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Department
of Economics1
at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies
The Department of Economics faculty is very active in the Centers and Programs of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. In addition to the entries in those sections, and to publications listed in "Papers, Books and Chapters: Published or Forthcoming," various other projects of economics department faculty are listed below. Academic programs are described in the Academic Assistance section. James Alm is Chair of the Department of Economics.
In This Page:
Programs
Iowa Electronic Market (IEM). In this real time and real money electronic futures market, designed specifically as a teaching and research tool, students use real money accounts to trade contracts with payoffs based upon real-world events, such as political outcomes, companies' earnings per share, and stock price returns. This allows students to participate directly in a market instead of simply reading and talking about them. Now in its fourth year of use, GTAs use the IEM in their principles of microeconomics and macroeconomics courses. The AYSPS staffs this 10-computer lab with graduate teaching assistants.
Graduate Teaching Assistant Training Program. The program was created in 2000 and is designed to help GTAs in Economics perform well in the classrooms. During 2001, several GTAs video-taped some portions of their lectures. These video-taped lectures were then analyzed by Dr. Harry Dangel together with GTAs to identify areas for improvement. The responses from GTAs who participated the program were very positive. Yongsheng Xu manages the GTA training program.
Faculty Recruitment. The Department of Economics completed one successful search in 2001, in the area of environmental and resource economics. The recruiting committee reviewed numerous applications and interviewed several candidates for this position, and the Department was delighted to complete the search by hiring Ms. Ragan Petrie, who will receive her doctorate this year, joint in Economics and in Agricultural and Applied Economics, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Department is also participating in a joint search between the AYSPS and the College of Education for the Dan Sweat Distinguished Scholar Chair in Education Policy.
Projects
Accountability and Health Safety – A Statewide Approach. Melinda
Pitts (with Jeff Etchason). Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality,
September 27, 2001-August 31, 2004. ($5,546,899)
The Determinants and Consequences of Child Care Subsidies for Low Income Mothers. Erdal Tekin (with David Blau). Joint Center for Poverty Research, Northwestern University/University of Chicago, February 2001. ($10,000)
An Evaluation of Medicaid Infant and Prenatal Care Programs. M. Melinda Pitts and Mary Beth Walker. Department of Medical Assistance, State of Georgia. (2000 - 2002, $50,000)
Frontage and Area Land Taxes. Geoffrey Turnbull (with Peter Colwell, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana) Lincoln Institute for Land Policy. ($10,000)
Georgia Administrative Data Project. Julie Hotchkiss. This grant involves the acquisition and maintenance of data files obtained through on-going contracts with the GA Department of Human Resources and the GA Department of Labor. 2001 saw seven requests for data from researchers inside Georgia State University and six requests by researchers outside GSU. A good-will activity involved the calculation of numbers needed by the GA Department of Human Resources for their quarterly High Performance Report to the Federal Government.
Intergovernmental Personnel Agreement for Research and Consultation. Paul G. Farnham. Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, May 2001 - May 2002. ($39,044)
The Responses of Single Mothers to Welfare and Child Care Subsidy Programs under the New Welfare Reform Act. Erdal Tekin. Child Care Research Scholars Grant, Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services, October 2000-October 2001. ($40,000)
Welfare-to-Work. Julie L. Hotchkiss. University of Baltimore and
the U.S. Department of Labor. ($50,000) Grant from the U.S. Department
of Labor for project entitled "Welfare-to-Work Transition."
with Julie Hotchkiss, administered by the Fiscal Research Program, AYSPS
(List under Hotchkiss).
Shif Gurmu assisted.
Research Team Grant. Ben Scafidi and Shiferaw Gurmu. ($15,000)
Undergraduate Research Experiences in Economics. James Alm. National Science Foundation, accepted to begin in 2002. (3-years, approx. $60,000 per year)
Under Review
Monetary Credibility in a Transforming Economy. Neven Valev. National Science Foundation. The grant would extend for three years a currency board project underway since 1997. ($73,340, under review)
Adequacy of Medicare Risk Adjustment System under a Pharmaceutical Benefit: an Exploratory Study. Jay Bae. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Service. ($150,000, under review)
Work Schedules and the Incidence of Medical Errors. Julie Hotchkiss. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), revise and resubmit.
Visitors and Presentations
Applied Econometrics Workshop:
| March 2 | James P. Ziliak (University of Oregon,
Visiting University of Wisconsin-Madison ) "Welfare Reform and Household Saving" |
|
| March 23 | Jonathan Skinner (Dartmouth College) "The Efficiency of Medicare" |
|
| April 6 | Christopher R. Taber (Northwestern
University) "Selection on Observed and Unobserved Variables: Assessing the Effectiveness of Catholic Schools" |
|
| April 20 | Kelly Edmiston (Georgia State University) "Tax Uncertainty and Investment: A Cross-Country Empirical Investigation" |
|
| October 3 | Larry Singell, Jr. (University of
Oregon) "Production, Labor Utilization, and Employment Effects of the Oregon Minimum Wage: A Survey and Natural Experiment in the Restaurant Industry" |
|
| October 12 | Wilbert van der Klaauw (University
of North Carolina) "Evaluating Educational Interventions using the Regression-Discontinuity Approach" |
|
| November 2 | Chris Cornwell ( University of Georgia) |
Economics Seminar Series:
| April 2 | Prasanta Pattanaik (University of
California - River Side) "On Measuring Changes in Welfare When Changes in Consumption Bundles Are Small" |
|
| September 7 | Paul Pecorino (University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa)
"Should the U.S. Allow Prescription Drug Reimports from Canada?" |
|
| September 19 | Yoram Amiel (Ruppin Institute, Tel
Aviv) "Attitudes Towards Risk and Inequality: A Questionnaire-Experimental Approach" |
|
| November 5 | Indraneel Dasgupta (U. of Nottingham
and Cornell University) "Class, Community, and Inequality" |
|
| November 30 | Kotaro Suzumura (Hitotsubashi University)
"Constitutional Democracy and Public Judgements" |
The Department of Economics prepared for a jointly sponsored conference with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta to explore the role of technology in the U.S. economy, which will be held January 6-7, 2002. Alice M. Rivlin, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former vice chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and Edward M. Gramlich, member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, will serve as speakers.
1. For a complete listing of AYSPS Active Research Sponsored Grants from CY2001, see the Appendix: Report on External Funding.
