Faculty

CCEA, Geography SUNSHOT DOE Award

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 The Connecticut Energy Finance and Investment Authority (CEFIA, formerly CCEF) has asked CCEA to help developing a grant proposal for the Department of Energy (DoE) Sunshot Grant Program.  The objective of the grant is to provide tools and strategies to reduce the non-hardware costs of solar photovoltaic systems, and it is meant to be developed as a multi-phase multi-disciplinary program. The proposal involves a very broad cooperation with private entities and other institutions, among which CEFIA itself and Yale University.

CCEA with the support Prof. Willig (CESE) has recruited and will work along with the Center for Land Use Education and Research (CLEAR) and the Dept. of Geography. UConn participants will be Prof. Fred Carstensen (CCEA, Director), Prof. Daniel Civco (CLEAR, Dirctor), Prof. Jeffrey Osleeb (Dept. Geography, Head) and Prof. Chuanrong Zhang (Geography). The proposal was one of the winners, and UConn has a proposed budget of about $149,000 for the first year, with additional $169,000 for Phase II, which will take place over two years.

Oskar Harmon featured in article written by MA student Andrew Sparks

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On Wednesday, November 16, 2011, UConn Today featured an article about Professor Oskar Harmon’s innovations to traditional class methods.  The article was written by one of the department’s MA students, Andrew Sparks.

Andrew’s article outlines Prof. Harmon’s efforts to makes his lectures and class discussions available online and on mobile devices. For example, Prof. Harmon has re-formatted his lectures so that they can be played on smart-phones, and has opened class discussion threads on Facebook so that his students can choose to learn and participate on mobile devices. Andrew notes the significance of this, as Prof. Harmon recognizes the need to give students several options for participation beyond email, HuskyCT forums, and in-class lectures.  Prof. Harmon saw a new opportunity in mobile media (smart-phones, tablets, etc.) and rolled out the new formats this semester.

The link to the article is here: http://today.uconn.edu/blog/2011/11/smartphones-can-make-you-smarter-when-used-as-mobile-teaching-tools/

Be sure to check UConn Today for future articles on the Econ department faculty, also written by Andrew.

Panel presentation featured on UConn Today

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The panel discussion held on Wednesday, November 16, 2011 was featured in articles on UConn Today and in the Daily Campus.  Professors Carstensen, Lanza, Minkler, Ross, and Wright led a discussion (moderated by Department Head Metin Cosgel) about the state of the U.S. economy and possible improvements.

Professor Prakash cited for his work on English Language Skills in India

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Prof. Prakash’s research on “The Returns to English Language Skills in India” was recently cited by Dr. Sanjaya Baru at The Business Standard  on 15th August, 2011 (this day also happens to be the Independence Day for India).

Dr Sanjaya Baru is the Editor of a leading financial newspaper in India, The Business Standard. From May 2004 until August 2008 he was the Official Spokesman and Media Advisor to the Prime Minister of India. Prior to his official appointment, he was the Chief Editor of The Financial Express. He has also been the Associate Editor of The Economic Times and The Times of India. He is one of India’s most respected and influential commentators on political and economic issues.

Dr Sanjaya Baru has been a Professor at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations in New Delhi, and a Member of India’s National Security Advisory Board in the Prime Minister’s Office. He is the author of Strategic Consequences of India’s Economic Performance, which was launched in the UK at the IISS in April 2007, and The Political Economy of Indian Sugar (1990). He has also published extensively on economic and strategic policy in India and abroad.

In this research work, Prof. Prakash with his co-authors (Prof. Chin at University of Houston and Dr. Azam at The World Bank) find that being fluent in English (compared to not speaking any English) increases hourly wages of men by 34%, which is as much as the return to completing secondary school and half as much as the return to completing a Bachelor’s degree. Being able to speak a little English significantly increases male hourly wages 13%. They find considerable heterogeneity in returns to English. More experienced and more educated workers receive higher returns to English. The complementarity between English skills and education appears to have strengthened over time. Only the more educated among young workers earn a premium for English skill, whereas older workers across all education groups do.

Professors Couch and Ross Edit Top 30 Journals

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Two faculty in the department of economics, Kenneth Couch and Stephen Ross, serve as Associate Editors of journals ranked in the top 30 among the combined pool of economics, public policy and finance outlets according to rankings based on this past year’s Social Science Citation Index.  Professor Couch is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (JPAM) which is the association journal for the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM).   JPAM is considered the top journal in the field of public policy and was ranked 29th this past year.  Stephen Ross is Associate Editor of the Journal of Urban Economics.  The Journal of Urban Economics is the top journal for its topical area and was ranked 18th this past year among the combined group of journals.

Thomas Miceli publishes “The Economic Theory of Eminent Domain: Private Property, Public Use”

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Professor Thomas Miceli’s latest book, “The Economic Theory of Eminent Domain: Private Property, Public Use”, has just been published by Cambridge University Press.  A brief description of the contents of the book is as follows:

This book surveys the contributions that economic theory has made to the often contentious debate over the government’s use of its power of eminent domain, as prescribed by the Fifth Amendment. It addresses such questions as: When should the government be allowed to take private property without the owner’s consent? Does it depend on how the land will be used? And what amount of compensation is the landowner entitled to receive (if any)? The recent case of Kelo v. New London (2005) revitalized the debate, but it was only the latest skirmish in the ongoing struggle between advocates of strong governmental powers to acquire private property in the public interest and private property rights advocates. Written for a general audience, the book advances a coherent theory that views eminent domain within the context of the government’s proper role in an economic system whose primary objective is to achieve efficient land use.