Albert A. Michelson Memorial Lecture

U.S. Naval Academy

Annapolis, Maryland

1930 on September 11, 2006

Mahan Hall

Skills, Schools and Synapses

James J. Heckman

University of Chicago

2000 Nobel Laureate in Economics

The lecture draws on economics, psychology, and neuroscience to analyze the problem that the U.S. economy is producing insufficient numbers of skilled workers, resulting in inequality and reduced economic productivity. The sources of human skill, their multiplicity, the role of families and schools in producing skills, and the implications of recent findings for social policy are discussed.

A reception will follow the lecture.

Link to the actual presentation.