Oskar Harmon

Associate Professor

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Office Hour Appointment

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

Professor Harmon received his Ph.D. in economics from Rutgers University. He is associate professor of economics at the University since 1994.  His commitment to teaching has been recognized by several university wide awards including the AAUP-UConn Career Excellence Teaching Award 2022, and the UConn University Teaching Fellow Award 2021.  His current research interests are economic of sports, and education. His work has been published in academic journals including American Economic Review, Journal of Economic Education, Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, and Real Estate Economics. Journal of Sports Economics, Journal of Urban Economics, and National Tax Journal,  He has written extensively about online instructional methods and learning outcomes. His service to UConn includes AAUP-UConn Executive Committee and Treasurer (2019-p), contributing to development of the UConn Master of Science in Quantitative Economics (MSQE) program since its inception in 2017.  His service to the external community includes serving as a member of the American Economic Association Committee on Economic Education (2018-21), and currently as chair of the Committee on the Economic Status of the Profession, for the American Association of University Professors (2018-p).

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
— Empirical Methods in Economics I
— Principles of Microeconomics Online

Research Interests: Economics of Sports, Online Instruction

Selected Publications

“NFL Attendance, Anthem Protests, MAGA, and BLM”, revise and resubmit, Southern Economic Journal, November, 2023, working paper available at SSRN, with J. Huang

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

“Using ESPN fantasy baseball simulation to teach economic concepts”, 2023, Business Education Innovation, 15,1, 51-61., article #51.with Craig Calvert, Matthew Mocarsky, and Adam Patterson

“Learning Tableau- A Data Visualization Tool”, 2020,  Journal of Economic Education, Volume 51, Issue 3-4. (with S. Batt, T. Grealis, and P. Tomolonis)

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

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

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

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

“AMT: How and Why to Reform,” 2001, Tax Notes, 91(4), 667-671.

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

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

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