mizzou economicsa newsletter of the · tivity. the murray fellow-ship – established in 2015...

in MU, it is difficult to regularly offer courses

in many fields attractive to econ majors. As

skills such as the ability to analyze big data sets

become increasingly in demand, we need to

increase the teaching capacity in related cours-

es to meet the demand.

The budget cuts and salary freezes since Aca-

demic Year 15-16 made it increasingly difficult

to retain productive facul-

ty. The department re-

cently lost two tenured

faculty members through

retirement and turnover.

With the support of the

A&S Dean’s office, the

department avoided losing

additional productive fac-

ulty members. To econo-

mize faculty time, in the

past several years the de-

partment has implemented

teaching assignments

based on research produc-

tivity. The Murray Fellow-

ship – established in 2015

through a gift made to the

Economics Department by Ted and Margaret

Murray – has been a morale booster for the

faculty. It was created with the intention of

raising awareness of the need for faculty sup-

port to help enhance and strengthen MU’s

standing in the AAU and to inspire others to

invest in the department, and recognizes out-

standing department faculty who excel in

teaching, research and service. The depart-

ment will benefit from more alumni financial

contributions for faculty support.

Shawn Ni

Professor and Chair,

Department of Economics

In the past year, the faculty research productiv-

ity continued to improve. The improvement in

faculty research is recognized by the depart-

ment’s ranking in the economics profession.

For instance, the department’s graduate pro-

gram moved up in the national ranking in the

U.S. News and World Report from #72 in

2016 to #63 in 2017. The faculty have also lev-

eraged academic re-

search for grant support-

ed work on public policy

and for policy-shaping

debates at the state and

national level.

Besides the nation-wide

recognition in faculty

research, the depart-

ment has also received

campus-wide recognition

for excellence in teach-

ing. Among the instruc-

tors of principles cours-

es, in the past year, one

received a campus-wide

teaching award (the

Kemper Fellowship), and

three received the A&S

teaching award (the Pur-

ple Chalk). As an additional piece of evidence

that the economics degree creates high added

value for the students, the 2016 Mizzou Out-

comes Survey conducted by A&S shows that

the economics majors had a strong labor mar-

ket outcome upon graduation. (See Economics:

The Major that Works!, page 8.)

On the other hand, the department also faced

substantial challenges. The number of econ

majors declined along with the university-wide

drop in enrollment. The size of faculty is small

and shrinking. With our teaching capacity

stretched to provide required principles and

intermediate courses for a number of colleges

Greetings from the Chair

Mizzou Economics S U M M E R 2 0 1 7 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 2

O F I N T E R E S T :

Faculty Publica-

tions, p. 2

Murray Award

Recipients, p. 5

Econ: Major That

Works, p. 8

Econ Department

and Public Policy,

p. 13

A N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E

D E P A R T M E N T O F

E C O N O M I C S , U N I V E R S I T Y

O F M I S S O U R I , C O L U M B I A

Designed by Linda Dyer;

Edited by Linda Dyer

and Sue Leutschaft

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Faculty News 2

Undergraduate

News

8

Graduate News 10

Alumni News 11

Department

News

12

Pho

to C

redi

t: C

hris

tine

M. H

art-

Nie

land

https://www.facebook.com/MizzouEcon/

https://twitter.com/MizzouEcon

https://www.linkedin.com/groups/4489419

M I Z Z O U E C O N O M I C S

P A G E 2

JOURNAL PUBLICATION TITLE MU AUTHOR, CO-

AUTHOR

Frontiers of Economics in China “Why Doesn’t the Hong Kong Government Sell More Public Land” Aura, Ni

Journal of Economic Theory “Monetary Mechanisms” Gu

Econometrica “Money and Credit Redux” Gu

European Economic Review “Diminished-dimensional Political Economy” Harstad

Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control “A Tale of Two Correlations: Evidence and Theory Regarding the Phase

Shift between the Price Level and Output” Haslag

Quantitative Economics “The Cyclical Dynamics of Illiquid Housing, Debt, and Foreclosures” Hedlund

Journal of Monetary Economics “Illiquidity and its Discontents: Trading Delays and Foreclosures in the

Housing Market” Hedlund

Journal of Econometrics “Fractional Order Statistic Approximation for Nonparametric Conditional

Quantile Inference” Kaplan

Econometric Theory “Smoothed Estimating Equations for Instrumental Variables Quantile Re-

gression” Kaplan

American Educational Research Journal “The Impact of Performance Ratings on Job Satisfaction for Public School

Teachers” Koedel

Industrial and Labor Relations Review “Pension Enhancements and the Retention of Public Employees” Koedel

AERA Open “Mathematics Curriculum Effects on Student Achievement in California” Koedel

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review “Explaining Black-White Differences in College Outcomes at Missouri Public

Universities” Koedel

Evidence Speaks Reports, Brookings “Big Bang for Just a Few Bucks: The Impact of Math Textbooks in Califor-

nia” Koedel

Educational Researcher “Benefit or Burden? On the Intergenerational Inequity of Teacher Pension

Plans” Koedel, Ni, Podgursky

Teacher College Record “Teacher Pensions and Education Policy” Koedel

Applied Economics Letters “Race and Gender Effects on Employer Interest in Job Applicants: New

Evidence from a Resume Field Experiment” Koedel

Handbook of Economics of Education “Teacher Pensions” Koedel, Podgursky

Contemporary Economic Policy “The Efficiency Implications of Using Proportional Evaluations to Shape

the Teaching Workforce” Koedel

Educational Policy “Selecting Growth Measures for Use in School Evaluation Systems: Should

Proportionality Matter”

Koedel, Ehlert, Parsons,

Podgursky

Review of Industrial Organization “Pricing Strategies in Advance Selling: Should a Retailer Offer a Pre-order

Price Guarantee?” Loginova

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 2

Tenure Track Faculty Publications Since 2016

FACULTY NEWS


P A G E 3


Publications, continued from previous page continued FACULTY NEWS

PUBLISHER TITLE MU AUTHOR

Elsevier, Academic Press “Producers, Consumers and Partial Equilibrium” Mandy

Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K. “Modeling Monetary Economies”, 4th ed. Haslag

JOURNAL PUBLICATION TITLE MU AUTHOR, CO-

Int’l Journal of Industrial Organization “Targeting Rivals: Moving from ‘Whether’ to ‘Whom’” Mandy

State and Local Government Review “Giving the People What They Want? Legislative Polarization and Public

Approval of State Legislatures” Milyo

State and Local Government Review “Public Confidence in the Redistricting Process: The Role of Independent

Commissions, State Legislative Polarization and Partisan Preferences” Milyo

Public Integrity “Measuring Public Corruption in the United States: Evidence from Adminis-

trative Records of Federal Prosecutions” Milyo

Energy Economics “Disentangling Temporal Patterns in Elasticities: A Functional Coefficient

Panel Analysis of Electricity Demand” Miller

Energy Economics “A New Approach to Modeling the Effects of Temperature Fluctuations on

Monthly Electricity Demand” Miller

Journal of Time Series Analysis “Implementing Residual-Based KPSS Tests for Cointegration with Data

Subject to Temporal Aggregation and Mixed Sampling Frequencies” Miller

Econometric Reviews “Conditionally Efficient Estimation of Long-Run Relationships Using Mixed-

Frequency Time Series” Miller

Journal of Labor Economics “Second Chance for High School Dropouts? A Regression Discontinuity

Analysis of Postsecondary Educational Returns” Mueser

Journal of Political Economy “Labor-Market Returns to the GED Using Regression Discontinuity Analysis” Mueser

Journal of Poverty “The Great Recession and SNAP Caseloads: A Tale of Two States” Mueser

Journal of Labor Economics “How Teachers Respond to Pension System Incentives: New Estimates and

Policy Implications” Ni, Podgursky

Journal of Monetary Economics “Optimal Capital Controls and Real Exchange Rate Policy: A Pecuniary

Externality Perspective” Otrok

Journal of Cleaner Production “Subsidies in Carbon Finance for Promoting Renewable Energy Develop-

ment” Wang

Energy Economics “Climate Normals and Weather Normalization for Utility Regulation” Wang

Journal of Economics

(Zeitschrift fur Nationalokonomie)

“A Model of Advance Selling with Consumer Heterogeneity and Limited

Capacity” Wang

Frontiers of Economics in China “An IS-MP Model with Yield Curve: Some Applications” Wang

Books Published by Tenure Track Faculty Since 2016

This listing does not include book chapters, publications by non-tenure track and adjunct professors, nor does

it list the numerous valuable conferences that our faculty attend, at which they present their research findings.

On March 20th, University of Missouri

Interim Chancellor Hank Foley and Com-

merce Bank Chairman and CEO Teresa

Maledy awarded a 2017 William T. Kem-

per Fellowship for Teaching Excellence to

Michael Podgursky, a professor of eco-

nomics in the MU College of Arts and

Science.

Foley, Maledy and a group of professors,

administrators, and staff surprised

Podgursky by honoring him with the fel-

lowship, which includes a $10,000 check.

Kemper Fellowships are awarded to five

outstanding teachers at the University of

Missouri each year.

This year is the 27th anniversary of the

William T. Kemper Fellowships for Teach-

ing Excellence, which were established in

1991 with a $500,000 gift. Kemper, a 1926

MU graduate, was a well-known civic lead-

er in Kansas City until his death in 1989.

His 52-year career in banking included top

positions at banks in Missouri, Kansas and

Oklahoma. Commerce Bank manages the

trust fund.

Shawn Ni, department chair, praises

Podgursky’s teaching contributions and his

demonstrated willingness to sacrifice per-

sonal professional benefits and accolades in

order to remain in the classroom. “As the

department chair from 1995 through 2005,

Dr. Podgursky struggled to staff the large

sections of introductory economics in a

way that seriously engaged the students,”

Ni said. “One of his solutions was to per-

sonally teach a large section of principles

of microeconomics while also serving as

department chair. Mike would storm up

and down the aisles of Middlebush Audito-

rium, posing questions and quips to the

students and achieving the difficult objec-

tive of engaging in active discussions with

students in a large lecture setting.“

Nicholas Pretnar, a doctoral candidate in

economics at Carnegie Mellon University

in Pittsburgh, Pa., served as a teaching as-


P A G E 4


continued

Left: Kaplan presents at 12th annual NY Camp Econometrics

FACULTY NEWS

Kemper Award for Podgursky On March 20th, University of Missouri Interim

Chancellor Hank Foley and Commerce Bank Cen-

tral Missouri Region Chairman and CEO Teresa

Maledy awarded a 2017 William T. Kemper Fellow-

ship for Teaching Excellence to Michael Podgursky,

a professor of economics in the MU College of

Arts and Science.

Foley, Maledy and a group of professors, adminis-

trators, and staff surprised Podgursky by honoring

him with the fellowship, which includes a $10,000

check. Kemper Fellowships are awarded to five

outstanding teachers at MU each year.

This year is the 27th anniversary of the William T.

Kemper Fellowships for Teaching Excellence, which

were established in 1991 with a $500,000 gift. Kem-

per, a 1926 MU graduate, was a well-known civic

leader in Kansas City until his death in 1989. His 52

-year career in banking included top positions at

banks in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. Com-

merce Bank manages the trust fund.

Shawn Ni, department chair, praises Podgursky’s

teaching contributions and his demonstrated will-

ingness to sacrifice personal professional benefits

and accolades in order to remain in the classroom.

“As the department chair from 1995 through 2005,

Dr. Podgursky struggled to staff the large sections

of introductory eco-

nomics in a way that

seriously engaged the

students,” Ni said.

“One of his solutions

was to personally teach

a large section of prin-

ciples of microeco-

nomics while also serv-

ing as department

chair. Mike would

storm up and down

the aisles of Middle-

bush Auditorium, pos-

ing questions and quips

(Continued, next page)

to the students and achieving the difficult objective

of engaging in active discussions with students in a

large lecture setting.“

Nicholas Pretnar, a doctoral candidate in economics

at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa.,

served as a teaching assistant with Podgursky as

they further refined the curriculum for the Princi-

ples of Microeconomics course at Mizzou.

“I spent the summers of 2015 and 2016 helping Dr.

Podgursky plan a new curriculum for microeconom-

ics with more than 450 students per section,”

Pretnar said. “Dr. Podgursky’s willingness to listen

and collaborate with students about how to im-

prove this course demonstrates that even as a ten-

ured professor with many years of experience, he is

humbly open to adapting his pedagogical approach

to accommodate students’ ever-changing needs. His

teaching methods are inspiring students to think

critically about the real world implications of eco-

nomic principles.”

Helen Bass, a former student, is completing a mas-

ter’s degree in law and economics at the University

of Reading in the United Kingdom. The 2016 Mark

Twain Fellow says Podgursky taught one of her first

and last economics classes at Mizzou and continues

to play an influential role in her academic career.

“As a student in his introductory microeconomics

class, Dr. Podgursky seemed to me like the arche-Monroe Gamble

Podgursky and former student,

Left to Right: Maledy, Foley, and Podgursky

Oksana Loginova

M I Z Z O U

P A G E 5


continued FACULTY NEWS

typal university professor—constantly trailing chalk

dust, excited about his subject and passionate about

passing his excitement down to students,” Bass

said. “His quirky personality and attempts to use

pop culture references—we were frequently inun-

dated with Jus-

tin Bieber

jokes—made

students feel

comfortable to

pepper the con-

versation with

their own

thoughts and

experiences.

Professor

Podgursky cre-

ates a dynamic

learning envi-

ronment in

which both

professor and students bring knowledge to the table

and learn together.”

According to Podgursky’s students, he incorporates

current, relevant material from many sources, in-

cluding The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal,

and The Econ-

omist to help

bring seem-

ingly abstract

concepts into

perspective.

He also is

adamant

about main-

taining an

open-door

policy with all

his students,

current and

former.

Podgursky with graduate TA’s, sporting Econ 1014 T-shirts

Kemper Award (continued from previous page)

Chao Gu and Zack Miller were the 2017 recipients of the Ted

and Margaret Murray Faculty Fellowship Award in Economics.

This award was established in 2015 to recognize outstanding de-

partment faculty who excel in teaching, research, and service. “I

am very happy to receive the Murray award. It is a recognition of

my effort in research and an encouragement for future endeavor.

I am grateful for the Murray family for their generous gift and for

my colleagues for their continuous support,” said Gu. Miller also

commented, “I appreciate the generosity of Ted and Margaret

Murray to encourage internationally recognized research for

which we in the Mizzou department of economics strive. I am

humbled to receive a fellowship.”

Gu, Miller receive Murray Award

Gu Miller

Oksana Loginova

M I Z Z O U

P A G E 6


Eric Parsons was presented with the 2017 Walter Johnson Excellence in

Teaching Award. This award was created in 2011 as a way to encourage

and reward faculty who have proven themselves as excellent teachers.

Parsons commented. “It is truly an honor to win the Walter Johnson

Teaching Award. The economics department at Mizzou has a long histo-

ry of teaching excellence, and as a former student myself, I have directly

benefited from the instruction and mentorship of winners past. It is won-

derful to have the opportunity to follow in their footsteps and have a

positive impact on the next generation of Mizzou economics students.”

Parsons receives Johnson Award

Kaplan receives Winemiller Award Assistant professor David Kaplan received the

Winemiller Excellence Award for his paper

“Fractional order statistic approximation for non-

parametric conditional quantile inference,” in the

Journal of Econometrics. The Winemiller Excel-

lence Award recognizes great work on MU's cam-

pus that makes use of data and analytical methods.

This award is funded by Bert Winemiller (AB '64,

MA '65), an alumnus of the Department of Statis-

tics. Kaplan noted, "I'm honored to receive this

campus-wide research award; I was flattered just

to be nominated by my Economics colleagues in

the first place. I think it reflects our department's

success in advancing the sophisticated data analysis

that typifies Economics as a field."

FACULTY NEWS continued

Kaplan presents at 12th annual NY Camp Econometrics

Recent External Grants Nearly one million dollars of grants have been awarded to the faculty since January 2016, by gov-

ernment agencies (including the National Science Foundation and MO Department of Elementary

and Secondary Education) and private foundations (including the Laura and John Arnold Founda-

tion and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.)


P A G E 7

Spring ‘17 Purple Chalk Awards The College of Arts and Science Student Council

honored economics faculty members Myoung Lee

and Jeff Milyo with Purple Chalk Awards for the

spring 2017 semester.

Both Lee and Milyo were nominated by students

and selected by the student council's executive

committee for their exemplary teaching and invest-

ment in student success.

Lee, whose spring semester courses included Prin-

ciples of Macroeconomics, Theory of the Firm, and

Intermediate Microeconomics, said her teaching

goals include sparking students' intellectual curiosi-

ty and introducing them to economics as a founda-

tion in decision making.

“Student interactions in the classroom, during my

walking and office hours and in other settings have

continuously provided feedback assuring me that

my efforts have not been in vain," Lee

said. "Receiving this award is an honor and inspires

me to rededicate myself to my teaching goals.”

Milyo teaches Honors General Economics, Inter-

Professors Milyo and Lee


Vitor Trindade, associate professor of eco-

nomics, was presented with a Purple Chalk

Award by Arts and Science Student Council

president Blake Nourie and vice president Ja-

cob Young. Chalk Awards recognize faculty

and staff who have made a difference in stu-

dents' lives.

Trindade commented, “I am especially honored

by this award because it is given by the stu-

dents themselves, in this case by the Arts and

Science Student Council, who has the sole re-

sponsibility to seek nominations and make the

award decisions.”

Fall ‘16 Purple Chalk Award

Left to right: Nourie, Trindade, Young

continued FACULTY NEWS

mediate Microeconomics, Health Economics, Law

and Economics, American Political Economics, and

Economics After Dark. Milyo also supervises Honors

theses and internships.

“The fact that students nominate candidates and se-

lect winners makes the award particularly meaningful

and gratifying,” Milyo said. “I’m grateful every day for

the opportunity to teach such wonderful students

and proud to be part of the Mizzou community.”

P A G E 8


UNDERGRAD NEWS


From the Director of Undergraduate Studies,

I just finished my first full year as the director

of undergraduate studies. Our department is

committed to improving “customer service”;

to this end, we have expanded experiential

learning opportunities for students by creating

two new internship courses and a practicum

course for students who want to get credit for

working as a research assistant or teaching

assistant. In addition, the department has ex-

panded field course offerings by adding new

courses on dynamic optimization; entrepre-

neurship; history of economic thought; polit-

ical economics; and urban economics. This

fall, I will be teaching a new seminar course

called, “Economics After Dark”; this will be

a survey of economic research on all manner

of controversial and sensitive topics, includ-

ing abortion, discrimination and religion.

Jeff Milyo

Economics… the major that works! Economics is a rigorous and analytical discipline that pays off in

the job market. The Brookings Institute reports that the career

prospects and lifetime earnings of economics majors are rivaled

only by majors in the other STEM disciplines (science, technol-

ogy, engineering and mathematics) and finance. Economics ma-

jors at Mizzou are no exception…

In 2016, the College of Arts and Sciences at Mizzou conducted

an exit survey of graduating seniors; here are a few highlights:

Economics majors were far more likely to have full-time

employment or plans to continue their education com-

pared to other majors in A&S; in fact, economics majors

were 78% more likely to have employment immediately

after graduation!

Economics majors, along with computer science, mathe-

matics and statistics, have the highest starting salaries

among A&S graduates – economics majors had a medi-

an starting salary about 35% higher than for a typical

A&S major!

Economics also scores the highest among A&S gradu-

ates on whether their degree is a good fit with their

employment; that’s why we say that economics is a

value-added major!

The Department of Economics is a partner in our student’s

success. That’s why we have created new opportunities for

experiential learning through internships. In addition, the

department brings in recruiters from large employers such

as Cerner and Dish Network to meet just with our majors.

If you would like to sponsor an internship or come speak to

our majors, please contact us!

RECENT GRADUATION STATS

We had 53 students graduate with degrees in Economics through the College of Arts and Science

in August and December of 2016, and May 2017.

Of them, 32 were Bachelors of Arts, 21 Bachelors of Science.

P A G E 9

Undergraduate Scholarships Awarded


White Gassmann

Jeff Milyo, Director of Undergraduate Studies, and Shawn Ni,

Department Chair, present awards

(Not pictured: Hayley Wabeszewski)


continued UNDERGRADUATE NEWS

Left to right: Groeller, Henry, Otto, Zhang, Rao Geary, Wescott Left to right: Grellner, Green, Trippel,

Zimmerschied, VanDyne

Nate Henry Outstanding Senior

Thomas Groeller Outstanding Senior

Jacob Otto Outstanding Senior

Shun Rao Outstanding Senior

Meihui Zhang Outstanding Senior

Mikhayla White Clay J. Anderson Jr. Memorial Scholarship

Meihui Zhang Clay J. Anderson Jr. Memorial Scholarship

Nate Henry Allan & Barbara Soshnik Mem. Scholarhip

Gabriel Gassmann John Charles Willett Memorial Scholarship

Margaret Brooks Leaders’ Board Excellence Award

Thomas Geisenger Leaders’ Board Excellence Award

Matthew Green Leaders’ Board Excellence Award

Tyler Grellner Leaders’ Board Excellence Award

Ryan Trippel Leaders’ Board Excellence Award

Isaac VanDyne Leaders’ Board Excellence Award

Kyle Zimmerschied Leaders’ Board Excellence Award

Hayley Wabiszewski David Loschky Scholarship

James Geary David Loschky Scholarship

Rachel Wescott Elmer Wood Memorial Scholarship

M I Z Z O U E C O N O M I C S V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 2

Mizzou ODE chapter inducts new members Four students and one faculty member were inducted into

MU's chapter of international economics honor society Omi-

cron Delta Epsilon at the Economics Department Leaders

Board spring meeting.

Chapter president Michelle Wickman and faculty adviser Zack

Miller honored students Jim Geary, Matt Yount, Ado Sibalo,

and Rachel Wescott, along with associate professor Oksana

Loginova. Chapter vice president Tanya Pongspikul and mem-

ber Monroe Gamble were present, as well.

The Leaders Board, which meets semiannually, consists of

alumni who promote the department's research and teaching

missions and assist with fund-raising.

ODE has 690 chapters across the U.S. and in nine other coun-

tries. The organization publishes a peer-reviewed journal, The

Back, left to right: Jim Geary, Monroe Gam-

ble, Oksana Loginova, Matt Yount, Ado Sibalo.

Front: Tanya Pongspikul, Michelle Wickman,

Zack Miller, Rachel Wescott.

American Economist, which encourages submissions from young scholars. Student members may compete in

two ODE paper competitions and participate in ODE-sponsored student sessions at professional meetings.

Li Tan

Norman Bowers Scholarship - Best Labor Topic with a Strong Policy Focus

Weiwei Wu

Norman Bowers Scholarship - Best

Labor Topic with a Strong Policy Focus

Heon Lee

Harry Gunnison Brown Graduate

Student Fellowship - Best Second-Year

Student

Xueli Cao

Harry Gunnison Brown Graduate

Student Teaching Award - Best Teach-

ing Assistant

Taehwan Kim

Harry Gunnison Brown Research Fel-

lowship - Best Research

Graduate Awards A reception was held November 4, 2016 to honor five of

our graduate students with the following awards:

continued UNDERGRADUATE NEWS

From Director of Graduate Studies, Xinghe Wang

GRADUATE NEWS

I continue to work on setting up our new online Masters in Economics program. Developments for

graduate level online classes are currently being undertaken.

P A G E 1 0


P A G E 1 1


ALUMNI NEWS

Ni meets with Korean alumni The Economics Department has a large

group of Korean alumni working in the government ministries, research institutes,

universities, and private sector. They form a strong alumni association and they fol-

low the development in MU and the de-partment with interest.

Shawn Ni was hosted by a group of Korean alumni in Seoul,

July 2017

Shawn Ni with some Korean alumni in Ulsan, July 2017

The Economics Leaders Board met on November 6, 2016 and April 21, 2017 at MU campus to

discuss ways of supporting the department. The next meeting will take place on September 22, 2017.

Shawn Ni with member of the Korean National

Assembly Seog Jum Song, an MU Econ PhD,

in Seoul, July 2017

Economics Leaders’ Board

Oksana Loginova

M I Z Z O U

P A G E 1 2

DEPARTMENT NEWS

On the 15th anniversary of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, MU

held a ceremony to remember and honor those who lost their lives on that

tragic day. John Willett received a BA in Economics in 1995, and went on to

receive a master’s degree in Economics from the University of Missouri, Kan-

sas City, in 2000. John was working as an analyst for the prestigious invest-

ment bank, Cantor Fitzgerald at the World Trade Center in 2001.

We were honored to have John’s mother, Lucy Willett, along with Lucy’s sis-

ter, Jean Cummings, and Jean’s son, Brett Cummings, in attendance. After a

procession from the front steps of Jesse Hall to the end of the Francis Quad-

rangle, Mrs. Willett and interim Chancellor Hank Foley placed a wreath in

front of the columns in memory of her son and others who died on 9/11.

In 2003, Mr. and Mrs. Willett established the John Charles Willett Memorial

Scholarship for undergraduates in Economics (see Undergraduate Scholarships

Awarded, page 8.)

Remembering John Willett

Chair Shawn Ni. Lucy Willett,

Jean Cummings


Raymon Retires Professor Neil Raymon has been a valued member of the Economics Department since he

joined us over three decades ago – in Fall, 1983. Through our ups and downs, Neil has been

a model of professionalism and courtesy. Over those several decades, thousands of students

have benefited from his teaching and scholarship in both undergraduate and graduate cours-

es. Through it all Neil has been an outstanding department citizen, always willing to take on

committee assignments or service. He will be missed by his colleagues and students.

Last semester Professor Loginova in-

troduced yoga breaks half way through

her classes. These micro-breaks have

been shown to increase the blood flow

to the brain and deep breathing in-

creases the oxygen in the blood, the

two-minute breaks help restore ener-

gy, sharpen concentration, and offer

students a chance to relieve tension and reduce stress.

Loginova Offers Yoga Breaks “It was just for a few minutes but it was

very helpful.“ ~Joonhong Ahn, student

P A G E 1 3


MU Economics Department and Public Policy

continued DEPARTMENT NEWS

The Department of Economics has a long-

standing and high profile connection to public

policy at the state and national level. Our facul-

ty serve in appointed positions and on advisory

boards, participate as experts in court and in

legislative hearings, and conduct high quality

and impactful policy-relevant research. In addi-

tion, the Economics Department has an applied

research center that provides service for the

state legislature and conducts policy studies

funded by federal and state governments, as

well as private founda-

tions. As a conse-

quence, our faculty has

a national reputation

that is based on both

active participation in

the policy process and

the conduct of both

applied and academic

research that informs policy debates not just in

Missouri, but in other states and Washington,

DC.

In the macroeconomic policy area, the MU

Economics Department is recognized for re-

search in:

Macroeconomic Policy

Chris Otrok was recruited to serve as the sen-

ior economist for macroeconomics on the

Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) in the

Executive Office of the President for the

Obama administration, a position he held also

in the first four months of the Trump admin-

istration. Serving on the CEA is the highest

level of public service for an academic econo-

mist. In this position he contributed to daily,

weekly and monthly economic briefings for the

President. He was also lead delegate for the

United States Government at OECD econom-

ics policy meetings in Paris, a contributing au-

thor to the Economic Report of the President (Continued, next page)

and the CEA representative on interagency

meetings on international trade issues. He was

also a member of the Troika (senior officials

from CEA, OMB and Treasury) forecast team

that produces the official White House economic

forecast that underlies the federal budget. Joe

Haslag was a senior economist with the Federal

Reserve prior to coming to MU, and several fac-

ulty are affiliated with the Federal Reserve banks

in Kansas City and St Louis. Missouri is the only

state with two Federal Reserve banks, which

gives the university a

unique place of leverage

and influence when it

comes to informing and

shaping macro-economic

policy. Our faculty have

taken advantage of this

by organizing interna-

tional conferences on the

financial crisis in cooperation with both Federal

Reserve banks in Missouri. In addition, the Feder-

al Reserve banks are a great landing place for our

best students. Our placements of students into

employment and internships with the Federal Re-

serve not only reinforces connections to the

Federal Reserve, but is also extremely valuable

for our undergraduate and graduate programs.

Our macroeconomics faculty have published in

the highest profile scholarly journals in the disci-

pline on recessions in relation to international

business cycles (Otrok), monetary policy (Has-

lag), bank runs (Chao Gu), housing market

(Aaron Hedlund), and household consumption

(Shawn Ni).

In the microeconomic area of policy research,

the MU Economics Department is recognized in

multiple distinct fields:

Education Policy

Mike Podgursky, Ni, and Cory Koedel have pub-

lished extensively on teacher effectiveness and


“Our faculty has a national

reputation... ...that informs policy

debates not just in Missouri, but in

other states and Washington, D.C.”

P A G E 1 4

B


PACs). Milyo has also authored several amicus

briefs and provided expert testimony to the US

Congress related to election reforms. He also

served on the staff of President Obama’s Com-

mission on Election Administration. He currently

serves on a bipartisan commission on campaign

finance reform and his current work on public

corruption has been cited in several national

news reports. Milyo is also nationally recognized

for his academic work on political bias in the

media. In addition to frequent scholarly and me-

dia citations on the subject, he was commis-

sioned by the Federal Communication Commis-

sion to study cross-ownership of media, which

helped lead to partial deregulation of cross-

ownership prohibitions for newspapers and

broadcast television stations.

Labor Market Policy

Peter Mueser’s publications in leading

journals on training and related pro-

grams have influenced national policy.

He served as lead investigator on a

non-experimental evaluation of the

Workforce Investment Act job train-

ing programs for adults. The project’s

final report was cited in the Economic

Report of the President and presented

in Congressional testimony as well as

numerous articles in the popular

press. Mueser also served in leading roles for

other federal government sponsored projects

(e.g., the US Department of Labor’s Workforce

Data Quality Initiative and a US Department of

Agriculture-funded project examining the use of

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

[SNAP], previously Food Stamps.)

Public Health Policy

Milyo conducts research on social determinants

of public health and teaches the only health eco-

nomics course in mid-Missouri. Milyo has also

teacher labor markets. Their work examining

ways of identifying quality teachers is of first

order importance in education reforms aimed

at producing, hiring, and retaining great educa-

tors, as is their work on teacher compensation

and retirement benefits. As a consequence, this

research appears not only in leading academic

journals in economics and education, but is also

highly influential among policy makers and fre-

quently cited in the media. This research has

also been supported by multiple prestigious

grants from government agencies and private

foundations.

Further attesting to the national prominence of

this group is the fact that Podgursky and

Koedel serve on several advisory boards for

education policy and reform groups, and are

directly involved in policy making

by contributing their expertise to

large school districts, think tanks,

and national research centers.

They serve on advisory boards for

a number of education policy and

education reform not-for-profit

organizations.

Government Ethics and

Election Law

Jeff Milyo is nationally recognized

for his academic scholarship on

campaign finance and electoral reforms; he

came to MU from the Harris School of Public

Policy at the University of Chicago. Milyo is a

senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute

and was a visiting fellow at the progressive Saf-

ra Center for Ethics at Harvard Law School.

His work has been cited in several amicus

briefs submitted to the United States Supreme

Court and he has served as an expert witness

in several high profile cases at the federal and

state level (including voter identification in Tex-

as and the federal dispute that led to Super-

MU Economics Department and Public Policy (Cont’d from previous page)



(Continued, next page)

“In addition, the

Federal Reserve

banks are a

great landing

place for our

best students.”

P A G E 1 5



taught short courses on health policy for Con-

gressional staffers and has participated in several

high profile roundtables on health disparities in

the United States.

Mueser publishes on the effect of SNAP and its

interaction with Unemployment Insurance (e.g.,

the SNAP use of emergency room visits during

recessions).

Regulation of Industries

Ron Harstad and Dave Mandy publish in leading

journals on regulatory policies of telecommunica-

tions, (e.g., auctions for

bands of the electro-

magnetic spectrum and

pricing in telecommuni-

cations). Their exper-

tise is sought after by

federal agencies such as

the Federal Communi-

cation Commission, the

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and state

agencies such as the Public Service Commission

in Jefferson City and the Missouri Attorney Gen-

eral's Office. Our faculty is recognized for exper-

tise on regulation in traditional industries as well

as in emerging industries. Xinghe Wang and

Oksana Loginova have been studying public poli-

cy implications for recently booming sharing

economies, including ridesharing markets (e.g.,

Uber) and peer-to-peer rental markets (e.g.,

Airbnb).

Finally, in the area of applied economic research,

the MU Economics Department is recognized in

two areas:

Methodological “Tool Boxes” for Policy

Analysis

A common theme in the research of all of our

faculty is the application of quantitative methods

to policy-relevant questions. In particular, Ni and

Zack Miller have advanced methodologies in

time-series econometrics commonly used for

macroeconomic policy analysis and applied the

methodologies to study oil price shocks and cli-

mate changes. Dave Kaplan has advanced meth-

odologies commonly used to measure inequality

and estimate treatment effect of social programs.

In recognition of the common methodological

“tool box” increasingly used in social program

evaluation, several years ago the department

created a Quantitative Microeconomic Policy

Evaluation field. The courses in this area are at-

tracting not only eco-

nomics graduate stu-

dents, but also students

from statistics, public

policy, and education.

Our faculty are also rec-

ognized for novel use of

quantitative models in

specific fields: Saku Aura

for his publications on taxation and urban devel-

opment; Vitor Trindade for his empirical work

on international trade; and Milyo for his quanti-

tative work on evaluating government ethics

policies.

Economic Policy and Research Center

(EPARC)

The Economics Department has an applied re-

search center – the Economic Policy and Re-

search Center (EPARC). A core activity of EP-

ARC is preparation of fiscal notes annually for

the state legislature and related tax revenue

forecasts. In addition, EPARC conducts a wide

range of education and workers’ training policy

studies funded by research grants from the US

Department of Education, private foundations,

and several state governments. Mark Ehlert, Eric

Parsons, and Brian Kisida play critical roles in

conducting the grant funded research and in

training graduate student research assistants.


MU Economics Department and Public Policy (Cont’d from previous page)

“A common theme in the research

of all of our faculty is the application

of quantitative methods to policy-

relevant questions.”

Your Gift to the Department

https://economics.missouri.edu/alumni/giving

provides support for

student scholarships

provides support for faculty research

and teaching

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E C O N O M I C S ,

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Columbia, MO 65211

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