Since 1980, the world economy has been undergoing a fundamental transformation. Profits and stock valuations of dominant firms are growing faster than ever; seemingly a sign of economic growth and progress. At the same time, we see that wages for production and service workers are stagnating, that labour dynamism and labour participation are falling, and that the number of startup companies is decreasing. The Profit Paradox asks what is going on in the global economy. In his lecture, Jan Eeckhout will explore this question with you.

Jan Eeckhout is the ICREA Research Professor at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona and has taught at the University of Pennsylvania, University College London, Princeton and New York University. ICREA, the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, is a foundation supported by the Catalan Government and guided by a Board of Trustees. Eeckhout’s work has been widely featured in the media, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and the Financial Times

This lecture is organised by the School of Business and Economics (SBE) and Studium Generale. The Joan Muysken Lecture has been named after Joan Muysken, SBE’s first professor of macroeconomics (1984-2014), who was the founding father of the department of economics at SBE.