William Gale to discuss ‘Fiscal Therapy: A Rehab Plan for America’s Addiction to Debt’ at annual Clemens Lecture

William G. Gale, the Arjay and Frances Miller Chair in Federal Economic Policy at the Brookings Institution, will deliver the 24th Clemens Lecture titled  "Fiscal Therapy: A Rehab Plan for America's Addiction to Debt" at 8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 8, at the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater, Saint John's University. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Gale is co-director of the Tax Policy Center, a combined endeavor of the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute. He also serves as director of the Retirement Security Project. Before joining Brookings in 1992, he taught at UCLA and worked as a senior economist for the Council of Economic Advisors under President George H. W. Bush.

Gale's extensive research on tax policy, fiscal policy, pension and saving behavior has been widely acclaimed and published in several scholarly journals, including the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy and Quarterly Journal of Economics. He is also the co-editor of numerous books, including "Automatic: Changing the Way America Saves" (Brookings, 2009); "Aging Gracefully: Ideas to Improve Retirement Security in America" (Century Foundation, 2006); "The Evolving Pension System: Trends, Effects, and Proposals for Reform" (Brookings, 2005); "Private Pensions and Public Policy" (Brookings, 2004); "Rethinking Estate and Gift Taxation" (Brookings, 2001); and "Economic Effects of Fundamental Tax Reform" (Brookings, 1996). Gale's upcoming book titled "Fiscal Therapy: A Rehab Program for America's Addiction to Debt" (Brookings, 2012) will be published at the end of October. In 2007, a paper he co-authored was awarded the prestigious TIAA-CREF Paul A. Samuelson Award for Outstanding Scholarly Writing on Lifelong Financial Security.

In addition, Gale has held leadership positions on advisory boards for the Government Accountability Office, the Internal Revenue Service, the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Board of the Center on Federal Financial Institutions. He currently serves on the editorial boards of several academic journals.

Gale is a graduate of Duke University and the London School of Economics and received his doctorate from Stanford University.

The Clemens Lecture Series was founded in 1987 to further conversations on the ways economics can speak to the larger problems of our society and culture. It brings to Saint John's outstanding economists noted for their abilities to address the economic dimensions of social issues and to sustain dialogue with the other fields of the liberal arts.

The Clemens Chair in Economics and the Liberal Arts and the Clemens Lecture Series have been made possible by the generosity of William E. and Virginia Clemens.