Ohio Northern University’s Gamma Upsilon chapter of Phi Beta Delta and CASE (Committee on the Arts and Special Events) presented Jonathon Andreas, economics professor at Bluffton University, in the Dicke Forum on Thursday, Feb. 21. The title of Andreas’ lecture was “Mutilitarianism: How the Ethics of Economics Enriches Elites at your Expense.” The event is free and open to the public.
The presentation was preceded by the opening part of the film "Park Avenue: Money, Power, and the American Dream". The film shows how Park Avenue extends into the Bronx where it crosses the Harlem River. At one end of Park Avenue live billionaires who fund our political parties (legalized "criminal" activity); at the other end live many in extreme poverty who are often associated with traditional and unacceptable criminal activity. Some people living on Park Avenue are doing quite well by the current system and they want to reinforce it; others, are a bit less bullish.
Andreas’ presentation proposed replacing the most common welfare measurements with a simple new ethical system that deals with inequality more justly and responds to longstanding criticisms of welfare economics by philosophers and measurement theorists. This presentation is a popular version of a research paper Andreas first presented at ONU for the Ohio Association of Economists and Political Scientists conference in 2012.
Andreas had little interest in economics when he was an undergraduate in American Studies at Grinnell College. But after graduation, he spent three years working in and touring Asia and Latin America, where he became fascinated with economics while observing the radically different outcomes that different economic systems produce in people’s lives. After his travels, Andreas obtained his doctorate in economics in 2010 at the University of Illinois at Chicago under the direction of Joseph Persky and Deirdre McCloskey.
Phi Beta Delta is the honor society for international scholars. Founded in 1987, the nominees for membership in the Gamma Upsilon chapter of Phi Beta Delta include outstanding faculty, staff, students and alumni. The society hopes to integrate those who possess a deep commitment to international affairs, education and research. One of the functions of the Gamma Upsilon chapter has been to create a regular forum in which international affairs can be discussed using University sources and by seeking prominent individuals with varied experience in international affairs recruited from beyond the University community.
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