Web cookies (also called HTTP cookies, browser cookies, or simply cookies) are small pieces of data that websites store on your device (computer, phone, etc.) through your web browser. They are used to remember information about you and your interactions with the site.
Purpose of Cookies:
Session Management:
Keeping you logged in
Remembering items in a shopping cart
Saving language or theme preferences
Personalization:
Tailoring content or ads based on your previous activity
Tracking & Analytics:
Monitoring browsing behavior for analytics or marketing purposes
Types of Cookies:
Session Cookies:
Temporary; deleted when you close your browser
Used for things like keeping you logged in during a single session
Persistent Cookies:
Stored on your device until they expire or are manually deleted
Used for remembering login credentials, settings, etc.
First-Party Cookies:
Set by the website you're visiting directly
Third-Party Cookies:
Set by other domains (usually advertisers) embedded in the website
Commonly used for tracking across multiple sites
Authentication cookies are a special type of web cookie used to identify and verify a user after they log in to a website or web application.
What They Do:
Once you log in to a site, the server creates an authentication cookie and sends it to your browser. This cookie:
Proves to the website that you're logged in
Prevents you from having to log in again on every page you visit
Can persist across sessions if you select "Remember me"
What's Inside an Authentication Cookie?
Typically, it contains:
A unique session ID (not your actual password)
Optional metadata (e.g., expiration time, security flags)
Analytics cookies are cookies used to collect data about how visitors interact with a website. Their primary purpose is to help website owners understand and improve user experience by analyzing things like:
How users navigate the site
Which pages are most/least visited
How long users stay on each page
What device, browser, or location the user is from
What They Track:
Some examples of data analytics cookies may collect:
Page views and time spent on pages
Click paths (how users move from page to page)
Bounce rate (users who leave without interacting)
User demographics (location, language, device)
Referring websites (how users arrived at the site)
Here’s how you can disable cookies in common browsers:
1. Google Chrome
Open Chrome and click the three vertical dots in the top-right corner.
Go to Settings > Privacy and security > Cookies and other site data.
Choose your preferred option:
Block all cookies (not recommended, can break most websites).
Block third-party cookies (can block ads and tracking cookies).
2. Mozilla Firefox
Open Firefox and click the three horizontal lines in the top-right corner.
Go to Settings > Privacy & Security.
Under the Enhanced Tracking Protection section, choose Strict to block most cookies or Custom to manually choose which cookies to block.
3. Safari
Open Safari and click Safari in the top-left corner of the screen.
Go to Preferences > Privacy.
Check Block all cookies to stop all cookies, or select options to block third-party cookies.
4. Microsoft Edge
Open Edge and click the three horizontal dots in the top-right corner.
Go to Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Cookies and site permissions.
Select your cookie settings from there, including blocking all cookies or blocking third-party cookies.
5. On Mobile (iOS/Android)
For Safari on iOS: Go to Settings > Safari > Privacy & Security > Block All Cookies.
For Chrome on Android: Open the app, tap the three dots, go to Settings > Privacy and security > Cookies.
Be Aware:
Disabling cookies can make your online experience more difficult. Some websites may not load properly, or you may be logged out frequently. Also, certain features may not work as expected.
Professor Richard Langlois has won the Alice Hanson Jones Prize for his recent book The Corporation and the Twentieth Century: the History of American Business Enterprise (Princeton University Press, 2023).
The prize, announced on September 7 at the 2024 meeting of the Economic History Association, the professional society of economic historians, is awarded every other year for an outstanding book on North American economic history.
The Corporation and the Twentieth Century was also a finalist for the George R. Terry Book Award of the Academy of Management.
Birendra Budha (2021 PhD) and Kanda Naknoi presented their study at the Central Bank Research Association Meeting in Frankfurt Germany on August 30, 2024.
Their study empirically examines the international transmission of US monetary policy uncertainty to asset prices using high-frequency identification based on daily data of 43 countries. An increase in US monetary policy uncertainty raises sovereign yields and depreciates exchange rates in advanced and emerging market economies. A higher level of uncertainty weakens the global transmission of US monetary policy to asset prices.
In this paper, we develop a novel large volatility matrix estimation procedure for analyzing global financial markets. Practitioners often use lower-frequency data, such as weekly or monthly returns, to address the issue of different trading hours in the international financial market. However, this approach can lead to inefficiency due to information loss. To mitigate this problem, our proposed method, called Structured Principal Orthogonal complEment Thresholding (Structured-POET), incorporates observation structural information for both global and national factor models. We establish the asymptotic properties of the Structured-POET estimator, and also demonstrate the drawbacks of conventional covariance matrix estimation procedures when using lower-frequency data. Finally, we apply the Structured-POET estimator to an out-of-sample portfolio allocation study using international stock market data.
Recent UConn graduates Aaron Cooke (2018 PhD, U.S. Department of the Treasury) and Umesh Ghimire (2021 PhD, Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania) have had their paper accepted for publication in Macroeconomic Dynamics.
The paper examines the impact of life-cycle savings, intergenerational transfers, and fertility differences between the rich and the poor on the wealth distribution in the United States
Kai ZhaoHyun Lee
This paper is a joint work with Dr. Hyun Lee (former UConn faculty) and Professor Kai Zhao. The key message of the paper is that the fertility differences between the rich and the poor significantly amplify the role of bequests in shaping the U.S. wealth inequality.
Sewanee is among the nation’s top national liberal arts colleges and is consistently ranked as one of the top five in the South. While Professor Furtado enjoyed walking around the beautiful campus, often spotting students and faculty in their academic gowns, her favorite part of the trip was catching up with former UConn students.
Huari’s research interests are in asset pricing, financial econometrics, macro finance, and machine learning. At Sewanee, she teaches the courses, Investment Finance, Derivatives and Fixed Income Securities, Financial Modeling, and Financial Engineering.
Tao’s research interests are in labor and urban economics with a particular focus on immigration. He has taught Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, and Econometrics as well as the field courses Labor Economics, Urban Economics, and the Economics of Immigration. This month, he was awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor. Congratulations, Tao!
Current UConn PhD students, do reach out to Huari and Tao for advice on building a successful academic career at a liberal arts college.
Former UConn PhD students, we would love to know where you are and what you’re up to! Contact Lisa Bono at lisa.bono@uconn.edu.
Two graduate students in the UConn Department of Economics presented their research at the New England Experimentalist Workshop last week.
Anastassiya Karaban presented her paper, “The role of gender comparisons in determining reference wage and labor supply.” She finds that when people make different wages, we choose to compare our wage to others of the same gender. Women work harder when making more than other women (but not when making more than other men). Men work less hard if they are making less than another man (but not if they are making less than a woman).
Victor Volkman presented his paper, “Race and experimental design: How respondents may read context into a neutrally framed scenario.” Traditionally, economics experiments have participants engage in “context free” simulated economic transactions. Victor examines whether such absence of context can affect individuals differently based on their racial backgrounds. He finds evidence that different racial groups interpret context-free scenarios differently, and thus their actions are not directly comparable.
The presentations offered the students both broader exposure for their research and a chance to receive valuable feedback from researchers at other universities.
On July 1 and 2, the Department of Economics hosted the annual New England Experimentalist Workshop.
The Workshop brought together experimental and behavioral economists from twelve universities to present research on topics as diverse as gender pay disparities, self-censorship of political views in the classroom, and effective environmental policy.
The two-day workshop was organized by faculty members Remy Levin and Mike Shor and graduate student Anastassiya Karaban.
The University of Connecticut’s Center for Career Development is excited to announce that Professor Tianxu Chen from the Department of Economics has been selected as a Faculty Fellow for Summer 2024. This prestigious fellowship highlights Professor Chen’s commitment to enhancing students’ career readiness and bridging the gap between academic theory and practical application.
As part of this fellowship, Professor Chen will collaborate with career development experts to integrate career competencies into the curriculum of her labor economics course. The goal is to ensure that students not only grasp economic theories but also understand their relevance in today’s labor market. By incorporating real-world applications and insights from industry professionals, Professor Chen aims to equip students with the skills necessary for success in their future careers.
Jim Lowe, Associate Vice Provost and Executive Director of Career Center, presented the Award.
UConn Center for Career Development hosted the 2024 Career Everywhere Recognition & Celebration Event on May 1, 2024. The event was filled with enthusiasm and camaraderie, fostering meaningful connections among Career Champions in attendance. There are nearly 1,000 dedicated UConn Career Champions (faculty, staff, and employers) who tirelessly support our students in their journey toward post-graduation success.
The nominations for several awards given by the Career Center were solicited from students, faculty, and staff. Professor Smirnova received the inaugural Career Competency Innovation Award.
Nancy Bilmes, Director of the Career Center, described Professor Smirnova’s innovations as aligning course syllabi with NACE career competencies, integrating career readiness modules across their courses on HuskyCT, designing assignments focused on career competencies, presenting at national and regional conferences, and conducting impactful research on the impact of career-focused assignments on students’ knowledge acquisition within their chosen fields. Natalia’s approach to embedding career development into her teaching not only equips students with essential skills but also demonstrates a commitment to fostering holistic growth and success beyond the classroom.
Professor Smirnova’s work on students’ career competencies’ development is documented in her teaching portfolio.