Fall 2009

Consortium Will Test Ways to Improve Education

Michael Podgursky, professor of economics, along with researchers from five universities in Kansas and Missouri, is working with school districts in the Kansas City area to create an education research laboratory. The Kansas City Area Education Research Consortium will help the districts analyze their own data and data collected by the respective state agencies.  Billions of dollars are going toward the country’s education system — the consortium will help ensure those dollars are fueling successful practices.

“School districts, even the larger ones, generally lack the resources to conduct in-depth analysis of their own data,” says Podgursky. “Nor do they have the capacity to develop external benchmark or ‘control group’ data.  The goal of the consortium is to provide this capacity.”

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has invested almost $1 million in grants and has committed five years to fund this center and help launch the effort. There are other potential sources of funding which include the Institute on Education Sciences of the United States Department of Education.

The consortium will tackle many issues: tracking students across state and district lines, charting where teachers were trained and how this affects their performance, and measuring the effectiveness of professional development. The researchers could also look deeper into the effects of school choice and Kansas City’s charter schools.

The aim of the consortium is to improve the education of K-12 students. “Ultimately, the goal is to use data to improve the performance of schools and student learning,” says Podgursky. “The way to do this is to move money and resources away from activities that are less effective and toward those that are more effective.”

 

The Department of Economics has two Faculty Positions open.

E0 Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics

The Department of Economics seeks applications and nominations for the Sam B. Cook Chair in Economics.  This is a fully endowed chair in macroeconomics, broadly defined. Substantial scholarly achievements and a commitment to teaching excellence at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, consistent with appointment at the endowed full professor level, are required.  Applications should include a cover letter and vita.  Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. 

CONTACT: Recruiting Chair, Sam B. Cook Chair in Economics, University of Missouri, Department of Economics, 118 Professional Building, Columbia, MO  65211-6040. 

 

AF  Any Field

The Department of Economics seeks to fill one tenure-track position at the assistant professor level.  Outstanding candidates in all fields will be considered although we have some preference for applied topics.  New Ph.D.s and junior assistant professors are encouraged to apply.  Assistant professors are expected to provide competent teaching and show potential for producing high-quality research.  A Ph.D. at appointment is preferred.

Candidates will be interviewed at the ASSA meetings in Atlanta.  For fullest consideration, complete applications should be received by November 30, 2009.

TO APPLY, send a vita and at least one research paper, and arrange for at least three letters of reference to be sent to: Recruiting Committee, Department of Economics, 118 Professional Building, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211.  Questions about the application process can be directed to JoAnn Kunza at 573-882-4574. 

The University of Missouri is an EO/AA/ADA employer.

Beryl W. Sprinkel, BS, BA ’47, a high-ranking economic adviser in the Reagan administration, died Aug. 22 in Beecher, Ill. He had Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome, a rare neuromuscular disease. He was 85.
When Sprinkel began his freshman year at MU, his goals were to study music and become a band director, the Chicago Tribune reported. Instead, he was motivated by an influential economics professor and earned his bachelor’s degree in that field. He received his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Chicago.
Sprinkel worked at Harris Bank in Chicago for 29 years reaching the level of executive vice president before he moved to Washington, D.C., in 1981. It was at this time that he joined the Reagan administration as undersecretary for monetary affairs in the Treasury Department. In this position, his duties included defending the dollar’s value, managing the national debt, and working with the Federal Reserve on interest rates and money supply. At the time of his appointment, Sprinkel said, “One of my goals is to get his inflation under control. We have a public mandate to get the economy turned around.”
Sprinkel was a monetarist. This theory holds that economic variations within a given system, such as changing rates of inflation, are most often caused by an increase or a decrease in the money supply.  He believed that decreasing the money supply’s growth rate would be anti-inflationary.  It was reported that during his tenure, these views often put him at odds with the Reagan administration’s advocates of supply-side economics, a belief that tax cuts would lead to widespread financial prosperity. He often criticized the Federal Reserve for a “too expansive and much too volatile” money supply.   In 1985, Reagan named him as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.
After stepping down from the council, he returned to Chicago as a consultant. Robert Genetski, an economist who worked with Sprinkel in Chicago, says his mentor saw history repeating itself during the past couple of years. Genetski recalled Sprinkel saying, “These guys are setting us up for another financial crisis, there’s not enough liquidity in the system.”
Genetski said when he joined Harris Bank that Sprinkel had a reputation as a demanding boss. “I soon found that his only demand was that all research be thorough and that it be conducted in an open and honest manner.”
When Sprinkel was not thinking or consulting about economics, he was indulging in his love of music by singing and playing guitar. Books he wrote include: Money and Stock Prices and Money and Markets: A Monetarist View.
Sprinkel is survived by his third wife, Lory Reed Sprinkel; a son from his first marriage, Kevin Sprinkel of Chester Springs, Pa; two stepchildren, Janet Reed of Highland Park, Ill., and David Reed of Western Springs, Ill; and 10 grandchildren.

Economics Department to Host Annual Undergraduate Open House
 
Where: Economics Department, 129 Professional Building
 
When: Wednesday, September 16th – Thursday, September 17th, 9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
 
Stop by the Economics Department during our 2009 Open House. Learn more about:
 

• pursuing a major or minor in economics
• economics as a pre-law or pre-med degree
• preparing for the job market or graduate school
• undergraduate research and teaching opportunities
• internships and career opportunities

 
Enter a drawing for prizes.  Refreshments provided. More Details here.

Summer 2009

Michael Podgursky, professor in the Department of Economics; Shawn Ni, Middlebush Professor of Economics; and Cory Koedel, assistant professor, have secured two additional grants to assist in research using  longitudinal data on Missouri students and teachers. The first study, Retiring Productive Human Capital: Estimating the Effect of Teacher Retirement Benefit System Incentives on Workforce and Student Achievement, will examine the effect of the teacher pension system on schools and their performance.
“Incentives built into teacher pension systems allow retirement at early ages, but not all teachers take these retirement options,” says Podgursky. “We plan to examine whether more effective teachers are more likely to retire early, and the consequences for school performance of early retirements.”
The competitive grant is funded by the Institute on Education Science of the U.S. Department of Education through the Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER). The grant funds two years and is in an amount of over $400,000.    
In another study led by Podgursky, the researchers will examine the effects of investments in teacher training on student achievement. They will look at what types of teacher preparation and professional development are most effective in raising student achievement. This grant funds three years of research and is in the amount of $480,117.
This grant is also funded by the Institute on Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education and the economists will partner with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to develop and analyze a student and teacher level longitudinal database.
“One important goal of this research is to develop econometric models to identify factors affecting teacher and school productivity,” says Podgursky.

 

 

Improving the country’s educational system is a popular topic. The growing interest of politicians in performance-pay plans for teachers has resulted in the scrutiny of value-added assessments — methods for measuring the competency of schools and teachers. New research on the effectiveness of these measures was debated in a recent article of Education Week in which one of MU’s professors defends the methods but suggests some modifications.    

In the value-added model, teachers are measured by evaluating the gains that their students make on standardized tests over the course of a school year. Some researchers say this is a fair way of rewarding teachers whose students improve by objectively measuring the learning gains students make from fall to spring. A Quarterly Journal of Economics study by Jesse Rothstein, a Princeton University economist, suggests that value-added models may not produce accurate results. Rothstein’s main concern is that students are not randomly assigned to classrooms. Instead, they may have been sorted based on their prior achievements, which could result in erroneous measures of teacher value added.

Cory R. Koedel, assistant professor of economics at MU, along with his research partner, Julian R. Betts of the University of California, San Diego, found that the student assignment bias that Rothstein cites could be transitory.

In the article “Studies Probe ‘Value-Added’ Measures” in Education Week, Koedel said, “Some years you get along with your class better than others.”

In a paper that is being revised for publication in the journal of Education Finance and Policy, Koedel and Betts found that researchers can lessen the effects of student-sorting bias by incorporating more years of data from teachers’ classes in the calculations.

In their study, Koedel and Betts replicated Rothstein’s techniques with data from San Diego public schools between academic years 1998–1999 and 2001–2002. While they found similar signs of bias with one year of test scores, the size of the effect was reduced by including additional years of data.   

"Rothstein shows that the value-added methodology is not a panacea for measuring teacher effectiveness.  While our paper corroborates this general finding, it also shows that value-added may perform better than is suggested in his study.  In terms of informing policy, our key result is that teacher evaluations that span multiple years are significantly more reliable than evaluations based on a single year of data.  In some cases, evaluating teachers over multiple years smoothes out estimation bias to the point where it has, at best, a negligible effect on value-added estimates.  When negligible bias can be confirmed in the data, value-added modeling can provide valuable insights about teaching effectiveness," says Koedel.

Koedel says he wouldn’t characterize the value-added debate as having proponents and opponents. “To me, I think we are all interested in the same thing, which is improving education.  In the case of value-added, we just want to do it right.”

To read the Education Week article in its entirety, click http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/07/01/36valueadd.h28.html?tkn=XLL

 

 

The Missouri P-20 Center for Education Policy Research hosted a conference recently to discuss data tracking of students from preschool through college. The conference, the first of its kind in the state, was attended by about 100 legislators, researchers, and educators. 

The Center is a campuswide collaboration dedicated to rigorous research on student learning and educational policy. Its goal is to promote the use of data to answer questions that are applicable to educational decisions in Missouri and beyond. In fact, the research from this program will likely affect the upcoming revision of the No Child Left Behind Act.
“Few factors are more important to long-term economic growth than education,” says Middlebush Professor of Economics Shawn Ni, whose main focus for this project is the econometric analysis of data of teachers’ effects on student performance and on factors that affect teacher turnovers.

The program, while housed in the Truman School of Public Affairs, has four key researchers from the Department of Economics: Professor Michael Podgursky, Research Analyst Mark Ehlert, Assistant Professor Cory Koedel, and Ni.

“To make an education system efficient, the right incentives for teachers must be in place,” says Ni. “Our research objective is to analyze how teachers respond to incentives and offer policy recommendations based on the analysis.”

“The emerging research collected through the program could establish Missouri as a national leader in longitudinal data, meaning data taken over a period of time,” says Podgursky.
The data is collected during a time period spanning a student’s early childhood through completion of his or her higher education. Without longitudinal data, researchers are unable to determine how to effectively spend education funding and which education interventions improve student outcomes and which do not.

“This data can be used to identify effective schools and teachers, which we must do if we ultimately want to determine what makes them effective, and replicate their success elsewhere,” says Koedel.

The conference, held in Reynolds Alumni Center, was broken into four sections: preschool education, elementary and secondary education, higher education, and the use of Missouri data to improve educational outcomes. Three major areas of national activity in educational policy that affect research are the choice of school, test-based accountability systems, and performance incentives. Through these areas, the program hopes to utilize the longitudinal data to not only track students but also teacher performance.

A federal grant will provide funding to use Missouri’s longitudinal data system to identify effective teacher-training programs.

By Laura Lindsey

Spring 2009

Michael Podgursky, professor in the Department of Economics, was mentioned this week in the publication, Education Week. The article “Pensions Blamed for Costing Schools New Talent”, cited that the current teacher pension systems are geared toward teachers that spend decades in the profession, regardless of their worth. Consequently, critics of the current plans say this is at the expense of teachers that are unable to commit to decade long careers; therefore, recruiting quality teachers can be challenging.

Podgursky, along with Robert M. Costrell, an economist at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, analyzed the current plan at a conference sponsored by the National Center on Performance Incentives. At the conference in February, Podgursky stated that “about half an entering cohort of teachers’ net pension wealth is redistributed from those who separate from the system early to veteran who reach early retirement.”

The alternate option presented by Podgursky is called a “cash-balance plan.” This plan would guarantee a specific rate of return based on the contributions of teachers and districts. Therefore, the net pension wealth would grow predictably over time. This plan would eradicate the calculation of benefits based on a teacher’s length of service and would allow new teachers a much better pension plan. In doing so, teachers’ decisions to stay or leave would be better tied to performance and effectiveness and would help with recruiting new quality teachers.

Podgursky will expand his research on this topic to the Illinois and Indiana teacher pension systems. He has received notification from the Joyce Foundation that an 18-month grant has been awarded to him to analyze how the pension systems impact the recruitment and retention of a high-quality teaching workforce. Similar to his previous research, Podgursky’s goal is to understand whether the Indiana and Illinois educator retirement benefit systems are an aid or a hindrance in recruiting and retaining a high-quality teaching workforce and whether reform of the systems could help them work better.

Anthony Dubis, a sophomore majoring in economics, has a fun and interesting summer planned. He won’t be relaxing at the beach or backpacking in Europe, but instead will be laying the foundation for his future career. Dubis has been selected to participate in the Undergraduate Research Mentor (URM) Program, which is funded by the College of Arts and Science and the Provost and administered by a faculty committee. The URM program is an opportunity for rising juniors to cooperate actively with faculty mentors, learning firsthand about the natural integration of research and teaching.

This summer, Dubis and his mentor, Ron Harstad, J. Rhoads Foster Professor in the Department of Economics , will use laboratory economics to simulate markets where they can observe and measure efficiency. They will analyze after-markets and re-sales to see if efficiencies occur and how market settings can be altered to improve the welfare of society.

Myoung Lee, assistant teaching professor in the Department of Economics, encouraged Dubis to apply to the program.

“I thought that it would offer an experience that I would not be able to find anywhere else,” says Dubis.

The URM program combines two of MU’s chief missions: research/creative achievement and teaching as it seeks to enrich the undergraduate career of the brightest and most promising students.
“This summer’s work is going to allow me to experience what it is like to be a real researcher of economics,” says Dubis. “This experience will teach me numerous skills and tools that I will be able to build on as a student and take with me in pursuit of a career. It is an opportunity that very few have and I am truly grateful for it.”

To learn more about the URM program, visit the website http://coas.missouri.edu/urmp.html.   

An article in the April 7, 2009 issue of The New York Times was written about the possibility of a teacher shortage. According to the article, more than a third of the nation’s teachers could retire which could deprive the classroom of veteran teachers while straining taxpayer-financed retirement systems. To prevent this, a report says that schools should be restructured and retirement plans modified to allow veteran teachers to continue working to mentor new teachers.

Michael Podgursky, professor of economics, is quoted in the article as saying the problem may be overstated. The recession may relieve the shortages because of the profession’s stability and health benefits which would be attractive to new college graduates.    

“Still, the authors make a credible case that the number of teachers who retire will rise in coming years,” Podgursky says, “and it makes a good deal of sense to develop phased retirement systems that permit retired or semiretired teachers to mentor new teachers.”
Podgursky has published numerous articles and reports on education policy and teacher quality, and co-authored a book, Teacher Pay and Teacher Quality. The primary focus of his recent work has been on personnel policy in schools and the effects on teacher quality. Podgursky is the lead investigator on several research contracts on teacher compensation funded by the U.S. Department of Education and private foundations.

To view The New York Times article, click this link:  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/education/07teacher.html?ref=us      

Five economics students were recognized at the scholarship reception on February 17 during Arts and Science week.

Pictured left to right:  Myoung Lee, Alex Schulte, Yiming Zhang, Zachary Smith, Andrew Shepler, Anthony Dubis, Linda Dyer.

The John Charles Willett Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Zachary Smith, a junior business administration major with an emphasis in economics. This scholarship is named for John Charles Willett, a 1995 graduate of the University of Missouri, who died in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. 
“As a pre-law student, I have great anxiety over undertaking the thousands of dollars of loans I will need to finance my legal education,” says Smith. “This scholarship helped me put aside some money that I would have had to spend on my undergraduate education for law school. I am greatly honored to have been recognized for my academic achievements and plan on succeeding similarly in my future economics courses.” 

Alex Schulte, junior, and Andrew Shepler, senior, were honored with the Clay J. Anderson, Jr. Memorial Scholarship. In memory of their son who graduated from MU in 1950, Clay J. and Oma C. Anderson established this scholarship to benefit economics majors. Recipients must be ranked in the upper one-third of their classes and should demonstrate financial need. 

“I’m honored to be selected for a scholarship from the economics department because of all of the high quality candidates in the department,” says Shepler.  “The economics department has been a great asset for me at the university.”

The David J. Loschky Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Anthony Dubis, sophomore.  Friends and former students of Professor Loschky established this scholarship to honor his far-reaching contributions to the university, the Department of Economics, his undergraduate and graduate students, and to the economics profession.
“This scholarship was important to me because it served as a reminder that hard work is rewarded,” says Dubis. “Getting an email saying that you were selected to receive an award based on your dedication and performance really renewed my spirit and pushed me to keep going.”

Yiming Zhang, a junior economics student was honored with The Elmer Wood Scholarship Fund in Economics. Recipients of the scholarship are juniors and seniors who have demonstrated excellence in their economics studies, while maintaining a high-level of academic performance. This scholarship honors Elmer Wood (BA ’16) who served as a professor of economics at MU from 1930 until his retirement in 1964. Wood specialized in the field of monetary theory and became one of the nation’s leading authorities.   

The Economic & Policy Analysis Research Center (EPARC) has completely updated the 2007 Missouri Historical Tax Summary for the years 1970-2007. This annual report is a conglomeration of tax data from multiple sources concering the State of Missouri over time. The report can be viewed at the EPARC web site by clicking here.

Harsha de Silva (PhD '93) is currently the head economist for LIRNEasia, a telecommunication research organization in Pacific Asia. He has studied the effects of using modern communication technology to boost agricultural production in Sri Lanka. He also hosts a weekly TV show explaining business and economics issues to a wide audience. To learn more about Harsha de Silva, see a profile of him from the International Development Research Center web site.

MU economics professors Emek Basker and Jeff Milyo were recently awarded research grants from the MU Arts and Sciences Alumni Organization

Professor Basker received the grant for her project, "Competitive Side Effects of Wal-Mart's $4 Prescription Drug Plan." The grant will pay for research assistance from MU undergraduates, who will help Basker estimate the extent to which the reduced prescription drug prices introduced by Wal-Mart, Kmart, and Target in 2006 and 2007 (and since expanded) have affected prices other pharmacies charge for these drugs.

Professor Milyo received his grant to investigate the efficacy of campaign finance reform in Missouri. Milyo will use the grant to hire an undergraduate research assistant this summer and they will issue a policy report at the end of the summer.

Social Consequences of first names: A Time Magazine Website article by John Cloud discussing recent work linking having an unpopular or racially distinctive first name to tendency to commit crimes cites work by MU Economics Professor Saku Aura.  Aura's research (joint work with Gregory Hess, Claremont McKenna College) pointed out that a racially distinctive name could benefit a member of a racial minority by providing a sense of self as identified member of a group and this identity benefit could balance some of the negative (discrimination based) effects such a name for measured life outcomes (like tendency to commit crimes).

Aura Working Paper http://web.missouri.edu/%7Eauras/names.pdf

Fall 2008

 

In a story by John Stossel discussing the unintended consequences of the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance reform legislation, ABC's 20/20 turned to one of our own experts, Professor Jeff Milyo. At the request of 20/20 Milyo replicated one of his experiments testing how difficult it actually is to file the required Campaign Finance Forms for a layman. In a sample of 38, ranging from College Students to Adults, not a single individual could file the forms correctly. This has significant implications: The ABC story points out how this complexity could be a significant barrier to political participation because incorrectly filled forms or forms that are filed late can lead to significant monetary penalties and complex litigation. In his academic research Professor Milyo has run the same experiment using campaign finance forms from different states. With his total sample of over 200 test subjects Milyo has yet to witness a correctly filed form: All of them have had mistakes in them.

Link to ABC's story and the video of the story

Professor Milyo is one of the leading economic experts on the topic of Campaign Finance Reform. You can find his related work from his webpage

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:

Name	A&S Scholarships	Major(s)
Gregory Kistner	Willis V. Shepard Memorial	Economics, Finance
Ngoc Le	Willis V. Shepard Memorial	Economics & Accounting
Myung Hwa Park	Thomas B. Harris	Economics & Journalism
Gabrielle Roman	William Kemp, Ruth Earline Taylor Allen, Ralph K. & Maxine J. Hibbs (combo)	Bio Sci & Economics
Shawn Sahota	Thomas T. Strange, Ralph K. & Maxine J. Hibbs, A&S Quadrangle Award (combo)	Bio Sci & Economics
Alex Schulte	Forty-Niner	Economics
Andrew Shepler	Willis V. Shepard Memorial & Forty-Niner (combo)	Economics, Journalism

Name	Economics Scholarship	Major(s)
Patrick Cox	David J. Loschky	Economics & Law
Gregory Kistner	John Charles Willett Memorial	Economics, Finance
Ngoc Le	John Charles Willett Memorial	Economics & Accounting
Myung-Hwa Park	Clay J. Anderson	Economics & Journalism
Grant Quigley	David J. Loschky	Economics & French
Shawn Sahota	Clay J. Anderson	Bio Sci & Economics
Alex Schulte	Clay J. Anderson	Economics
Andrew Shepler	Clay J. Anderson	Economics, Journalism
Ian C. Smith	Allen & Barbara Soshnick Memorial	Economics
Ann Suggs	Elmer Wood Memorial	Economics & Psychology
Julie Zick	David J. Loschky	Economics

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!

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”.