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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Williamstown Housing Trust Agrees to Continue Emergency Mortgage, Rental Programs
By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The board of the town's Affordable Housing Trust at its December meeting voted to extend its mortgage and rental assistance programs and discussed bringing in some consultants early next year before embarking on any new programs.
Chair Daniel Gura informed the board that its agreements with Pittsfield's Hearthway Inc., to administer the Williamstown Emergency Rental Assistance Program and Williamstown Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program was expiring at the end of the year.
Gura sought and obtained a vote of the board to extend the programs, born during the COVID-19 pandemic, through the end of January 2026, at which time the board plans to sign a new long-term agreement.
"In 2024, we distributed $80,000," through the programs known as WERAP and WEMAP, Gura said. "This year, to date, we gave $16,000, and Ihere's $17,000 left. … It's a little interesting we saw a dropoff from 2024 to 2025, although I think there were obvious reasons for that in terms of where we are in the world."
Gura suggested that the board might want to increase the funding to the programs, which benefit income-qualified town residents.
"If you look at the broader economic picture in this country, there's a prospect of more people needing help, not fewer people," Thomas Sheldon said in agreeing with Gura. "I think the need will bump up again."
The board voted to add an additional $13,000 to the amount available to applicants screened by Hearthway with the possibility of raising that funding if a spike in demand is seen.
The Teacher of the Month series, in collaboration with Berkshire Community College, features distinguished teachers nominated by community members. You can nominate a teacher here.
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Preparation for the event began in early December, with students crafting bells to accompany their singing. The handmade cards were completed last week.
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The urgent care center will occupies a suite of rooms off the right side of the entry, with two treatment rooms, offices, amenities and X-ray room.
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The group planning a new skate park for a town-owned site on Stetson Road hopes to get construction underway in the spring — if it can raise a little more than $500,000 needed to reach its goal. click for more
