Bates College has named James W. Hughes, a member of the economics faculty since 1992, as the Thomas Sowell Professor of Economics. Hughes presents his inaugural lecture as Sowell Professor at 5:15 p.m. Friday, Oct. 28, in Chase Hall Lounge, 56 Campus Ave.

Titled . . ., Drugs and Rock & Roll: Intellectual Property in the 21st Century, Hughes’ talk is open to the public at no charge. A reception follows.

The endowed Thomas Sowell Professorship in Economics was established in 2002 through a gift from Bates College trustee Joseph T. Willett and his wife, Janice, of Ridgewood, N.J. A member of the Bates class of 1973, Willett is the former chief operating officer of Merrill Lynch for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The professorship honors Sowell, an economist, author and commentator, and someone whom a Washington Post reviewer called America’s “most valuable public intellectual” for his challenges to orthodox thought across the spectrum of society.

“I’m both happy and humbled that the college chose to appoint me to this prestigious position,” says Hughes. “I’m grateful to Joe and Janice Willett for the generous gift that made this professorship possible, and pleased that they chose to name the professorship for such a prominent and provocative economist as Professor Sowell.”

Hughes’ lecture will examine serious challenges to intellectual property rights faced by two very different industries, pharmaceuticals and the music recording business, and how the public views those challenges.

“Intellectual property rights form the basis of their business” for both sectors, says Hughes. “Yet in public perception and public policy, there seems to be much more sympathy for the recording industry than the pharmaceutical industry. I hope to explore the reasons behind such different public perceptions.”

The talk relates to Hughes’ current research into the social value of pharmaceutical patents and the factors determining the longevity of such patents. He teaches economics across a wide range of applications, including labor, health and law. He has also investigated issues as diverse as gender equity in academic salaries, the effect of tort reform on medical malpractice claims, and Wal-Mart and the labor market.

Hughes’ work on the effects of fee-shifting on litigation outcomes culminated in an invitation to contribute an entry on the subject to The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law.

He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan in 1987, and his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Boston University. He is married to Debra A. Barbezat, professor of economics at Colby College. They live in Waterville and have a son, who is a junior at Waterville High School .

“The relentless search for the truth and the courage to express it despite its occasional unpopularity distinguishes Thomas Sowell,” Joseph Willett said in 2002, when the Sowell professorship was announced. “Sowell’s writing reveals a great and real compassion for people — but one rooted in facts, not merely lofty sentiments.”

The Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow in Public Policy at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Sowell writes on economics, history, social policy, ethnicity and the history of ideas. His recent books include Black Rednecks and White Liberals (Encounter Books, 2005), Affirmative Action Around the World (Yale University Press, 2004), Basic Economics (Basic Books, revised and expanded edition, 2003) and Barbarians Inside the Gates (Hoover Institution Press, 1999).

Sowell’s current research focuses on cultural history in a world perspective. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2002 and the Bradley Prize for intellectual achievement in 2003.

Written by economist Howard Bodenhorn of Lafayette College, the 2001 study, Economic Scholarship at Elite Liberal Arts Colleges: Are Other Economists Paying Attention? measured the influence of 439 economists at liberal arts colleges. Bodenhorn concluded, “Although prominent economists at elite research universities produce the most influential scholarship, economists at the nation’s leading liberal arts colleges make significant contributions to the literature.” Ranking the publication record not by the number or books and articles, but by the frequency with which others cite their work, the study seeks to measure the quality and influence of the department’s scholarly output, rather than its quantity.

David A. Aschauer, the Elmer W. Campbell Professor of Economics at Bates, was the top-ranked full professor among liberal arts colleges. A former Federal Reserve senior economist, Aschauer has taught at Bates since 1989. His teaching and research interests center on macroeconomics, financial markets and public finance.

Aschauer’s scholarship represents only a part of his department’s publication record. Michael Murray, the Charles Franklin Phillips Professor of Economics; Margaret Maurer-Fazio, associate professor of economics; and James Hughes, associate professor of economics, all have substantial numbers of citations.

Murray’s work concerns public economics, urban economics, econometrics and urban development. Maurer-Fazio’s research focuses on labor-market issues in China. Hughes specializes in labor economics and health care economics. “We were quite pleased with the results of the study,” said Hughes, who is also the department chair. “People have been working hard to complete and publish their work. It is nice to see that other economists have been paying attention.”

Hughes also noted that the rankings did not include the publications of the department’s newest member, Associate Professor Lynne Lewis, a well-respected and highly productive environmental economist. “If you include Lynne’s work, our ranking would be higher still,” said Hughes.

According to Bodenhorn’s findings, the 10 most productive liberal arts economics departments in the 1990s were Wellesley, Bates, Wesleyan, Colby, Williams, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Smith, Lafayette and Swarthmore.

Bodenhorn’s study cites 1999 research by James Baughman and Robert Goldman published in Change, a journal of higher education, that shows a high correlation between faculty publication records and college rankings. Prestigious baccalaureate liberal arts colleges have faculty publication records comparable to some research and doctoral granting institutions, Baughman and Goldman concluded.