PhD graduate Lei Chen published an article in the Hartford Courant outlining Connecticut’s benefits to the manufacturing industry.
Professor Randolph featured on UConn Today
Professor Randolph is featured in an article on the homepage of UConn Today. You can read more about her work evaluating economic and human rights here.
Paramita Dhar defends, heads to CCSU
On 17th June, 2011, Paramita Dhar defended her dissertation entitled “Essays on the Economics of Housing” under the supervision of Prof. Stephen L. Ross. Paramita’s dissertation examined two different questions about housing and location choice. In her first essay, she analyzed the impact of school quality on property values using a differences-in-differences strategy. In the other two essays of her dissertation, she focused on the issue of discrimination against minority homebuyers that might lead to the segregation of neighborhoods. In both of these essays she used fair housing audit data from the 2000 Housing Discrimination Study on three large minority groups in Los Angeles to examine the causes of spatial variation of the nature of discrimination.
This fall, Paramita will be heading to Central Connecticut State University as a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Economics.
Catalina Granda-Carvajal defends, heads to Universidad de Antioquia
On June 21, 2011, Catalina Granda-Carvajal defended her dissertation, “Essays on the Macroeconomic Effects of the Unofficial Sector.” Under the valuable supervision and support of her advisor, Prof. Christian Zimmermann, Catalina’s thesis focuses on how the unofficial sector and its intrinsic characteristics are related to aggregate fluctuations. At an empirical level, she determines how business cycle stylized facts vary across countries with the extent of the shadow economy and compares the resulting patterns with predictions from existing models featuring underground activities. Also, she incorporates an irregular sector into a real business cycle model to challenge the notion that fluctuations in the official and unofficial sectors are negatively correlated. Using a similar theoretical framework, she finally addresses how informal firms’ limited access to credit affects macroeconomic and firm volatility.
Pieces of Catalina’s dissertation have been presented in a couple of international conferences and a section was selected for publication at the International Economic Journal last December. In addition to her thesis, she has taken part in an interdisciplinary project on options for brownfields revitalization in Connecticut under the supervision of Prof. Kathleen Segerson. She currently holds a tenure-track position at Universidad de Antioquia in Medellín (Colombia).
Ken Couch gives talks at NSF, Econometric Society, and Fed Conferences
Ken Couch, an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics has been busy this summer with research presentations. During May, he presented a paper at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco regarding economic outcomes of divorce. In June, Ken made a presentation at the Econometric Society Summer Meetings in St. Louis, MO of a paper co-authored with a recent UConn Ph.D., Tao Chen. That paper examines the ability of econometricians to recover the results of a social experiment when random data are not available. In June, Ken also made a presentation at a National Science Foundation conference in Fairfax Virginia on the use of interoperable administrative data for administrative and research purposes.
Professor Randolph on SERF index committee
Professor Susan Randolph and a small group of scholars worked together to create a new SERF index to measure human rights, which has recently generated media coverage. For more information, please see: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/Change-Agent/2011/0606/A-new-way-to-measure-human-rights-may-revolutionize-global-advocacy . The new index is expected to be used internationally as a barometer for measuring social and economic rights within a country.
Professor Ross contributes to JPAM Point/Counterpoint on the Foreclosure Crisis
In the spring issue of the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Professor Ross takes issue with the conventional wisdom that the foreclosure crisis has been driven by weak underwriting standards and risky mortgage products in the subprime market. Professor Ross argues that the primary cause of the foreclosure crisis was the significant erosion of housing equity among U.S. homeowners in the period leading up to the crisis, which exposed large numbers of homeowners to significant risk of negative equity from even small to moderate declines in housing prices. For example, he notes that in early 2007 well before the financial crisis stuck foreclosure began to rise in all segments of the mortgage market, not just in the subprime sector. The timing of this increase immediately follows declines in housing prices that began in the fourth quarter of 2006 and those foreclosures were overwhelming among households that had little equity in the home prior to those declines, regardless of their particular lender or mortgage product. In light of this evidence, Professor Ross and his coauthors argue the most important policy response for preventing a future foreclosure crisis is to monitor and develop tools for managing aggregate homeowner leverage in the U.S. housing market. This issue has been notably absent from the debate during and following the passage of the recent financial regulatory reform law. Professor Couch edits the Point/Counterpoint series.
For more information, please see the following website: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pam.v30.2/issuetoc
Professor Couch Renews Research Contract with Social Security Administration
Prof. Kenneth Couch has renewed his annual research contract with the Social Security Administration to conduct joint studies on Unexpected Lifecycle Events. This work focuses on a variety of unexpected lifecycle events on short and long-term economic well being. One line of research considers the impact of recessions on short and long-term economic well being along with preparedness for retirement. Other topics, such as the impact of changes in family structure on economic well-being and preparedness for retirement, are also being examined as part of the research. The contract allows Professor Couch to travel to Washington, DC regularly to work with researchers within the Social Security Administration on these projects.
CCEA provides economic analysis that justifies massive state investment in UConn Health Center & Dempsey Hospital
On Tuesday, May 17, 2011, in the atrium of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine/Dentistry, Governor Malloy announced a $900 million investment to transform the Schools into an international leader in biomedical research, an investment that will generate more than nearly 3,000 construction jobs in the near term and 16,000 new jobs by 2037. Critically, the investment will generate sustained economic growth that delivers so much net new tax revenue to the state that the bonding is entirely self-financing–with a large revenue bonus for the state. The Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis provided the dynamic (REMI) economic analysis on with the Governor relied. Prof. Fred Carstensen, Director of CCEA, attended the event and provided both electronic and print media backup explanations of the details on the economic analysis. The Center currently employs three department graduate students and two more are participating in its summer work.
CCEA releases new OUTLOOK
Today (Friday, May 20) the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis released its quarterly OUTLOOK, a forecast of Connecticut’s output and employment for the next ten quarters. “Bucking Stiff Headwinds” is modestly more optimistic, but notes the array of downside risks for the state’s economy, everything from the ending of $6.3 billion in stimulus over the last two years to the anemic national recovery, European sovereign debt turmoil, and the difficulty of capturing jobs in the face of a globalized economy.
The CCEA Outllook: Bucking Stiff Headwinds, is available at http://ccea.uconn.edu/forecasts/CTOutlook_2011May.pdf
CCEA is directed by Prof. Fred Carstensen, and currently engages five graduate students in its studies.