Events

Professor Michael Carter to Visit Campus

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Michael_CarterOn Thursday, April 11, Professor Michael Carter will be on campus as the speaker for the annual Austin Forum on the Economics of Public Policy. Professor Carter directs the BASIS Program, a research consortium funded by USAID that studies rural poverty alleviation strategies in Africa, Asia and Latin America.  He has worked extensively on understanding poverty traps and poverty dynamics, and on the design and evaluation of programs to alleviate rural poverty. 

In addition to giving his lecture at 4:00 p.m., Prof. Carter has graciously offered to speak in Prof. Randolph’s development course (2:00-3:15), as well as Prof. Furtado’s labor course (11:00-12:15).

At 4:00 p.m. in the Dodd Center, Prof. Carter will give a lecture titled “Global Poverty and Food Security: Perspectives and Options.” Faculty, staff, students, and non-university members are invited to attend.

Seminar Series: Alumnus Jeffrey Milyo

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On Friday, November 16, the Economics Department welcomed back an illustrious alumnus as a speaker in the department’s weekly seminar series.  Jeffrey Milyo ’86, Middlebush Professor of Social Sciences at the University of Missouri, spoke on “Campaign Finance Reform and the ‘Actuality and Appearance’ of Corruption.”

Milyo graduated from UConn as an Honors and University Scholar, which allowed him to receive the B.A. and M.A. in Economics simultaneously.  He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford, and went on to positions at Tufts and the University of Chicago before coming to Missouri.

Using differences in campaign-finance laws among U. S. states as a natural experiment, Milyo’s seminar paper tested empirically the effect of campaign-finance reform on corruption in government.  His conclusion is that campaign finance reform has no discernible effect on levels of corruption.

Alumni Association to Host Film Screening

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On October 15, 2012, the UConn Alumni Association welcomes Travelers in presenting a film screening and discussion of Overdraft. Overdraft is a documentary sponsored by Travelers focusing on America’s debt crisis.

Registration is recommended for this event, which will be held in the Student Union ballroom followed by a viewing of the film in the theater. There will also be a discussion panel led by UConn faculty following the film.

 

GE On Campus September 4

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GE will be visiting Storrs on 9/14/2012 to showcase some of their programs and career opportunities to our students. CLAS students in Math, Statistics, and Economics (in addition to students from the School of Business and School of Engineering) are encouraged to participate in the day. The event will be hosted in the SU, Room 104, from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm. Students are encouraged to attend any part of the day that they can participate in, and GE will be providing boxed lunches to all attendees between Noon and 1:00 pm.

2012 Spring Awards Banquet

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On April 12, the department convened for an awards banquet that recognized the best among undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty. This year’s award recipients are:

Omicron Delta Epsilon inductees:
Kurtis Adei
Alex Amarante
Lyla Eljizi
Elizabeth Fesenmeyer
Clifford Garnet
John Giardina
Levi Jackson
Nicholas Leonetti
Michael Littman
Brett Mauro
Andrew Moynihan
Loi Nham
Shivani Panchal
Marcos Quispe
Thomas Samuels
Vidya Sridhar
Jennifer Stansfield
Matthew Travalini
Suo Wang
Daniel White
Mallika Winsor

Undergraduate Awards
Louis D. Traurig Scholarship
William Kimball
Colleen Phelan
Paige Rhymer
Vidya Sridhar

Ross Mayer Scholarship
Nicholas Leonetti
Garrett Rapsilber

Paul N. Taylor Memorial Prize
Kevin Landry
Antonio Spinelli

Rockwood Q. P. Chin Scholarship
Lydia Kowinko
Yuqi Xing

Graduate Awards
W. Harrison Carter Award
Paul Tomolonis

Albert E. Waugh Scholarship
Matthew Schurin

Abraham Ribicoff Graduate Fellowship
Elizabeth Kaletski

Economics Department General Scholarship (for 2012: Recognition for Excellence as a Teaching Assistant)
Eric Gibbons
Sara Kauffman
Matthew Joseph Histen

Timothy A. and Beverly C. Holt Economics Fellowship
Matthew Schurin
Rong Zhou
Zheng Xu
Peijingran Yu
Bryce Casavant

Faculty Awards
Grillo Family Research Award
Mikhael Shor

Grillo Family Teaching Award
William Alpert
Oskar Harmon

Congratulations to everyone!

Econ vs. Ag Econ Bowling a Success

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On Thursday, March 8, 2012, students and faculty from the Economics Department and the Agricultural and Resource Economics Department gathered at Willi Bowl for a bowling competition. While it appears no one kept score and there was no official winner, it was of little consequence considering how much fun was had by all.  Approximately 10 students and 1 faculty member represented the Ag Econ department, while 20 students, 5 faculty and 1 staff member represented the Econ department.  AGES, a big promoter of the bowl-off, hopes to organize more events like this in the future.

Professor Minkler working on a strike.

Jonathan Gruber Speaks on Health Care Reform

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Professor Jonathan Gruber from MIT recently spoke to a standing-room only crowd in Konover Auditorium about health care reform in the U.S.  Speaking at the 2nd annual Philip E. Austin Forum on the Economics of Public Policy on “Health-Care Reform in the U.S.: What Happened and Where Do We Go Now?”, Gruber described his experience with health care reform in Massachusetts.  Gruber was a key architect of the Massachusetts program.  He described Massachusetts’ “three-legged stool” approach to ensuring adequate health care coverage, which includes (1) insurance market reforms (to prohibit exclusions or pricing based on health status), (2) a mandate that individuals buy insurance (or pay a penalty for not doing so), and (3) subsidies to help low-income individuals comply with the mandate.

Gruber then compared the Massachusetts experience to the experience of federal health care reform embodied in the Obama-led Affordable Care Act.  He noted that, while the federal reform is based on the same three-legged stool approach used in Massachusetts, it is more ambitious (and hence challenging).  Unlike the Massachusetts reform, the federal program had to find new sources of money to fund the subsidies required to ensure access to insurance for low income individuals.  In addition, the federal reform sought to bring down rising health care costs, which was not a primary goal of the reforms in Massachusetts.  Gruber went on to discuss the challenges currently facing the implementation of the federal reform.  

Professor Gruber is a leading expert on the economics of health care.  He has published extensively on this topic and has served as an advisor on health care reform at both the state and federal level.  The Austin Forum is designed to bring experts such as Professor Gruber to UConn to discuss important, contemporary public policy issues from an economic perspective, and to honor the legacy of President Phil Austin, who served as President of the University from 1996-2007 and is currently serving as Interim President.

Spring Awards Banquet

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On April 14, the department convened for an awards banquet that recognized the best among undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty. This year’s award recipients are:

Omicron Delta Epsilon inductees:
Samuel Arvidson
Geoffrey Battista
Gaetano D’Alessio
Daniel DiMauro
Asimina Diamandopoulos
Titus Ibrahim Kanu
Shawn James McDermott
Sean McManus
Brendan Molloy
Kyle Niejadlik
Dan Rabinove

Undergraduate Awards
Louis D. Traurig Scholarship
Jocelyn Abraham
Sandie Gong
Connor Grant
William Kimball
Sean McManus
Loi Nham
Gang Yin

Paul N. Taylor Memorial Prize
Kristina Sowin

Rockwood Q. P. Chin Scholarship
Brooke Smith

Abraham Ribicoff Scholarship
Geoffrey Battista
Mark Connolly
Nicholas Leonetti

Ross Mayer Scholarship
Kevin Landry

Audrey Beck Scholarship
Mark Connolly

Graduate Awards
Albert E. Waugh Scholarship
Weiran Huang
Ranjini Neogi
Paul Tomolonis

W. Harrison Carter Award
Archita Banik
Elizabeth Kaletski

Abraham Ribicoff Graduate Fellowship
Arnab Deb
Weiran Huang
Shen Jin
Sanglim Lee

Timothy A. and Beverly C. Holt Economics Fellowship
Marcello Graziano
Elizabeth Kaletski
Michael Lorenzo
Zheng Xu
Xinyi Zheng
Rong Zhou

Ross D. MacKinnon Graduate Fellowship
Archita Banik

CLAS Dean’s Fund Graduate Fellowship
Matthiew Burnside
Leshui He
Stephen Kuchta
Matthew Schurin

Faculty Awards
Grillo Family Research Award
Olivier Morand

Grillo Family Teaching Award
Richard Langlois

Congratulations to everyone!

Workshop to address state of economic rights

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The Economic & Social Rights Research Group (ESRG) of the UConn Human Rights Institute will be hosting its annual workshop this Saturday. This year’s theme is to investigate the status of each economic right. Lead by Prof. Minkler as well as Prof. Hertel from Political Sciences, the members of the group and its associates will meet in Room 304B of the Student Union all day with an agenda comprising 18 presentation. The department contributes three, with Prof. Randolph on the right to food, Adjunct Prof. Derek Johnson on the right to education and Prof. Zimmermann on the right to social security.

Fed Chairman Bernanke to speak on campus

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The current chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Ben Bernanke will be on campus to speak about his career during the Association of Graduate Economics Students (AGES) “Life after UConn” event. This event invites graduates to speak about their experience after leaving the campus. While Bernanke is not a UConn graduate, he attended some Summer classes on the Stamford campus during his undergraduate studies.

“Life after UConn” will take place this Friday at noon, in room 339 of the Monteith Building.