CANTON - Emily Chamlee-Wright, economics professor at Beloit College, will give a talk called "The Cultural and Political Economy of Recovery" on Monday, April 4, at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of Hepburn Hall (Room 218) at St. Lawrence University. The event, part of the economics department's visiting speaker series in political economy and the University's Contemporary Issues Forum, is open to the public, free of charge.

Chamlee-Wright is currently working on a book titled The Learning Society, which examines how communities deploy social capital resources in the face of poverty and devastation. She is one of three principal investigators working with The Mercatus Center's Katrina Project, researching Gulf Coast recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which will form the basis of her talk.

In looking at the question of how communities rebound in the wake of disaster, Chamlee-Wright will examine how socially embedded resources, such as civic habits of association, can be a source of community resilience. She will also discuss the enabling and disabling role public policy can play in the recovery process.