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Lauren RubensteinJuly 28, 20154min
In this News @ Wesleyan story, we speak with David Schwartz from the Class of 2017. Q: David, where are you from and what is your major? A: I grew up in Amherst, Mass. When I first came to Wesleyan, I walked around wearing my Amherst sweatshirt for awhile before realizing there was a bit of a rivalry. I’m an Economics and Government double major, with a minor in data analysis. I’m particularly interested in applying “big data” techniques to government policymaking. Q: You are founder and president of the Wesleyan Radio Control/ Drone Club. How did your interest in…

Lauren RubensteinJuly 23, 20151min
Assistant Professor of Economics Damien Sheehan-Connor is the author of "Environmental Policy and Vehicle Safety: The Impact of Gasoline Taxes," published in the July 2015 issue of Economic Inquiry. In the paper, Sheehan-Connor considers the impact that policies to reduce carbon emissions by vehicles, such as fuel economy standards and gasoline taxes, have on vehicle weight and, consequently, on safety. The paper develops a model that separately identifies the impact of vehicle weight on mortality and selection effects that impact accident propensity. He found that the safety externalities associated with heavy vehicles are greater than the environmental ones; that under fuel economy…

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Lauren RubensteinJuly 10, 20153min
In this News @ Wesleyan story, we speak with Joli Holmes from the Class of 2017. She is one of 24 students in the Quantitative Analysis Center's Summer Apprenticeship Program. Q: Joli, what is your major and what’s your specific area of interest? A: I’m an economics major. I'm particularly interested in studying investment-related practices from an environmental and social perspective. Q: Have you worked in the Quantitative Analysis Center before this summer? A: I’ve taken a lot of classes through the QAC, including “Working with R,” “Excel with Visual Basic for Applications,” and “Python.” These are all classes on how to use…

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Lauren RubensteinJuly 1, 20152min
Gary Yohe, the Huffington Foundation Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies, was reappointed by Mayor Bill DeBlasio to the third New York City Panel on Climate Change on June 30. Yohe and 18 other experts are tasked with ensuring that the best available climate science continues to inform the city's resiliency planning. The panel will build on reports by previous panels, and will "look at climate risks through the lens of inequality at a neighborhood scale, as well as focus on ways to enhance coordination of mitigation and resiliency across the entire New York metropolitan region," according to a press release from the…

Lauren RubensteinJune 22, 20153min
Richard Grossman, professor of economics, recently presented a talk titled, "An historical perspective on regulatory competition versus cooperation: the view from economics" at the third annual Conference of the University Research Priority Program. The conference, held June 1-2 at the University of Zurich Institute of Law, was titled, "International Aspects of Financial Regulation: Competition vs. Coordination." Grossman's talk focused on cross-border cooperation between international bank regulators in the wake of the U.S. subprime and European debt crises—an effort to enhance banking stability. Examples include the Basel capital accords and European Stability Mechanism. Grossman put these into historical context by looking at…

Lauren RubensteinJune 18, 20153min
Gary Yohe, the Huffington Foundation Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies, wrote in The Hartford Courant about Pope Francis' encyclical on climate change--"a very valuable and much needed injection of morality into the scientific and economic discussions on climate change — it is quite likely a game-changer." While scientists, economists and other professionals have long made a case for taking action to reduce emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change, Yohe writes, "The pope's encyclical adds a moral dimension to this case with nearly 200 pages of inspiring text about man's pollution and the immorality of emissions. He notes that the…

Lauren RubensteinApril 9, 20151min
MarketWatch columnist Howard Gold turned to Professor of Economics Richard Grossman for his take on reforming the Fed. Gold took issue with calls from presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul and others to "audit the Fed," but instead advocated for term limits for Fed chair-persons and changes in the pivotal Federal Reserve Bank of New York. On the matter of term limits for the Fed chair, Grossman spoke of former chairman Alan Greenspan, who stuck around nearly 19 years. (more…)

Lauren RubensteinMarch 16, 20151min
Professor of Economics Richard Grossman recently presented the keynote address at a conference held at the Austrian National Bank. The presentation, made on March 11, was titled, "Interest rate cycles and implications for the financial sector: a long-term view." A summary is available here. The conference was jointly sponsored by Austria's central bank (the Oesterreichische Nationalbank), SUERF (the European Money and Finance Forum), and BWG (the Austrian Society for Bank Research).

Olivia DrakeFebruary 20, 20152min
Richard Grossman, professor of economics, is featured in a radio interview with Share Radio in London Feb. 19. In the interview, Grossman talks about the consequences of the European Central Bank's new quantitative easing (QE) policy, which may stimulate an economy when a standard monetary policy has become ineffective. The ECB's action follows in the footsteps of the central banks of Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, which also have used quantitative easing in the 2000s. A concern that has been raised about the introduction of QE is that persistent low interest rates will lead to another boom-bust…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 20, 20151min
Bill Craighead, assistant professor of economics, is the co-author of "Current Account Reversals and Structural Change in Developing and Industrialized Countries," published in the February issue of The Journal of International Trade and Economic Development. The paper compares the experience of high-income and developing countries in adjusting current account deficits, which measure how much they are relying on external borrowing. In both types of country, construction is the most sensitive sector to the current account. On average, adjustments in developing countries are more severe, but that is mainly due to the effects of currency crises. When you take those out, they…

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Bryan Stascavage '18February 12, 20152min
On Feb. 6, recent Wesleyan graduates returned to campus and shared their experiences in finance. The conference, titled "Finance — Theory and Applications: A Conversation with Alumni," covered mergers and acquisitions, value investing, trading and case study analysis. Attendees also had an opportunity to ask questions. Anand Gopalan ’09, James Hounsell ’11 and Eugene Wong ’09, all of whom have relevant experience in the field of finance, spoke at the event. Joyce Jacobsen, professor of economics, also gave remarks at the conference. The event was hosted by Abigail Hornstein, associate professor of economics, with support from the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life…