Harvard Economist to Discuss Improvement of Health and Education in the Developing World

12:00AM / Monday, October 16, 2006Print Story | Email Story

Harvard University Professor of Economics Michael Kremer will deliver the Biannual Henry George Lecture at Williams College. His talk on "Improving Health and Education in the Developing World" will be held Monday, October 16, at 8 p.m., in The Science Center's Wege Auditorium. Kremer is the Gates Professor of Developing Countries at Harvard and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He is co-chair and co-founder of The Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development and a consultant to the Development Economics Research Group of The World Bank. Kremer has won numerous awards including a MacArthur Fellowship, and most recently the Kenneth J. Arrow Award for Best Paper in Health Economics in 2005 by the International Health Economics Association and the Association of American Publishers Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Medical Science for his book "Strong Medicine: Creating Incentives for Pharmaceutical Research on Neglected Diseases," in 2004. Recent work has focused on issues of Advance Market Commitments for Vaccines against Neglected Diseases: Estimating Costs and Effectiveness, The Illusion of Sustainability, and Long-Term Educational Consequences of Secondary School Vouchers: Evidence from Administrative Records in Columbia. In his most recent paper, Kremer discusses how "an advance market vaccine commitment may be sufficient to stimulate substantial research towards a desired vaccine, and from a public health perspective still be extremely cost effective." According to him, "the larger the commitment, the more biopharmaceutical firms will enter the search for a vaccine, and the faster a vaccine is likely to be developed." He elaborates on this topic in Creating Markets for Vaccines. "Advance purchase commitments for vaccines for diseases concentrated in poor areas," writes Kremer, "have considerable appeal across the ideological spectrum as a market-oriented mechanism that brings the resources of the private sector to address the health needs of the world's poorest countries." Kremer received his A.B. in social studies from Harvard College and his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.

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St. Stan's Students Spread Holiday Cheer at Williamstown Commons

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
12:50PM / Sunday, December 21, 2025

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Students from St. Stanislaus Kostka School in Adams brought the holiday spirit to Williamstown Commons on Thursday, delivering handmade Christmas cards and leading residents in a community caroling session.

"It honestly means the world to us because it means the world to them," said nursing home Administrator Alex Fox on Thursday morning. "This made their days. This could have even made their weeks. It could have made their Christmas, seeing the children and interacting with the community."

Teacher Kate Mendonca said this is the first year her class has visited the facility, noting that the initiative was driven entirely by the students.

"This came from the kids. They said they wanted to create something and give back," Mendonca said. "We want our students involved in the community instead of just reading from a religion book."

Preparation for the event began in early December, with students crafting bells to accompany their singing. The handmade cards were completed last week.

"It's important for them to know that it's not just about them during Christmas," Mendonca said. "It's about everyone, for sure. I hope that they know they really helped a lot of people today and hopefully it brought joy to the residents here."

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