The Third Northeast Ohio Economics Workshop

The Economics Department and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland held the third annual Northeast Ohio Economics Workshop on November 14, 2009 (Saturday). Professor Bill Kosteas and Dr. Murat Tasci (Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland) co-organized the program, and the workshop was hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. The announcement of the workshop can be found at this site, while the workshop program is available here.

Spring 2010 Economics Courses

The course schedule for the spring semester is now available here. Please take note of the following upper-level economics courses which will be offered by our faculty:

• ECN 355 (Money & Banking, 4 cr. hrs.) TR 6:00-7:50 PM -- Dr. Sebastien Buttet
• ECN 470 (Urban Economics, 4 cr. hrs.) TR 10:00-11:50 AM -- Dr. Subhra Saha
• ECN 482 (International Economics , 4 cr. hrs.) TR 1:00 - 2:50 PM -- Dr. Bill Kosteas

Research Grant

Professor Subhra Saha of the Economics Department has received a research grant from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland for the year of 2009 to study "The Impact of R&D Generating Institutions on Local Economies."

This project will investigate whether R&D-generating institutions such as universities and research institutions have any spillover effect on earnings and employment. The main objective is to find out the impact of R&D on employment in different sectors (manufacturing, services, high skilled tech sectors) of a city and determine if this effect varies according to the composition of the city's workforce. For example, does Cleveland, being a manufacturing-oriented city, have a bigger or smaller gains from R&D generating institutions (such as universities and Cleveland Clinic) than New York, which is a service-oriented city? A major emphasis will be on finding out which R&D fields may increase the returns from spillover effect for a city.

Burke-Rosen Scholarship in Economics AY 2008-2009

The sixth annual Burke-Rosen Scholoarship in Economics was awarded to Mr. Elias Andraos.

Mr. Andraos is a resident of Beachwood, Ohio. He is an Economics major with a minor in Political Science (Comparative Politics track). He is also in the University Honors Program. Mr. Andraos has a strong interest in Public Sector Economics and plans to continue his education in Economics beyond the undergraduate level.

The Burke-Rosen Scholarship was created by two Professors Emeriti of the department - John Burke, Ph.D., and Harvey Rosen, Ph.D. - who both retired from Cleveland State University in 1993. The Burke-Rosen Scholarship is awarded annually to a student with senior year status who is an economics major. Students must have a minimum grade point average of 3.30 in economics coursework and a minimum overall grade point average of 3.25. The past recipients of the Scholarship were:

2007-2008: Kim Davis and John Gilroy
2006-2007: Benjamin Sereika
2005-2006: Sara Perozek and Jonida Xhunga
2004-2005: Patrik Hruby
2003-2004: James Weikamp

Outstanding Major Award in Economics AY 2008-2009

We are pleased to announce that Mr. Refael Shpigel of Willoughby, Ohio is the recipient of this year's Outstanding Major Award. Congratulations!

Recent Faculty Research Activities

Professor Myong-Hun Chang presented a research paper entitled, "Firm Turnovers and the Endogenous Market Structure in Technologically Turbulent Industries with Heterogeneous Firms" at Kent State University on September 9th, 2009.

Professor Subhra Saha gave a talk at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland on July 22, 2009 on "Research, Social Interactions, and Local Economic Performance." This talk was based on his on-going research funded by a grant from the Cleveland FRB, in whcih he examines the effects of university research on local economic performance. [See above for a description of his grant-funded project.]

Professor Yee Fei Chia attended the 7th World Congress on Health Economics of the International Health Economics Association (IHEA), which was held in Beijing, People's Republic of China, July 12-15, 2009. She gave a presentation on her current research, titled "Bad Education? College Entry, Health and Risky Behavior." The main objective of this research project is to examine the effects of college entry on changes in body weight, general health status and risky behavior for American young adults in a quantitatively rigorous manner, using individual-level panel data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY 97) Survey. The results from her analysis suggests that college entry may have negative impacts on the health and behavioral outcomes of young adults. Compared to young adults in the same age group who are not attending college, college freshmen are 3.4 to 4.8 percentage points more likely to report a gain in body weight and BMI. This, along with several other related results, suggest that a set of comprehensive policies targeted towards improving health outcomes and substance abuse awareness among college studetns may be useful in ameliorating the effects observed in her analysis.

Professor Yee Fei Chia attended the 43rd Annual Conference of the Canadian Economic Association (Toronto, Canada) in June of 2009. She presented a paper entitled "Bad Education? College Entry, Health, and Risky Behavior." [See above for a description of this research.]

Many of our faculty members participated in the 2009 Midwest Economic Association Meetings (March 20-22, 2009) held in downtown Cleveland. Professor Sebastien Buttet presented "Why Are Americans Eating Out So Much?" (co-authored with Veronika Dolar); Professor Matthew Henry presented "Do Statutory Rape Laws Work?"; Professor Vasilios (Bill) Kosteas presented "Job Satisfaction and Promotions"; and Professor Subhra Saha presented "Failing Schools, Private Tutoring and Policy Interventions: Implications for Education and Child Labor."

Professor Subhra Saha presented his research on "Economic Effects of Universities and Colleges" at the Economics Department Seminar at Kent State University on September 25, 2008.

Professor Yee Fei Chia attended the Midwest Economics Association Annual Conference in Chicago (March 14-16, 2008) and presented a paper entitled "Dollars and Pounds: The Impact of Household Income on Childhood Weight". She will be presenting this paper again in a seminar at University of Akron on April 7, 2008.

Professor Sebastien Buttet presented his recent working paper, "Engines of Liberation: The Impact of Technological Progress in an Imperfect Competition Setting," at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland (February 14, 2008). [Presentation Slides]

Tutoring Hours and Locations for Fall 2009

The Economics Department regularly offers tutoring services. For the fall of 2009, the hours and the locations are as follows:

Monday	1:30-7:30 PM RT 1704
Tuesday	12:00-6:00 PM RT 1704
Wednesday	1:30-7:30 PM RT 1704
Thursday	12:00-6:00 PM RT 1704
Friday	12:00-6:00 PM RT 1704

Also, there are additional tutoring services available from Tutoring and Academic Success Center (MC 110W) for Principles and Intermediate courses. Please stop by there to learn about the tutoring hours and scheduling appointments. Their number is 216-687-2012.

Department Seminars 2009-2010

The Economics Department has an active seminar series, which is currently run by Professor Subhra Saha.

The schedule for the seminar series in AY 2009-10 is available here.