UK Professor To Speak at National Economic Forum

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 4, 2019) — University of Kentucky economist James Ziliak is one of the speakers at today’s Aspen Economic Strategy Group event Expanding Economic Opportunity for More Americans in Washington, D.C. 

The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization which has earned the reputation for gathering diverse, nonpartisan thought leaders, creatives and scholars together to address some of the world's most complex problems. The Economic Strategy Group is co-chaired by Henry Paulson, who was the 74th secretary of Treasury and former chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, and Erskine Bowles, chief of staff for President Bill Clinton and president emeritus of University of North Carolina. Members include leaders from industry, finance, government and the nonprofit sectors.

Ziliak is the Gatton Endowed Chair in Microeconomics. He is also the director of the Center for Poverty Research and the founding executive director of the Kentucky Federal Statistical Research Data Center at UK.

His presentation to the Aspen group, "Tackling Barriers to Economic Opportunity," will explore housing affordability, wage stagnation and rural employment. Ziliak will set forth a set of proposals to address rural employment challenges, arguing for both people- and place-based policy approaches.

The event also includes the formal launch of the book, "Expanding Economic Opportunity for More Americans: Bipartisan Policies to Increase Work, Wages and Skills," created by the Aspen Economic Strategy Group. Other speakers at the event include Rahm Emanuel, mayor of Chicago; Mitch Daniels, president of Purdue University and former governor of Indiana; and current and past chairmen of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, including Austan Goolsbee, Kevin Hassett and Glenn Hubbard.

For more information on today’s proceedings, featuring expert panelists from across the country, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.