Events

This year’s AGES distinguished speaker: Carmen Reinhart

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The Association of Graduate Economics Students (AGES) invites every year a prominent speaker to give a public lecture on campus. Over the past years, speakers included Greg Mankiw, Ariel Rubinstein and Karl Case as well as Nobel Laureates Finn Kydland and Robert Lucas. This year’s speaker will be Carmen Reinhart.

Prof. Reinhart is a specialist of financial crises and has extensively studied the many collapses in economic history. Her studies have recently culminated in a book with Kenneth Rogoff, This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly (Princeton Press), which will be at the center of her talk February 24, 2011, at 11:00 AM in the Konover Auditorium, Dodd Research Center. The talk is open to the public.

Prof. Reinhart has a PhD from Columbia University and recently moved from the University of Maryland to the Peterson Institute of International Economics. She has been deputy research director at the International Monetary Fund and chief economist at Bear Stearns. She is currently the top ranked female economist.

More details at AGES.

BA alumnus David Stockton receives UConn Distinguished Alumni award October 1, 2010.

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The UConn Alumni Association will give the 2010 Distinguished Alumni Award to David Stockton on October 1. After completing his BA and MA at UConn in just four years (1972-76), under the supervision of Professor Emeritus William McEachern, Stockton obtained a second MA and his PhD in Economics at Yale University. A Danforth Fellow, Yale Fellow, and member of Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi, Stockton joined the Federal Reserve’s Division of Research and Statistics in 1981. Since 2000, he has served as the Director of Research and Statistics, overseeing the Fed’s large staff of PhD economists who conduct research and inform the Fed’s Board of Governors–the architects of U.S. monetary policy.

Both the current Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke, and his predecessor Alan Greenspan have strongly praised Stockton’s expertise and advice on economic matters. In addition to his responsibilities for directing longer-term research projects at the Fed, Stockton presents regular economic forecasts to the Federal Open Market Committee–the group of officials that regularly meets to decide Fed policies and actions that shape banking operations and interest rates in the U.S. and abroad. Stockton’s public service career continues a family tradition. David’s father, Ed Stockton served as Mayor of the Town of Bloomfield, and later was named Commissioner of Economic Development under Governors Ella Grasso and William O’Neill. The Stockton family’s New Jersey ancestor Richard Stockton signed the Declaration of Independence.

Stockton will be officially honored at an Alumni Association event in the South Campus Rome Hall Ballroom, on October 1, 2010. Earlier in the day, he will meet with Honors students and give a talk in the Department of Economics.

For more about this event, the UConn Alumni Association write-up about David Stockton and the list of the other award recipients of the day. The UConn Alumni Magazine also ran a story about David Stockton.

New class set to graduate

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On Saturday May 8, 2010, a new class of students will walk in the commencement ceremonies and get well-deserved degrees. As there are no December ceremonies any more, the walking class in larger than usual. 212 students will be receiving the BA in Economics, of which 40 are double majors. Seven students will be graduating with Honors in Economics: Joseph Antelmi, Michael Bokoff, Taylor Brown, Charles Johnson, Bryan Murphy, Eric Roy, and William Watson. The Economics major is very popular on campus, in previous years it has been the third most sought after. Note also that among all Economics degree granting institutions in the United States, the University of Connecticut ranks 26th by the number of degrees conferred last year.

We also have a graduating class in our graduate programs. Are graduating with a MA: Jay Adams, Demet Cimen, Amy Druckenmiller, Elnara Eynullayeva, Elizabeth Kaletski, Xingkang Liu, Xiaoyin Shen, Rijesh Shrestha, Li Wang, Menxi Ying and He Zang. And with a PhD: Lei Chen, Onur Burak Celik, Marina-Selini Katsaiti, Monica Lopez-Anuarbe, Zinnia Mukherjee and Natalya Shelkova.

The Economics Rights Group Holds its 4th Annual Day Long Workshop

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The Economic Rights Group (ERG), consisting of about 16 UConn faculty from six different departments including economics, and 10 Affiliated faculty from around the US, holds its 4th annual day long workshop on Saturday April 17. The topic of this workshop is the measurement of government effort towards economic rights fulfillment. It will investigate three measurement approaches: regression residuals, the production possibilities frontier, and the budgetary approach. Economics faculty member Susan Randolph developed the production possibilities approach along with ERG affiliate Sakiko Fukuda-Parr from the New School, while another ERG affiliate, Dave Richards of the University of Memphis, was central in developing the residual approach. Economics faculty member Lanse Minkler has done budget work on the right to employment in the US, following in the footsteps of pioneer and ERG affiliate Phil Harvey of Rutgers University. The group will explore the extent to which ERG should focus on its activities on economic rights measurement, and also an emerging relationship with a prominent Non-Government Organization working on economic rights, the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, directed by ERG affiliate Cathy Albisa. The afternoon sessions will feature new research presentations by ERG affiliates.

People interested in attending the meeting should contact Prof. Minkler.

Spring awards banquet honors students and faculty

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On April 1, 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 were:

Omicron Delta Epsilon inductees:
Christopher Barrows Wagner
Christopher Basil
Anthony DeMaio
Tyler Gold
Adam Heidbreder
Christopher Martin
Christopher Miller
Nicole Myers
Daniel Peacock
Lukas Sosnow
Stephen Stephanou
Spencer Swan
Ryan Zuskowski

Undergraduate awards
Louis D. Traurig Scholarship
Lucia Caldari
Mark Connolly
Yixian Lai
Alex Upton

Paul N. Taylor Memorial Prize
Alexander Bansak
Kevin Landry

Rockwood Q. P. Chin Scholarship
Connor Grant
Michael Gurdjian
Thomas Knecht
Daniel Peacock
Brooke Smith
Kristina Sowin
Christopher Waldo
Gang Yin

Abraham Ribicoff Scholarship
Joseph Antelmi
Michael Bokoff
Philip Gorecki
William Kimball

Economics Department Scholarship
Alex Upton

Graduate awards
W. Harrison Carter Award
Lei Chen

Albert E. Waugh Scholarship
Maroula Khraiche

Abraham Ribicoff Graduate Fellowship
Michael Stone

Economics Department Graduate Fellowship
Elizabeth Kaletski
Lisi Shi
Robert Szarka
Wei Wang
Yuan Wang

Ross D. MacKinnon Graduate Fellowship
Leshui He

CLAS Dean’s Fund Graduate Fellowship
Matthiew Burnside
Maroula Khraiche
Xiaoming Li
Michael Stone

Faculty Awards
Grillo Family Research Award
Vicky Knoblauch

Grillo Family Teaching Award
Delia Furtado

Congratulations to all recipients!

Graduate alumni reunion program announced

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Here is the program of the various events to happen on April 1 and 2, 2010.

Thursday, April 1, 4:00 pm – Philip. E. Austin Forum on Economics and Public Policy, Robert Stavins (Harvard University), “Climate Change Policy After Copenhagen,” Student Union Ballroom.

Thursday, April 1, 7:00 pm – Economics Department Annual Awards Banquet, Bishop Center.

Friday, April 2, 8:30 am to 4:00 pm – Graduate Reunion and Forum, alumni research papers, professional experience panel, and graduate research, Bishop Center.

8:30amContinental Breakfast (Room 7 lobby, downstairs)

9:00am
Welcome: William Lott, department head
Program Overview: Dennis Heffley, Professor of Economics

9:10am
Session 1: Alumni Research Papers and Presentations
Moderator: Leshui He, Past President, Association of Graduate Economics Students (AGES)
Dipasis Bhadra (PhD, UConn), Senior Economist, Federal Aviation Administration, US Department of Transportation
“Air travel in the US: How do we travel, where do we travel, and why do we travel?”
William Place (PhD, UConn), Medical Economist, Aetna Informatics, Hartford CT
“Behavioral and health care outcomes of wellness program participants”
Philip Shaw (PhD, UConn), Assistant Professor of Economics, Fairfield University
“Nonparametric Instrumental Variable Estimation in Practice”
Alice Zawacki (PhD, UConn), Senior Economist, Center for Economic Studies, US Bureau of the Census
“Searching for data? Using the Census Bureau Research Data Centers?”

10:30am
Coffee Break: Lobby

10:45am
Session 2: Alumni Professional Experience Panel
Moderator: Steven Lanza (PhD, UConn), Executive Editor, The Connecticut Economy
Laura Bhadra (MA, UConn; PhD, American University) Assistant Professor of Economics and Program Head, Northern Virginia Community College, Manassas VA
“Economics and Movies: a hybrid course”
Natalya Shelkova (PhD, UConn) Assistant Professor, Guilford College, Greensboro NC
“From job market to new job”
Hemanta Shrestha (PhD, UConn) Senior Analytics Manager, Sprint Nextel Corporation, Warren, NJ
“Building propensity models for customer targeting”
Monica Tedeschi Cantor (MA, UConn) Financial Strategist and VP, New York City Economic Development Corporation 2005-2007
“Pursuing a career in economic development: a New York City example”

12:00pm
Lunch: Bishop Center

1:45pm
AGES: Matthiew Burnside, President AGES
Introduction of officers
A word about AGES

2:00pm
Session 3: Graduate Research
Moderator: Rasha Ahmed(PhD, UConn), Assistant Professor, Trinity College, Hartford
Lei Chen (ABD, UConn)
“A study of the production technology of the US dental care industry”
Paramita Dhar (ABD, UConn)
“School quality and property values”
Patrick Flaherty (ABD, UConn), Economist, Office of Research and Information, Connecticut Department of Labor
“Tracking the recession in Connecticut: a view from the Department of Labor”
Monika Lopez-Anuarbe (PhD, UConn), Visiting Instructor, Connecticut College, New London CT
“Intergenerational transfers in the long term care market”
Michael Stone (ABD, UConn)
“Three essays on the economics of tort law”

Special thanks to Andreas Karapatakis (PhD, 1992) for his generous support of the Department of Economics 2010 Graduate Reunion and Forum and Annual Awards Banquet.

Parking: If you are traveling to campus by car, parking permits for the lot adjacent to the Bishop Center (just south) will be available at the continental breakfast. Just park, come inside to the lower level and pick up a permit to place in your car. You should be able to park in the lot the entire day if the permit is displayed in the vehicle

PS: Some pictures of the event are available.

Attention Grad Alumni

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In March 2008, the Department hosted a Graduate Reunion and Forum at the Bishop Center. At the one-day event, some of our former PhD students presented their recent research, while others employed by government or the private sector described their work in professional experience panels. We are planning to host a similar event on Friday, April 2, 2010, preceded by two other events you may wish to attend.

The first is the Philip E. Austin Forum on Economics and Public Policy, which will be held at 4:00 on Thursday, April 1, 2010, in the Student Union Auditorium. This is an inaugural event, which will feature a lecture on climate change policy by Harvard environmental economist Robert Stavins (see details in separate blog entry).

After the Austin Forum, at 7:00 PM on Thursday evening, the Department will hold its Annual Awards Banquet at the Bishop Center. In addition to recognizing the achievements of some of our outstanding undergraduates and graduate students, we’ll be honoring Bill Lott, who will be leaving the Department this spring after 40 years of outstanding service to the University.

We currently are looking for volunteers to present papers and participate in the professional experience panels, so please let us know if you would be interested in taking part. A brief note to Dennis.Heffley@uconn.edu will suffice. We’ll be forwarding more information by email, so if you think you may not be on our current list, or if you have recently changed your email address, please contact us.

Finally, if you would like to catch up on (and keep up with) the activities of the Department’s students, faculty members, and alumni, continue to visit the Blog. At the bottom of each page, you can scroll back to earlier entries, which also can be accessed by clicking on the links listed on the left side of this page.

We hope to see you in April!

Very best wishes,
Dennis Heffley

Mark your calendar for the inaugural Austin Forum

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On Thursday, April 1, the day before the Graduate Reunion and Forum, the Department of Economics will host the first Philip E. Austin Forum on Economics and Public Policy. The purpose of the Forum is to provide an opportunity for discussion and debate about current public policy issues from an economic perspective. The Forum is funded through the Philip E. Austin Endowed Chair, which is currently held by Economics Professor Kathleen Segerson.

Given the prominence of the current debate about climate change, including the recent international climate change summit in Copenhagen, we have chosen to focus this first Austin Forum on this important and controversial issue. The featured speaker at the Forum will be Harvard environmental economist Robert Stavins, who will present a talk entitled “Climate Change Policy After Copenhagen”. Professor Stavins is the Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government in the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and the Director of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program. He is a world-renowned economist, who has been working on the economics of climate change and the design of “cap-and-trade” systems for decades. Professor Stavins was recently honored as a 2009 Fellow [pdf] of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (AERE). The award was given by Professor Segerson, who is the current President of AERE, at the annual AERE luncheon at the ASSA meetings in Atlanta . In bestowing the award, she quoted from letters of support that stated: “In my view, no other environmental economist can match Rob in the ability to work effectively with policy makers…I cannot think of another current environmental economist who straddles more effectively the academic and policy communities” and Rob “has probably done more than any other single environmental economist to bring the idea of tradable emission permits (“cap and trade”) to the attention of policy-makers as a viable alternative for the management of pollution levels.” Professor Stavins also writes a regular blog on An Economic View of the Environment.

The Austin Forum is scheduled for 4:00 PM in the Student Union Auditorium and is open to all interested members of the UConn community and the public. President Emeritus Philip Austin, Provost Peter Nicholls, and CLAS Dean Jeremy Teitelbaum plan to attend this event.

Department has strong presence at ASSA meetings in Atlanta

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The annual meeting of the Allied Social Science Associations in early January is the big meeting place of economists, about 11,000 are expected this year. Many members of the department will be in attendance, and quite a few will be presenting their research, see the list below. Note that the department is not organizing a reception this year, but an informal gathering will happen on Monday January 4th, 8:30pm, at the Westin Peachtree Plaza (210 Peachtree St.). We will be heading to a restaurant thereafter.

Jan. 3, 8:00 am, Atlanta Marriott Marquis, International C (American Economic Association)
Low-Skilled Immigration and Work-Fertility Tradeoffs Among High-Skilled U.S. Natives
Delia Furtado (University of Connecticut)
Heinrich Hock (Florida State University)

Jan. 3, 10:15 am, Hilton Atlanta, Room 211 (American Economic Association and Association of Environmental and Resource Economists)
Combining Environmental and Development Goals: Strategies for Moving Forward (Panel Discussion)
Presiding: Kathleen Segerson (University of Connecticut )
Christopher Barrett (Cornell University)
Ariel Dinar (University of California-Riverside)
Paul Ferraro (Georgia State University)
Charles Perrings (Arizona State University)
Ma Zhong (Renmin University, China)
David Zilberman (University of California-Berkeley)

Jan. 3, 10:15 am, Hilton Atlanta, Room 306 (Society of Government Economists)
Measurement Issues in the Labor Market
Kenneth Couch (discussant, University of Connecticut)

Jan. 3, 12:30 pm, Atlanta Marriott Marquis, M103 (National Association of Economics Educators)
Student Performance in Traditional vs. Online Format: Evidence from an MBA Level Introductory Economics Class
Oskar Harmon (University of Connecticut)
James Lambrinos (Union University)

Jan. 3, 12:30 pm, Atlanta Marriott Marquis, M303 (Omicron Delta Epsilon)
The Impact of Population Density on Technology, Productivity of Human Capital and Growth
Juan-Pedro Garces (University of Connecticut)

Jan. 4, 10:15 am, Atlanta Marriott Marquis, L508 (American Economic Association)
Measuring Employment Transitions and Mass Layoffs with Administrative Data
Kenneth Couch (University of Connecticut)
Dana Placzek (Connecticut Department of Labor)

Jan. 4, 10:15 am, Hilton Atlanta, Room 206 (American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association)
Urban Labor Markets
Stephen Ross (discussant, University of Connecticut)

Jan. 4, 2:30 pm, Hilton Atlanta, Room 210 (Association of Indian Economic and Financial Studies)
Profit Efficiency and Return on Equity in Banking: Evidence from India
Subash Ray (University of Connecticut)
Abhiman Das (Reserve Bank of India)
Kankana Mukherjee (Babson College)

Jan. 5, 1:00 pm, Atlanta Marriott Marquis, L402 (American Economic Association)
Malaria Policy: Alternative Prevention and Eradication Strategies in a Dynamic Model
Douglas Gollin (Williams College)
Christian Zimmermann (University of Connecticut)