Pierre Pestieau, professor of economics at the University of Lige in Belgium, will present the 1997 Einaudi Lecture Oct. 23 at 4:30 p.m. in the A.D. White Houseat Cornell.

A leading expert on public finance in Europe, Pestieau will speak on "Social Protection or Private Insurance in the European Nation."

In addition to his lecture, Pestieau, the Einaudi Chair in Modern European and International Studies for 1997-1998, is teaching a course on "Social Protection in the European Nation" in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

The Cornell campus is a familiar place to Pestiau. He was an assistant professor of economics at Cornell from 1971 to 1976 and a visiting professor in 1987-88 and in 1991.

"Pierre is an intelligent, practical-minded scholar," said Robert Frank, the Goldwin Smith Professor of Economics, Ethics and Public Policy at the Johnson Graduate School of Management.

Sponsored by the Institute for European Studies, the Luigi Einaudi Chair and lecture are named for the first elected president of Italy after World War II. His eldest son, Mario, who died in May 1994, joined the Cornell faculty in 1945 and founded the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies.

The Einaudi Chair brings distinguished European scholars to the Cornell campus annually to teach and deliver a public lecture.