Dr. Michele Baggio will be joining the department this Fall as an assistant professor. He graduated with a PhD. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Maryland in 2012. Since 2010 he has worked as a senior researcher and lecturer at the Swiss Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland. He is an environmental and natural resource economist who specializes in studying causes and consequences of ecosystem changes in the context of aquatic ecosystems. Professor Baggio has published articles in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, the Journal of Economics, the Journal of Agriculture Economics, and has several papers under submission. The position he fills is a joint position with the Maritime Studies Program in Avery Point.
Kai Jackie Zhao joins Economics Department
Jackie Zhao will be joining the department this Fall as an assistant professor. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Western Ontario in 2010, and has taught in the Management Program at Western Ontario since that time. He is a macroeconomist who specializes in examining the linkages between the health care market and the macroeconomy. Professor Zhao has published articles in the BE Journal of Macroeconomics and Applied Economic Letters and has several papers under re-submission in the Review of Economic Dynamics and the Journal of Monetary Economics. He won the T. Merritt Brown Thesis Prize for best doctoral dissertation in Economics at Western Ontario and was a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta in December of 2012.
Profs. Alpert and Harmon speak at Dept. of Public Policy’s Speaker Series
Professors William Alpert and Oskar Harmon were invited speakers at the Uconn Department of Public Policy Seminar Series, February 19, 2013.
Since Fall 2011, the Economics Department has been experimenting with instruction in fully online format (no in class meetings), and blended format (combination of online lecture and in-class discussion). In their talk, Professors Alpert and Harmon discussed strategy and course design for online/blended classes with large number of sections, and their working paper “The Effectiveness of Interactive Online Exercises across Delivery Format.” Their paper uses a fixed effects model and reports empirical estimates consistent with the hypothesis that participation in interactive learning exercises has a positive effect on exam score at a statistically significant level.
Econ Alumnus Named Among Top Young Economists
Rangan Gupta, an ’05 PhD graduate under the advisement of Christian Zimmermann, was named one of the top 20 Young Economists (10 years or less) by RePEc. Rangan defended his dissertation titled “Essays on Financial Repression,” in May 2005 and headed to the University of Pretoria, where he is now a full professor.
To view the full rankings, please click here.
Congratulations Rangan!
Jorge Agüero to join Econ Faculty
Jorge Agüero will be joining the department this Fall as assistant professor. A graduate from University of Wisconsin-Madison, he is a development economist with a particular interest in the applied microeconomics of development. Professor Agüero has published several articles in the area of Economic Development, including articles in the Journal of Human Resources, American Economic Review Papers & Proceedings, and Journal of African Economics and has several papers under re-submission in top Development Economics field journals. The position he fills is a joint position with El Instituto: Institute of Latino/a , Caribbean, and Latin American Studies.
Prof. Vicki Knoblauch named to Editorial Board of EB
Professor Vicki Knoblauch has been named an associate editor of the Economics Bulletin, an open access journal that provides extremely rapid scientific communication among research economists by publishing short, peer-reviewed papers using an accelerated review process. She has assumed responsibility for submissions in the area of collective decision making.
Ph.D. Alumnus appointed Egyptian Finance Minister
Economics Ph.D. alumnus Al-Mursi Al-Sayed Hegazy has been named the next Egyptian Finance Minister. Prior to his appointment, Hegazy was a professor at Alexandria University, specializing in Islamic Finance. He was sworn into office on January 6.
Hegazy defended his dissertation titled “The Contribution of Oil to the Economic Development of Kuwait (1962-1981): a Macroeconomic Approach,” under the advisement of Professor William Lott, in January 1985.
Read the UConn Today article about Hegazy here.
Professor Harmon in the Journal of Economic Education
Prof. Oskar Harmon, with his co-author Prof. James Lambrinos (Union Graduate College) had their paper Active Learning Exercises for Principles of Economics Courses” published in the Summer 2012 issue of the Journal of Economic Education (JEE). The JEE is a leading journal in the field of economic education and publishes articles on topics in teaching economics. Prof. Harmon’s article is included in the section of the journal dedicated to innovative electronic technology. In the paper Prof. Harmon and his co-author design a wiki to utilize current events and flash-based tools for instruction of concepts commonly taught in principles of economics courses.
Professors Alpert and Harmon present at AEA
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Professor William Alpert and Professor Oskar Harmon were panel discussants in the session “The Effects of Online Economics Courses on Student Learning” and presented the paper “The Effectiveness of Interactive Online Exercises across Delivery Format”, co-authored with Professor James Lambrinos (Union Graduate College) at the American Economic Association, Annual Meetings, San Diego CA, Jan 3-6, 2013. Their paper evaluates the effectiveness of online activities controlling for delivery format. The data are from a Principles of Microeconomics class taught in three different delivery formats: traditional lecture, fully online (no in class meetings), or blended (combination of online lecture and in-class discussion. Overall the empirical estimates are consistent with the hypothesis that participation in interactive learning exercises has a positive effect on exam score at a statistically significant level. Professors Alpert and Harmon were also panel discussants in the session “The Effects of Online Economics Courses on Student Learning.”
Professor Nishith Prakash awarded Faculty Large Grant
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Professor Nishith Prakash was recently awarded a Faculty Large Grant by the Office of the Vice President for Research for his proposal entitled Affirmative Action, Public Service Delivery and Well-Being in India. Below please find the abstract for this project.
The world’s biggest and arguably most aggressive form of affirmative action policy in employment exists in India, where government jobs are explicitly reserved for historically disadvantaged minority groups. In this research project, we aim to study the impact of employment quotas for “Other Backward Classes” (OBCs) mandated by the Mandal Commission on public service delivery and well-being. The Mandal Commission reserved approximately 27% of government jobs for OBCs. The specific outcomes we examine include implementation of government sponsored schemes, provision of public infrastructure, mobility, and education, health and employment outcomes. We are not aware of any existing study that rigorously quantifies the effects of any aspect of the Mandal Commission.