Oskar Harmon

Associate Professor

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Office Hour Appointment

Subject Areas: Economics of Sports, Economic Education, Information Technology

Professor Harmon has been an associate professor of economics at the University of Connecticut since 1994. His work has appeared in journals including the American Economic Review, Journal of Urban Economics, Journal of Economic Education, Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Journal of Sports Analytics, National Tax Journal, Public Finance Review, Real Estate Economics, and Southern Economic Journal. His current research interests include sports economics, teaching innovations, and measuring their effect on learning outcomes.

He has served on the UConn University Senate (2024-present), Senate Budget Committee (co-chair 2026-27), UConn AAUP Executive Committee (2014-present. He also served on the American Economic Association’s Committee on Economic Education from 2017 to 2019 and on the program committee for the 2018 Conference on Teaching and Research in Economic Education (CTREE). Since 2016, he has served on the American Association of University Professors’ Committee on the Economic Status of the Profession, and since 2020 he has served as Treasurer of the UConn Chapter of the AAUP. He has also contributed to the development of UConn’s Master of Science in Quantitative Economics (MSQE) program since 2017.

Professor Harmon is a recipient of the AAUP Career Excellence Teaching Award, the UConn University Teaching Fellow Award, and the UConn Chancellor’s Information Technology Award.

Education:
Ph.D., Economics, Rutgers University
M.A., Economics, Rutgers University
B.A. Economics, Clark University

Honors and Appointments:
—  2022 Career Excellence Teaching Award, The AAUP-UConn Chapter
— 2022-4 UConn University Senate
— 2021 University Teaching Fellow Award, UConn Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL)
— 2018 American Economic Association, Committee on Economic Education
— 2018 American Association of University Professors, Committee on the Economic Status of the Profession
— 2018 Commendation Letters for Excellence in Teaching from the Office of the Provost, UConn (multiple years)
— 2015 Service Learning Fellow, Uconn Institute of Teaching and Learning
— 2012 Grillo Family Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching
— 2000 University of Connecticut Chancellor’s Information Technology Award

Courses Taught:
— Economics of Sports
— Information Technology for Economics
— Economics I
— Principles of Microeconomics Online

Research Interests: Economics of Sports, Online Instruction

Selected Publications and Submissions
“The Impact of Anthem Protests, MAGA, and BLM on NFL Attendance”, Southern Economics Journal, (2026).

“Reversion to the Mean in the NBA”, Journal of Quantitative Analysis of Sports (with A. Bowman, T.Ashman and C. Bowman) revise and resubmit, 2026

“Collective Bargaining and Remediation.” In Pay Inequity in Higher Education: Statistical Methods and Case Studies. American Association of University Professors. Forthcoming 2026 (with L. Scruggs, and M. Bailey).

“Schedule Inequity in the National Basketball Association“, Journal of Sports Analytics, (2023), 9(1), 61-76, (with A. Bowman,  and T.Ashman)

“Learning Tableau- A Data Visualization Tool”, Journal of Economic Education, (2020) Volume 51, Issue 3-4. (with S. Batt, T. Grealis, and P. Tomolonis), currently most read all time article in the Journal of Economic Education, and most cited article in the last 3 years

“Social Media as an Online Course Discussion Forum – Engagement and Results of a Randomized Trial” International Review of Economic Education, (2019) 30, January (with P. Tomolonis)

“Use Google Drawings to Create Homework Exercises and Essays with Graphs”, Journal of Economics & Teaching, (2018) 2(2), 68-78 (with R.Szarka)

“A Randomized Assessment of Online Learning”, American Economic Review, (2016) 106(5), 378-302  (with W. Alpert; K. Couch)

“Are Online Exams an Invitation to Cheat?,” The Journal of Economic Education (2008) 39(2) (with J. Lambrinos).

“The Optimal State Tax Portfolio Model: An Extension”  National Tax Journal (1994), 47, 2, 395-402: (with R. Mallick).

“A New View of the Incidence of the Property Tax,” Public Finance Review (1989) 17(3), 323-348.

“The Income Elasticity of Demand for Single-Family Owner-Occupied Housing: An Empirical Reconciliation,” Journal of Urban Economics (1988) 24(2), 173-185.