Economics research was well represented at the Spring Research Day on Tuesday May 6th. This event was hosted by the Office of Undergraduate Research and offered over 150 Mizzou undergraduate students the opportunity to give poster presentations about their undergraduate research projects. There were 35 students from Dr. Sarah Parson’s Introduction to Applied Econometric Practice (Econ 3271) course that presented empirical research on wide ranging topics including examining the determinants of income, explaining poor sleeping habits, and estimating housing values. An additional 17 students were unable to attend Research Day, but also presented posters of their empirical research projects in class.

Eric Kvam presented results from his Honors Thesis, “Does Local Exposure to Air Pollution Affect Bipartisan Voting Behavior.” Working with Dr. Alyssa Carlson, he has spent the last semester collecting annual county level air quality data and election outcomes and applying econometric panel data methods to analyze the relationship. He finds a statistically significant, but not economically large effect of poorer air quality on the percentage of democratic vote share.