Economics

by Doug Pearce, Department Head

Thursday, Dec 04, 2008

The Economics Department has seen a lot of changes in the last few years, particularly in our faculty lineup. Four of our faculty members have retired recently - David Ball, Ed Erickson, David Flath, and Duncan Holthausen - and Alastair Hall has moved to a new position with the University of Manchester.

We have been fortunate to attract several new faculty members:

Denis Pelletier (Ph.D. Montreal) in econometrics
Asli Leblebicioglu (Ph.D. Boston College) in macroeconomics
Pablo Guerron (Ph.D. Northwestern) in macroeconomics
Robert Hammond (Ph.D. Vanderbilt) and Thayer Morrill (Ph.D. Maryland) in microeconomics
Melinda Sandler Morrill (Ph.D. Maryland) in labor economics.

Together, they give us a strong group of young scholars. In addition, Mehmet Caner (Ph.D. Brown) joined us as a tenured associate professor in econometrics in 2007. Also, Tamah Morant (Ph.D. UNC), who had been assistant director of our graduate programs while completing her doctoral studies, is now the director of graduate programs, and Bobby Puryear (D.B.A. Sarasota), is the director of the college’s undergraduate economics program.

We have also introduced changes to the economics curriculum.

At the undergraduate level, we now have a concentration in business economics in the bachelor of science in economics program. This concentration emphasizes the applicability of economic tools to business issues and includes new courses in forecasting and business strategy.

At the graduate level, we launched a field in financial economics that will be jointly offered by faculty in the College of Management’s economics and business management departments. This field features courses in asset pricing and corporate finance.

Also at the graduate level, we are taking steps to create a new master of economics with concentrations in agricultural economics and standard economics, replacing the Master of Arts and Master of Science in Economics degrees. Our plans are to have this change in place for fall 2009.

On the research front, a highlight of the last year was a conference on “Tournaments, Contests and Relative Performance Evaluation,” hosted by the economics department in Nelson Hall. Organized by Prof. Fanis Tsoulouhas, with help from professors Chuck Knoeber and Wally Thurman, the conference attracted scholars from around the world. Ed Lazear, head of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, gave the keynote address.

Also in November, in response to student requests, Bobby Puryear worked with the SPEL (Society, Politics, Economics and Law) student group to present a panel discussion on the current economic crisis, with professors Lee Craig, John Lapp joining me for a discussion that drew about 40 students from across campus. The global economic situation has also resulted in a number of calls from journalists – from as global as the Al Jazeer television network to the more local Cary, N.C., News – who have interviewed a number of our faculty for stories on today’s global economy.

Looking ahead, Prof. Steve Margolis is preparing for the spring 2009 Pope Lecture, which will be hosted by the economics department. This is the fourth year for the lecture series which was funded by a grant from the John W. Pope Foundation. If you would like to be added to our mailing list for this event, please contact the college’s Anna Rzewnicki, the college’s director of communications.

The economics department is also beginning to lay plans for a BB&T Center for the Study of Free Markets and Institutions, supported by a $2 million gift from the BB&T Charitable Foundation. This gift will endow a BB&T Professorship of Free Markets and Institutions and a BB&T Graduate Fellowship in the Department of Economics. It also will support research and the development of new undergraduate and graduate courses in the philosophical foundations of capitalism. The first of these courses, A Closer Look at Capitalism, was taught by Prof. Craig Newark this semester. By the way, Craig continues to post helpful resources and commentary on his blog, Newmark’s Door.

Regards,
Doug Pearce, Head
Department of Economics