Bonser Distinguished Lecture Series

The Bonser Distinguished Lecture Series attracts prominent and influential leaders in academia, business, and politics to the Kelley School of Business and the O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs to speak about the interactions between public policy and business. Discussions with prominent speakers enhance students’ and faculty members’ knowledge of economic issues and stimulate discussion of public policy.

Charles F. Bonser, dean emeritus of the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, works with O'Neill and Kelley to provide the initial endowment fund for the series. This funding, combined with additional contributions, will ensure the continuation of educational opportunities and attract corporate executives, government leaders, and leading academics to the Bloomington campus.

2025 Bonser Distinguished Lecturer: Robert Gibbons

Robert Gibbons is Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management at MIT and the 2025 Bonser Distinguished Lecturer at Indiana University — **Robert Gibbons**, Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management, Sloan School of Management; and Professor of Organizational Economics, Department of Economics, MIT.

Robert Gibbons is the Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and a professor in MIT’s Department of Economics. His research and teaching concern the design and performance of organized activities, especially “relational contracts” (informal agreements so rooted in the parties' circumstances that they cannot be adjudicated by courts). Organized activities may occur within firms, between firms (e.g., supply relationships, alliances, joint ventures), or beyond firms (e.g., hospitals, schools, government agencies). He has won teaching awards in both the Sloan School and the Department of Economics.

Robert's book, Game Theory for Applied Economists, was published in 1992 and has been translated into five languages. He co-edited the Handbook of Organizational Economics (2013) with J. Roberts. Robert's next book, Organizational Economics: Foundations and Applications, with D. Barron and M. Powell, is forthcoming in 2026.

Since 2002, Robert has been a co-principal investigator of MIT Sloan's Program on Innovation in Markets and Organizations. He is also a founding director of the working group in organizational economics at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Since 2016, he has co-organized (with Woody Powell) a multidisciplinary summer institute for young faculty on "Organizations and Their Effectiveness."

Past Lectures

Leslie Marx, Robert A. Bandeen Professor of Economics, The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University (2023)
Severin Borenstein, E.T. Grether Chair in Business Administration and Public Policy, Faculty Director, Energy Institute at Haas, Professor (2020)
Steve Tadelis, Professor of Economics at UC Berkeley and specializing in e-commerce and the economics of the internet
“Building and Improving Trust in Online Markets” (2019)
Sherry Glied, Dean of New York University and lead author of the Affordable Care Act
“An Insider’s View of the Affordable Care Act” (2015)
David P. Baron, Professor at MIT and recipient of 2007’s Lifetime Achievement Award from the Aspen Institute
“Challenging the Corporation: How Activists Influence Corporate Policy” (2002)

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Bonser Distinguished Lecture Series

2025 Bonser Distinguished Lecturer: Robert Gibbons

Past Lectures

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