Summer 2008

Congratulations to Shawn Ni for being named the Middlebush Professor of Economics

Congratulations to Jeff Milyo for being named the Middlebush Professor of the Social Sciences

Spring 2008

MU economics professor Emek Basker was recently awarded a research grant from the MU Research Board to fund her project (with Shawn Klimek of the U.S. Census Bureau and Pham Hoang Van of Baylor University), "Supersize It: The Growth of Retail Chains and the Rise of the 'Big Box' Retail Format." Motivated by observed growth of general merchandise firms and the expansion of the "superstore" format, Basker and coauthors offer a theory for the complementarity between the size of a retail chain and the scope of its business. They use new micro data from the Census of Retail Trade for 1977-2002 to test the model.

MU economics professor Peter Mueser was recently awarded a research grant from the MU Research Board to fund his project (with Colleen Heflin of the Truman School of Public Affairs at MU), "The Impact of Improving Access to Benefits for Low-Income Families on Case Characteristics and Dynamics." The project examines Florida's implementation of an online application process for Food Stamps, TANF, and Medicaid. Mueser and coauthors will analyze how this service delivery tool influenced the size of the program caseload, the distribution of program recipients, and whether certain groups were disadvantaged by this administrative reform.

MU economics professor Xinghe Wang wins the 2008 Director of Graduate Studies Outstanding Contribution Award from the MU Graduate School.

Missouri Economics Conference Garners International Appeal
The eighth annual Missouri Economics Conference (MEC) held March 28-29, 2008 in Columbia and jointly sponsored by the Department of Economics at the University of Missouri and the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis attracted researchers from around the country and around the globe. The conference featured two keynote addresses and 72 presentations on diverse topics in economics, including monetary policy, econometrics, agricultural economics, public policy, education, population, housing, labor, oil prices, and inflation.

The keynote addresses were made by Dr. Kevin Hoover (Duke University), who discussed cross-disciplinary approaches to data-mining and algorithms to detect causality in multivariate models, and by Dr. Robin Sickles (Rice University), who discussed a wide range of econometric issues involved in public policy from papers that will be featured in an upcoming special issue of Journal of Econometrics devoted to the topic.

Out of 72 presenters, 43 came from Missouri and surrounding states. Seven international presenters represented France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Mexico, Turkey, and the UK.

The first MEC was organized in 2001 by Dr. Robert Rasche and Dr. Dan Thornton (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis) and Dr. Joe Haslag (MU Economics). The keynote speakers in 2001 were Dr. Robert Topel (University of Chicago Graduate School of Business) and Dr. William Poole (President of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis).

Information about the eighth MEC and past conferences may be found at http://research.stlouisfed.org/conferences/moconf/.

Assistant Professor of Economics Cory Koedel Wins Top Dissertation Award
Cory Koedel, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Missouri - Columbia, has been awarded the American Educational Research Association, Division L (Education Policy and Politics) Outstanding Dissertation of the Year.  The national award was presented at the organization's annual conference on March 25 in New York City.
His dissertation was completed at the University of California, San Diego in 2007 with support from a Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowship. According to the dissertation award committee chair, the dissertation "provides important new insights into the measurement teacher productivity using value-added modeling."

Michael Podgursky was appointed a member and chair of the 12-member Missouri State Advisory Committee of the US Commission on Civil Rights.  This committee conducts hearings, investigations, and research on behalf of the US Commission.

MU economics professor Jeff Milyo testified before the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. Professor Milyo offered expert witness testimony on illegal voting and the impact of voter IDs on disenfranchisement. (more)

MU economics professor Michael Podgursky and Robert Costrell (University of Arkansas) were awarded a two year grant in the amount of $250,000 by the Smith Richard Foundation. This is to allow them to continue their study of teacher pensions. The grant will also be used to underwrite a national conference on reform of teacher retirement benefit systems. Currently, it is scheduled to be held at Vanderbilt University, Spring 2009.

Undergraduate students awarded Economics Department and College of A&S honors
The Economics Department is proud to recognize the outstanding accomplishments of the following students, who received awards from the Department and the College of Arts & Science during Arts & Science Week 2008. These students are as follows:

front row: left to right;  Myoung lee, Myung-Hwa Park, Andrew Shepler, Ngoc Le, Shawn Sahota, David Mandy

back row: left to right; Patrick Cox, Julie Zick, Ian Smith, Anne Suggs, Gregory Kistner, Alex Schulte

Jeff Milyo's Study Indicates Photo ID Has Little Impact on Voter Turnout
As states attempt to add restraints to illegal voting, Photo ID's have been seen as the answer. Critics allege that this will bring down voter turnout. MU Economist Jeff Milyo conducted a study that concludes otherwise. (more)

Fall 2007

Michael Podgursky Appointed to Education Advisory Board
Economics Professor Michael Podgursky is one of 16 members of Rudy Giuliani’s Education Advisory Board. Podgursky joins Terry Moe, Rod Paige and other distinguished education leaders advising Giuliani. For more information, click here.

MU Economic Researchers Find That Experienced Teachers Reap the Benefits of Pension Spikes, Then Retire
In a forthcoming article in Education Next, Michael Podgursky and Robert M. Costrell (University of Arkansas) have found the structure of many teacher pension plans is the primary reason that many teachers elect to retire in their 50’s, rather than in their 60’s. This, along with increasing requirements for younger teachers, adds to the shortages of qualified experienced teachers, despite there being a high demand for them. Further details can be found here (MU News Bureau) and here (Education Week)(login required).

MU Receives $2.55 Million Gift to Attract Top Economist
The Department of Economics is the recipient of a $2.55 Million Gift to endow the Sam B. Cook Chair in Economics. Along with this endowment is the Sam B. Cook Library Endowment to support the research of the chair in the amount of $50,000. The main focus of the Cook Chair will be the teaching and study of Macroeconomics. The Department of Economics shares Mr. Cook's vision that a solid understanding of macroeconomics is an essential component in development of Missouri's future leaders and are eager to provide this with Mr. Cook's support. The gift from Sam Cook, chairman of Central Bancompany in Jefferson City, is part of the For All We Call Mizzou Campaign. Further details can be found here

What's In Your Future?
Wednesday, October 24th, 2007. Noon to 2:00 PM in the Stotler Lounge, Memorial Union
This is the 4th year for the Department of Economics' Undergraduate Open House for students — not only for economics majors, prospective majors and minors, but also for undecided undergraduate students who want to find out more about economics. There will be roundtables where you can meet the department’s faculty members and graduate students to discuss classes, their research, and potential job opportunities for economics majors. Undergraduate representatives also will offer their perspectives. There will be information about majoring and minoring in economics, double majoring, scholarship opportunities, internships, job searches, law school, graduate schools, research opportunities, the Economics Undergraduate Student Association, and much more. Join us at the Economics Undergraduate Open House for a light lunch, a little knowledge, and a lot of fun! This is a free event. For more information, contact Dianne Delbert

Milyo Promotion
Congratulations to Jeffrey Milyo on his promotion to Full Professor.

Cory Koedel joins faculty
The department is pleased to welcome Cory Koedel who joins the department as Assistant Professor after completing his Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego. His primary field is labor economics with secondary fields in economics of education, public economics, and applied microeconomics. His research includes: “Teacher Quality, the Achievement Gap and Efficiency in Educational Production,” “Evidence of a Positive Effect of Race-Based Matching on Labor Productivity,” “School Choice and Integration,” and “The Effects of Reading Interventions on Student Performance.”

Chao Gu joins faculty
The department is pleased to welcome Chao Gu who joins the department as Assistant Professor after completing her Ph.D. from Cornell University. Her research focuses on macroeconomics and monetary economics, banking, and economic theory. Her current project involves herd behavior in bank runs with flexible contract. Working papers include: “Herding and Bank Runs” and “Asymmetric Information and Bank Runs”.