News and Events
Spring 2013 Winter 2013 Fall 2012 Summer 2012
Spring 2013
Pinka Chatterji wins The Adam Smith Award
Pinka Chatterji and her co-author Sara Markowitz (Emory University) were awarded the The Sixth Adam Smith Award in Mental Health Policy and Economics for the best paper published in the Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics in 2012.
Research Highlights
PhD student Souvik Banerjee and Associate Professor Pinka Chatterji presented a paper jointly written with Distinguished Professor Kajal Lahiri entitled “Effects of psychiatric disorders on labor market outcomes: A latent variable approach using multiple indicators” at a conference in Munich organized by the ifo / CESifo, University of Munich and the Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy. The travel was supported by the conference and by the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health (grant number P20MD003373).
Barış K. Yörük's paper entitled "The impact of minimum legal drinking age laws on alcohol consumption, smoking, and marijuana use revisited" (joint with Ceren Ertan Yörük) was published in March, 2013 issue of Journal of Health Economics.
Kajal Lahiri’s paper entitled "Modeling hedge fund returns: selection, non-linearity and managerial efficiency" (joint with Hany Shawky and Ph.D. student Yongchen Zhao) has been accepted for publication in Managerial and Decision Economics.
Kwan Koo Yun presented his paper entitled, "Outsourcing and factor price equalization," at Western Economic Association International's Pacific Rim Conference (March 14-March 17) at Keio University in Tokyo, Japan.
Albany Economics Ph.D. Thembayena Annastasia Dlamini is appointed as Swaziland Ambassador to Russia
Graduating with her Economics Ph. D. in 1990, Dr. Dlamini wrote her dissertation on “Export Instability and Economic Growth: The Case of Swaziland”. Her dissertation advisor was Bruce Dieffenbach. She was the first Swazi woman to earn an Economics Ph. D. and only the second to earn a Ph. D. in any field. Her previous Swazi diplomatic posts include Head of Mission to the European Economic Community, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and Geneva Ambassador to Fiji. Further details about this appointment are available here.
Winter 2013
Exchange Program with Tohoku University in Japan
The Department of Economics at the University at Albany has started an exchange program with the Faculty of Economics at Tohoku University in Sendai City, Japan, involving both faculty and students. The department invites and encourages Albany undergraduates to apply for Tohoku University’s International Program in Liberal Arts (IPLA), with study starting in October, 2013. Applicants for admission may also apply for a scholarship provided by the Japanese Government through the Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO). Tohoku University, founded in 1907, is the third Imperial University (following Tokyo University and Kyoto University), is the leading university north of Tokyo, and enrolls more than 18,000 students, including 1400 international students. Information on Tohoku University is available from the Handbook for International Students. Information on the International Program in Liberal Arts is available here. Information on Tohoku University, the International Program in Liberal Arts, and the Japan Student Services Organization Scholarship are also posted outside the Department of Economics Office at BA 110.
Students should apply to the program online. The application deadline is March 10, 2013. Students must apply both online and by paper. Please provide the Department of Economics, University at Albany, with a copy of your completed application form and all supplemental materials so that we can nominate you for admission. Contacts at the University at Albany are Prof. Michael Sattinger (m.sattinger@albany.edu) and Prof. Kwan Koo Yun (kyun@albany.edu).
Students applying for the International Program in Liberal Arts are eligible to apply for the Japan Student Services Organization Scholarship. Information on application procedures is available here.
Kajal Lahiri visits IMF
Kajal Lahiri spent two weeks at the Research Department of the International Monetary Fund during November 2012 as a Visiting Scholar. He also discussed a paper at a forecasting forum held on November 14-15 to honor Herman Stekler on the occasion of his 80th birthday held at the IMF headquarters in Washington D.C. Click here to read more about the Forum.
SUNY NYS2100
Distinguished Professor Kajal Lahiri completed his work as an expert of the SUNY NYS2100 team that helped to finalize the report "Recommendations to Improve the Strength and Resilience of the Empire State's Infrastructure" recently released by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo at his State of the State address, January 13, 2013. Professor Lahiri played a substantive role in crafting the commission's recommendations on the ‘Insurance' section of the report.
Research Highlights
Kajal Lahiri's paper entitled "The yield spread puzzle and the information content of SPF forecasts" (joint with George Monokroussos and current Ph.D. student Yongchen Zhao) was published in January, 2013 issue of Economics Letters.
Kajal Lahiri's paper entitled "Evaluating probability forecasts for GDP declines using alternative methodologies" (joint with former Ph.D. student J. George Wang) was published in January, 2013 issue of International Journal of Forecasting.
Kajal Lahiri's survey paper entitled "Forecasting binary outcomes" (joint with Ph.D. student Yang Lu) has been accepted for publication in Handbook of Forecasting, Vol. 2 (Eds. G. Elliott and A. Timmermann).
Kajal Lahiri completed his examination of PhD thesis "Essays on macroeconometrics and short-term forecasting" by Claude Adan at ECARES - SBS-EM, Université Libre de Bruxelles.
Zhongwen Liang's paper entitled "Local linear estimation of a nonparametric cointegration model" (joint with Zhongjian Lin from Texas A&M University and Cheng Hsiao from University of Southern California) has been accepted for publication in Econometric Reviews.
Michael Sattinger's paper entitled "Qualitative mismatches" was published in Foundations and Trends® in Microeconomics: Vol. 8 (No 1-2, pp. 1-168).
Michael Sattinger coauthors a book entitled "Into the Gap; Exploring Gaps and Mismatches" (joint with Ernest Berkhout, Jules Theeuwes, and Maikel Volkerink), commissioned by Randstad, SEO Economic Research, Amsterdam, 2012.
Michael Sattinger's paper entitled "Nash bargaining and the wage consequences of educational mismatches" (joint with Joop Hartog) was appeared in discussion paper series of IZA (No. 7025) and Tinbergen Institute (12-129/V).
Fang Yang's paper entitled "Accounting for gender gap in college attainment" (joint with Suqin Ge from Virginia Tech) was published in January, 2013 issue of Economic Inquiry.
Fang Yang's paper entitled "Social security reform with impure intergenerational altruism" was published in January, 2013 issue of Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control.
Barış K. Yörük's paper entitled "Do charitable solicitations matter?: A comparative analysis of fundraising methods" was published in December, 2012 issue of Fiscal Studies.
PhD student Yang Liu's book review Modelling Nonlinear Economic Time Series (2010) Oxford University Press 432 pp. by Timo Teräsvirta, Dag Tjøstheim, Clive W.J. Granger appeared in December, 2012 issue of International Journal of Forecasting.
Michael Jerison presented his paper entitled "Testable Conditions for Unique, Stable Equilibrium with Taxes" at the College de France, Paris and at the University of Bonn, Germany in January, 2013.
Michael Sattinger's paper entitled "Nash bargaining and the wage consequences of educational mismatches" has been accepted for publication in Labour Economics.
Michael Sattinger's paper entitled "Safety first consumption" was published in January, 2013 issue of Journal of Economic Theory.
Fall 2012
Department of Economics welcomes new tenure-track faculty
Assistant professor Zhongwen Liang joins the department on September 1, 2012. Professor Liang received his Ph.D. in economics from Texas A&M University on August, 2012. His research interests include econometric theory, applied econometrics, and financial econometrics. Professor Liang's recent research was published in prestigious journals such as Journal of Econometrics and Advances in Econometrics. He will teach an econometrics course for Ph.D. students during the fall semester.
Research highlights
Michael Sattinger presented a book review of "The Price of Inequality" by Joseph Stiglitz at the Albany Public Library on October 16, 2012.
Kajal Lahiri and Yongchen Zhao's (current Ph.D. student) paper entitled "The Yield Spread Puzzle and the Information Content of SPF Forecasts (joint with George Monokroussos) has been accepted for publication in Economics Letters.
Adrian Masters will be attending an invitation only conference on Money, Banking, and Asset Markets at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, WI on Friday, November 2 and Saturday, November 3, 2012.
Adrian Masters' paper entitled “Inflation and welfare in retail markets: prior production and imperfectly directed search” has been accepted for publication at Journal of Money Credit and Banking.
Betty C. Daniel presented her paper entitled “Monetary policy switching to avoid a liquidity trap” (joint with Siddhartha Chattopadhyay) at Ryerson University.
Betty C. Daniel presented her paper entitled “Fiscal risk in a monetary union” (joint with Christos Shiamptanis from Ryerson University) in a conference entitled “Modeling Imbalances”. The conference was supported by Central Bank of Poland.
John Jones presented his paper entitled “Skill biased technical change and the cost of higher education” at University of Western Ontorio and Stony Brook University.
Kajal Lahiri’s paper entitled “Evaluating probability forecasts for GDP declines using alternative methodologies” (joint with J. George Wang from College of Staten Island, CUNY) has been accepted for publication in International Journal of Forecasting.
Zhongwen Liang’s paper entitled “Functional coefficient regression models with time trend” (joint with Qi Li from Texas A&M University) was published in September, 2012 issue of Journal of Econometrics.
Barış K. Yörük’s paper entitled “The effect of media on charitable giving and volunteering: evidence from the “Give Five” campaign” was published in Fall, 2012 issue of Journal of Policy Analysis and Management.
Barış K. Yörük’s paper entitled “The impact of drinking on psychological well-being: evidence from minimum drinking age laws in the United States” (joint with Ceren Ertan Yörük from The Sage Colleges) was published in November, 2012 issue of Social Science and Medicine.
Barış K. Yörük’s paper entitled “The impact of minimum legal drinking age laws on alcohol consumption, smoking, and marijuana use revisited” (joint with Ceren Ertan Yörük from The Sage Colleges) has been accepted for publication in Journal of Health Economics.
Summer 2012
2005 B.S. Elizabeth Akers is a fellow in the Brookings Institution
Elizabeth Akers (B.S., 2005), an expert on the economics of education, with a particular focus on higher education finance policy, is now a fellow in Brookings Institution’s Brown Center on Education Policy. Before joining to Brookings Institution, she was a staff economist at White House Council of Economic Advisers.
Reuters article mentions Professor Jones’ work
A recent article published by the Reuters News Service on August 14, 2012 mentions John Jones’ research. The article can be accessed here.
Laurence Kranich visits Fondation Maison des Sciences de I’Homme
Laurence Kranich spent the month of June in Paris as a Visiting Professor at the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme and the Collège d'Etudes Mondiales through a grant from the Programme Directeurs d’Etudes Associés. During that time, he presented papers in a conference on “Intergenerational Equity and Climate Change” and in the Paris Seminar on Economics and Philosophy, sponsored by the Franco-Swedish Program in Philosophy and Economics.
Heesoo Joo receives Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Award
The Department of Economics congratulates Heesoo Joo on receiving the University at Albany's 2012 Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Award. This prize is awarded to the best dissertation in any field in the College. Her dissertation, “Health Disparities among the U.S. Elderly”, was nominated by Professors Pinka Chatterji and Kajal Lahiri and succeeded brilliantly through the College's competition this year.
Barış K. Yörük receives a two-year NIH grant
Professor Barış K. Yörük received $147,757 from National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate the effect of Sunday alcohol laws on alcohol consumption and alcohol consumption related outcomes. He and Ph.D. student Jungtaek Lee will be working on this project until July, 2014.
Sifan Zhou goes to Harvard
The Harvard Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School has awarded a dissertation fellowship to Ph.D. student Sifan Zhou for the academic year 2012-2013. Ms. Zhou will use this fellowship to conduct research relating to how scientists and engineers, in R&D and in other work areas, impact economic productivity and the returns to investments in science and engineering. Professor Gerald Marschke is supervising her dissertation research as well as collaborating with her on related research projects.
Research highlights
Pinka Chatterji's paper entitled "Effects of early maternal employment on maternal health and wellbeing" (joint with Sara Markowitz from Emory University and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn from National Center for Children and Families) has been accepted for publication in Journal of Population Economics. This research was supported by a grant from NICHD.
Pinka Chatterji's paper entitled “Family leave after childbirth and the health of new mothers” (joint with Sara Markowitz from Emory University) has been accepted for publication in Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics. This research was supported by a grant from NICHD.
Pinka Chatterji and Kajal Lahiri along with a former Ph.D. student Heesoo Joo (currently Steven Teutsch Prevention Effectiveness Post-doctoral Fellow at Center For Disease Control) published their article entitled “Beware of being unaware: racial/ethnic disparities in chronic illness in the USA” in September, 2012 issue of Health Economics.
Betty C. Daniel's paper entitled “Private sector financial crises in emerging markets” was published in June, 2012 issue of Economic Journal.
Betty C. Daniel's paper entitled “Fiscal risk in a monetary union” (joint with Christos Shiamptanis from Ryerson University) was published in August, 2012 issue of European Economic Review.
Michael Sattinger's paper entitled “Safety first consumption” has been accepted for publication in Journal of Economic Theory.
Fang Yang's paper entitled “Social security reform with impure intergenerational altruism” has been accepted for publication in Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control.
Barış K. Yörük's paper entitled “Fundraising and optimal policy rules” (joint with Murat Mungan from Florida State University) was published in August, 2012 issue of Journal of Public Economic Theory.
Barış K. Yörük’s paper entitled “The impact of charitable subsidies on religious giving and attendance: evidence from panel data” has been accepted for publication in Review of Economics and Statistics.
Rui Zhao’s paper entitled “Renegotiation and conflict resolution in relational contracting” was published in July, 2012 issue of Games and Economic Behavior.
