Professor Mike Shor Co-Authors Textbook

Posted on April 4, 2013October 2, 2015 by

Managerial Economics, a textbook co-authored by Professor Mike Shor, was released Monday for sale. The text is a succinct introductory economics textbook targeted primarily at graduate business students.

The book covers traditional material using a problem-based pedagogy built around common business mistakes. Models are used sparingly, and then only to the extent that they help students figure out why mistakes are made, and how to fix them. This edition’s succinct, fast-paced presentation and challenging, interactive applications place students in the role of a decision maker who has to not only identify profitable decisions, but also implement them. The lively book provides an excellent ongoing reference for students pursuing business careers.

Grad students who have had Professor Shor for core Micro Theory may be surprised by the shortage of equations.

Click here to purchase the text from Amazon.

Prof. Alpert presents to The Society of Economic Educators

Posted on March 15, 2013October 2, 2015 by

Professor William Alpert presented by invitation a paper entitled, “The Alpha of A Survey of The Literature In Economic And Financial Literacy,” with Professor Oskar R. Harmon to The Society of Economic Educators. The Society is an elected professional group of economic educators (limited to 30 members who are selected by election). Professor Alpert has served the society as program chair (president elect), President and Past President and has been a member for more than a decade.

Michele Baggio to join the Department

Posted on March 15, 2013 by

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

Posted on March 6, 2013 by

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

Posted on February 25, 2013October 2, 2015 by

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

Posted on February 20, 2013 by

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

Posted on February 14, 2013 by

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

Posted on February 4, 2013October 2, 2015 by

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

Posted on January 16, 2013 by

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

Posted on January 14, 2013 by

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.

Here is the link to the article at the publisher’s website.