#  Bio 

 



Ian Kumekawa is a Ph.D. candidate in the History Department. He obtained his MPhil at Cambridge in 2013 and his A.B. in 2012 at Harvard College. His forthcoming book, *[The First Serious Optimist](http://press.princeton.edu/titles/11020.html)* examines the intellectual origins of welfare economics, focusing specifically on its founder, Cambridge economist A.C. Pigou (1877-1959). His dissertation will examine the implications of government planning during World War I for subsequent economic thought.