Indiana University East’s School of Business and Economics will offer its speaker series this fall featuring experts Art Carden and Robert Subrick.

The series is free and open to the public.

The series is sponsored by the Charles Koch Foundation and co-sponsored by Delta Mu Delta, the IU East Business and Economic Research Center and the IU East Center for Economic Education.

Art Carden, Associate Professor of Economics at Samford University’s Brock School of Business

Art Carden

Topic: Waltonomics: Walmart and Society
2 p.m., Wednesday, October 10, Vivian Auditorium

Carden is an associate professor of Economics at Samford University’s Brock School of Business. In addition, he is a senior research fellow with the Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics, a senior fellow with the Beacon Center of Tennessee, and a research fellow with the Independent Institute.

His topic will focus on business aspects of Walmart. How does Walmart affect the communities it enters? Is there a high and hidden cost to Everyday Low Prices? This talk draws on Carden’s research on general merchandisers like Walmart and explores Walmart’s economic, social, and cultural effects in the United States.

Carden’s research has appeared in the Journal of Urban Economics, the Southern Economic Journal, Applied Economics, Public Choice, and Contemporary Economic Policy, and his commentaries have appeared in Forbes, Productive, USA Today, Black Belt, and many other outlets.

He earned a B.S. and M.A. from the University of Alabama and an A.M. and Ph.D. from Washington University in Saint Louis.

Before joining the faculty at Samford, Carden taught economics at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama, with his wife and three children.

Robert Subrick, Associate Professor of Economics at James Madison University

Robert Subrick

Topic: The Political Economy of Black Panther’s Wakanda
2 p.m., Monday, November 12, Vivian Auditorium

Subrick is an associate professor of Economics at James Madison University (JMU).

His topic will discuss Black Panther, the fictional hereditary leader of the African nation of Wakanda, a small, natural resource-rich country, which lacks access to the sea. Historically the political leadership has tried to hide Wakanda’s existence from other countries which has limited its economic integration with the rest of the world. In spite of its geographic endowments, notably the incredibly rare ore vibranium, Wakanda has attained unprecedented technological development. After explaining the origins of Black Panther, Subrick turns to the economic puzzle of Wakanda by exploring the geographic and economic implications of isolation. This is followed by an investigation into the way Wakanda has avoided the resource curse that has plagued so many other countries. Next, a comparison is made between Wakanda and the nation of Botswana. While there are some telling similarities, the lack of democracy in Wakanda is a glaring difference. The presentation will discuss how it has developed high-levels of technology that help advance the Black Panther’s dictatorship. Finally, it will address the potential for democracy to emerge in Wakanda.

Subrick has an undergraduate degree from the University of Delaware and Ph.D. from George Mason University. Before joining JMU in 2007, he was a research associate at the Center for Institutional Reform and the Informal Sector at University of Maryland and associate director of the Center for the Economic Study of Religion at George Mason University.

Subrick has worked in the areas of political economy, African economic history, and the history of economic thought. His current research examines the causes of rising American income inequality and Brazilian economic history. Someday he hopes to write a book about Bob Dylan.

For more information on the speaker series, contact Feler Bose, associate professor of Economics and Finance at bosef@iu.edu.