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Program for Public Discourse

Upcoming Events

Abbey Speaker Series: How to Evaluate Economies

We hear a lot about the importance of a strong economy. But how do we know if the economy is doing well? Should we measure economic growth? Calculate human wellbeing? Examine whether individuals are free to make their own economic choices?

On February 21st, from 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM, the Abbey Speaker Series will host “How to Evaluate Economies” in the Frank Porter Graham Student Union Auditorium. UNC public policy professor Douglas MacKay will moderate a discussion featuring Kaushik Basu (Cornell University), Carol Graham (Brookings Institution), and Robert Doar (American Enterprise Institute).

The event is co-sponsored with the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) Program.

Join us for pizza in the lobby afterward!

Students who attend in-person can get CLE credit. No tickets are necessary. Seating is first-come-first serve, but we will reserve tickets for guests coming from outside Chapel Hill. Please email publicdiscourse@unc.edu for reserved seats.

Abbey Speaker Series: How to Evaluate Economies
Speaker Bios:

Kaushik Basu is a professor of economics and the Carl Marks Professor of International Studies at Cornell University. He served as Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank from 2012 to 2016. Prior to that, he was Chief Economic Adviser to the Indian Government from 2009 to 2012. Basu has published widely in development economics, industrial organization, game theory, and welfare economics. His most recent book is The Republic of Beliefs: A New Approach to Law and Economics (Princeton University Press, 2018).

Abbey Speaker Series: How to Evaluate Economies
Robert Doar became the American Enterprise Institute’s 12th president in July 2019. While at AEI, he has served as a co-chair of the National Commission on Hunger and as a lead member of the AEI-Brookings Working Group on Poverty and Opportunity. Doar joined AEI in 2014 to lead the Institute’s opportunity and mobility studies program after serving for more than 20 years in leadership positions in the social service programs of New York state and New York City.
Abbey Speaker Series: How to Evaluate Economies
Carol Graham is a senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institute, a College Park Professor at the University of Maryland, and a Gallup Senior Scientist. She received Pioneer Awards from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 2017 and 2021, as well as a Lifetime Distinguished Scholar award from the International Society of Quality-of-Life Studies in 2018. Graham has served twice as a vice president at Brookings, as Special Advisor to the Inter-American Development Bank, as a visiting fellow at the World Bank, and as a consultant to the International Monetary Fund. Her most recent book is The Power of Hope: How Wellbeing Science Can Save Us from Despair (Princeton, 2023).
Abbey Speaker Series: How to Evaluate Economies
Douglas MacKay (moderator) is a professor in UNC’s public policy department. His research and teaching interests focus on questions at the intersection of justice and public policy. He is currently working on projects concerning the justice of economic inequality—both domestic and global—the ethics of immigration policy, priority setting in health care, the ethics of international clinical research, and justice in the division of responsibilities within federal systems of government.
Date: February 21, 2025
Times: 3:00PM – 4:30 pm
Audience: Public Event
Venue: Frank Porter Graham Student Union Auditorium

Come deliberate this timely issue with your fellow classmates. Please contact Kevin Marinelli for additional details. Refreshments will be served afterwards & CLE Credit
Date: March 5, 2025
Times: 4:00PM – 05:30 pm
Audience: Public Event
Venue: Frank Porter Graham Student Union Auditorium

Abbey Speaker Series: Interpreting the Second Amendment

On April 9th, from 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM, the Abbey Speaker Series will host “Interpreting the Second Amendment” in the Frank Porter Graham Student Union Great Hall. UNC philosophy professor Matthew Kotzen will moderate a discussion between Joseph Blocher (Duke University) and Amy Swearer (The Heritage Foundation). Join us for pizza in the lobby afterward! Students who attend in person can earn CLE credit. No tickets are necessary; seating is first-come, first-served. We will reserve tickets for guests coming from outside Chapel Hill. Please email publicdiscourse@unc.edu to reserve seats.
Joseph Blocher is the Lanty L. Smith ’67 Distinguished Professor of Law at Duke Law School, where he co-directs the Center for Firearms Law and has received the Distinguished Teaching Award. His current scholarship addresses issues of gun rights and regulation, free speech, the law of the territories, and the relationship between law and violence. He has testified before congressional committees and written for The New York Times, Washington Post, Slate, Vox, and other public outlets.
Amy Swearer is a senior legal fellow in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation, where her areas of focus include the Second Amendment, overcriminalization, school safety, and mental health policy. In this role, she runs The Heritage Foundation’s Defensive Gun Use Database and was a primary author of the recently published Heritage Foundation eBook, The Essential Second Amendment. She routinely testifies about gun policy before state and federal legislative bodies.
Matthew Kotzen (moderator) is a professor of philosophy at UNC and chair of the philosophy department. His research primarily focuses on issues in epistemology, the philosophy of science, and the law of evidence. He received his J.D. with High Honors from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 2021. He also has research interests in related areas of decision theory, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of language.
Date: April 9, 2025
Times: 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
Audience: Public Event
Venue: Frank Porter Graham Student Great Hall

Agora Fellows

Agora Fellows

The Agora Fellows program provides undergraduate students a space to experiment with public discourse in a collaborative environment of their peers.

Faculty Outreach

Faculty Resources

We invite all faculty to schedule faculty consultations or participate in our seminars and workshops.

Events

Events

We seek to offer the broader UNC community and general public perspectives on important issues that they may not otherwise get on campus.