Museum of American Finance Hosts Panel on the Privatization of Risk

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On Tuesday, September 29, the Museum of American Finance will continue its 2009 Henry Kaufman Financial History and Practices Lecture/Symposia Series with a panel entitled “The Privatization of Risk: Understanding Risk Shifts in Healthcare, Pensions, Employment and Finance.” The program is being co-sponsored by the Social Science Research Council, and will be held from 5:30 – 7:00 pm in the Museum’s education center, located at 48 Wall Street.

Decades of privatization have shifted the burden of risk from government and institutions to individuals and families. As a result, many Americans now find themselves unable to cope with the financial strains of employment and investment insecurity, as well as the costs of health care and pension financing. Collectively, these are the most pressing domestic concerns in the United States today.

An expert panel featuring Jacob Hacker, Katherine Newman, Mitchell Orenstein and Robert E. Wright will discuss the problems posed by risk privatization and what can be done to address them. All four panelists are editors of recent or upcoming volumes in the Privatization of Risk Book Series—a series of short, accessible books on risk privatization produced by the Social Science Research Council and Columbia University Press. Dr. Richard Sylla, Henry Kaufman Professor of the History of Financial Institutions and Markets at the NYU Stern School of Business, will moderate the discussion.

Admission to this event is free for Museum members and costs $15 for non-members. Working members of the press will be admitted free of charge. For information or reservations contact Lindsay Seeger at 212-908-4110 or lseeger@moaf.org.

About the Museum of American Finance

The Museum of American Finance, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, is the nation’s only public museum dedicated to finance, entrepreneurship and the open market system. With its extensive collection of financial documents and objects, its seminars and educational programming, its publication and oral history program, the Museum portrays the breadth and richness of American financial and economic history. For more information, visit www.moaf.org.