graciela Chichilnisky, Antara Haldar, Lisa D. Cook, Raquel Fernández, Ifigenia Martínez, Arianna Huffington, Betsey Stevenson, Carmden Reinhart, Shamina Singh, Joyce DiDonato, Kim Heirston, Gillian Tettm Ianthe Dugan, Odile Jacob, Jennifer Reingold, Liza Featherstone, Saskia Sassen, Anya Schiffrin.

September

  • Book Launch: "Who Owns Povery" by Martin Burt.

October

  • 17th Annual Conference: Progressivism, Socialism, Nationalism: What Room for Innovation and 'Createive Destruction?' For Economic Justice to the Least Advantaged? For Teaching Youth the Good Life; participants included: Joseph Stiglitz, Lina Khan, Thomas Philippon, Ryan Bourne, Vivek Chibber, Bhaskar Sunjara, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Binyamin Appelbaum, Andrea Wimmer, Charles Kolb, Pinelopi Goldberg, Hian Teck Hoon, Edmund Phelps, Richard Robb, Gylfi Zoega, Giovanni Tria, Margaret Levi, Jonathan Haidt, Leif Pagrotsky, Jeffrey Gordon, Michelle Pannor Silver, Ryan Streeter, Richard Sennett, Gerald Auten, and David Splinter.

2020

January

  • Sandra Navidi becomes a Member and Paul Steiger joins the Advisory Board.

May

  • Harvard University Press publishes Dynamism: The Values that Drive Innovation, Job Satisfaction and Economic Growth by Raicho Bojilov,  Hian Teck Hoon, Edmund Phelps and Gylfi Zoega.

2021

May

  • Partha Dasgupta and Ian Goldin become Members.

November

  • 20th Anniversary Conference: Economic Policy and Economic Theory for the Future; participants included: Jean-Paul Fitoussi, Rana Foroohar, Roman Frydman, Michele Gelfand, Ian Goldin, Geoffrey Heal, Peter Howitt, Lu Mai, Eric Maskin, Sandra Navidi, Luigi Paganetto, Lauri Pietinalho, Edmund Phelps, Carmen Reinhart, Richard Robb, Esa Saarinen, Jeffrey Sachs, Richard Sennett, Joseph Stiglitz, and Martin Wolf.
  • Michele Gelfand becomes a Member.

2022

May

  • Lauri Pietinalho becomes a Member.
  • Robert Aliber presents The (Mis) Management of the Dollar as a Reserve Currency

September

  • 19th Annual Conference: Present Failings and Ways Forward: Private Sector, Public Sector; participants included: Diane Coyle, Caroline Flammer, Jason Furman, Jonathan Haidt, Glenn Hubbard, Shamus Khan, Margaret Levi, Alan Murray, Grace Nguyen, Edmund Phelps, Stephen Roach, Richard Robb, Juan Vicente Sola 

October

  • Michele Gelfand presents Cultural Evolutionary Mismatches in Response to Collective Threat

2023

May

  • Columbia University Press publishes My Journeys in Economic Theory, by Edmund Phelps
  • Re-empowering Human Agency: A Forum with Common Good

September

  • Palgrave publishes The Great Economic Slowdown: How Narrowed Technical Progress Brought Static Wages, Sky-High Wealth, and Much Discontent, by Edmund Phelps, Hian Teck Hoon, and Gylfi Zoega
  • 20th Annual Conference: Let’s Talk About Capitalism – And Society Too; participants included: Agnes Callard, James Heckman, Partha Dasgupta, Rahel Jaeggi, Stefano Micossi, Leif Pagrotsky, Thomas Piketty, Vicky Pryce, Andrzej Rapaczynski, Richard Robb, Paul Romer, Jeffrey Sachs, Richard Sennett, Marc Schulz, Joseph Stiglitz
  • Edmund Phelps announces the closure of the Center in May, 2024.