Economics
Economics is the study of how societies organize production, distribution, and the exchange of goods and services and about choices on how scarce resources are allocated to satisfy human wants. Who wins? Who loses? Why? Economists use models that are substantiated by statistical analysis to study important issues such as economic growth, unemployment, productivity and efficiency, poverty and inequality, international trade, and the effects of government policy.
The Economics Department offers two undergraduate degrees, one through the College of Arts & Sciences, and the other through the Leavey School of Business. Students have the option to choose a concentration in data analysis or mathematical economics. The department also provides foundational courses for the graduate programs.
Our faculty produce rigorous state-of-the-art research. Students often serve as research assistants to faculty, gaining hands-on exposure to modern research questions and methods, and occasional opportunities for co-authorship.
The economics degree provides graduates with a strong foundation to work in a wide variety of careers and provides excellent preparation for a broad range of career possibilities from management and finance to public policy and nonprofit work as well as prepares students for graduate study in economics, business, and law.
Submissions from 2024
Regional and ethnic inequality in Burkina Faso, Michael J. Kevane
Submissions from 2022
Effects of education on political engagement in rural Burkina Faso, Elodie Djemaï and Michael J. Kevane
Submissions from 2021
Improving reverse correlation analysis of faces: Diagnostics of order effects, runs, rater agreement, and image pairs, Michael J. Kevane and Birgit Koopmann-Holm
Towards smallholder food and water security: Climate variability in the context of multiple livelihood hazards in Nicaragua, Christopher M. Bacon, William A. Sundstrom, Iris Stewart-Frey, Edwin P. Maurer, and Lisa C. Kelley
Submissions from 2020
The relative income effect: an experiment, John Ifcher, Homa Zarghamee, Dan Houser, and Lina Diaz
Behavioral economic phenomena in decision-making for others, John Ifcher and Homa Zarghamee
Submissions from 2019
Préférences économiques mesurées par des jeux expérimentaux au Burkina Faso : Confiance, bien public, risque et patience, Michael J. Kevane, Alain Joseph Sissao, and Félix Compaoré
Income inequality and well-being in the U.S.: evidence of geographic-scale- and measure-dependence, John Ifcher, Homa Zarghamee, and Carol Graham
Experiencing Poverty in an Online Simulation: Effects on Players’ Beliefs, Attitudes and Behaviors about Poverty, Pedro Hernandez-Ramos, Christine M. Bachen, Chad Raphael, John Ifcher, and Michael Broghammer
Submissions from 2018
The rapid evolution of homo economicus: Brief exposure to neoclassical assumptions increases self-interested behavior, John Ifcher and Homa Zarghamee
The Great Recession and Life Satisfaction: The Unique Decline for Americans Approaching Retirement Age, John Ifcher, Homa Zarghamee, and Amanda Cabacungan
Local neighbors as positives, regional neighbors as negatives: Competing channels in the relationship between others’ income, health, and happiness, John Ifcher, Homa Zarghamee, and Carol Graham
Submissions from 2017
Local neighbors as positives, regional neighbors as negatives: Competing channels in the relationship between others’ income, health, and happiness, John Ifcher, Homa Zarghamee, and Carol Graham
International reserves and global interest rates, Gonçalo Pina
The Saving & Loan Insolvencies and the Costs of Financial Crisis, Alexander J. Field
California Water Reallocation: Where'd You Get That?, Damian Park
Submissions from 2016
Beware dodgy data analysis, Xiaojing Dong and John M. Heineke
Pegxit Pressure: Evidence from the Classical Gold Standard, Kris James Mitchener and Gonçalo Pina
The increasing happiness of US parents, Chris M. Herbst and John Ifcher
Pricing Competition: A New Laboratory Measure of Gender Differences in the Willingness to Compete, John Ifcher and Homa Zarghamee
The Earned Income Tax Credit, Mental Health, and Happiness, Casey Boyd-Swan, Chris M. Herbst, John Ifcher, and Homa Zarghamee
Real and Financial Investment: A Review of Jack Rasmus, 2016, Systemic Fragility in the Global Economy, Alexander J. Field
Do Gender-Variant Preferences for Competition Persist in the Absence of Performance?, John Ifcher and Homa Zarghamee
Inequality of Happiness: Evidence of the Compression of the Subjective-Well-Being Distribution with Economic Growth, John Ifcher and Homa Zarghamee
Experimental Economics’ Ethics, John Ifcher and Homa Zarghamee
Correlation or Causality?: The Sorry State of Empirical Modeling, Xiaojing Dong and John M. Heineke
Altruism, Alexander J. Field
Reading fiction and economic preferences of rural youth in Burkina Faso, Michael J. Kevane
Public libraries and political participation, 1870-1940, Michael J. Kevane and William A. Sundstrom
State promotion of local public goods: The case of public libraries, 1880-1929, Michael J. Kevane and William A. Sundstrom
Submissions from 2015
The recent growth of international reserves in developing economies: A monetary perspective, Gonçalo Pina
California’s Flawed Surface Water Rights, Michael Hanemann, Caitlin Dyckman, and Damian Park
Gold Mining and Economic and Social Change in West Africa, Michael Kevane
Availability of Higher Education and Educational Outcomes: Quantifying the Impacts of College Openings and Cohort Size, Teny Maghakian Shapiro
Cognitive Function and Human Capital Accumulation Across the Day: Evidence from Randomized School Schedules, Teny Maghakian Shapiro, Kevin M. Williams, and James E. West
Changing Access To Land For Women In Sub-Saharan Africa, Michael Kevane
Decision Making and Underperformance in Competitive Environments: Evidence from the National Hockey League, Gueorgu I. Kolev, Gonçalo Pina, and Federico Todeschini
Submissions from 2014
Trends in the Happiness of Single Mothers: Evidence from the General Social Survey, John Ifcher and Homa Zarghamee
Capital in the Twenty-First Century: A Review Essay, Alexander J. Field
Prosociality and the Military, Alexander J. Field
The Interwar Housing Cycle in the Light of 2001-2012: A Comparative Historical Approach, Alexander J. Field
Schelling, von Neumann, and the Event that Didn’t Occur, Alexander J. Field
Affect and Overconfidence: A Laboratory Investigation, John Ifcher and Homa Zarghamee
The Development of Public Libraries in the United States, 1870–1930: A Quantitative Assessment, Michael Kevane and William A. Sundstrom
Submissions from 2013
Economic Growth and Recovery in the United States, 1919-1941, Alexander J. Field
John Kenneth Galbraith, Alexander J. Field
Mellon Banks, Alexander J. Field
Submissions from 2012
Gendered production and consumption in rural Africa, Michael Kevane
The Adversity/Hysteresis Effect: Depression Era Productivity Growth in the U.S. Railroad Sector, Alexander J. Field
Submissions from 2011
Happiness and Time Preference: The Effect of Positive Affect in a Random-Assignment Experiment, John Ifcher and Homa Zarghamee
Spend or Save? Study or Party? Smoke or Quit?, John Ifcher and Homa Zarghamee
A's from Zzzz's? The Causal Effect of School Start Time on the Academic Achievement of Adolescents, Scott E. Carrell, Teny Maghakian, and James E. West
The Happiness of Single Mothers after Welfare Reform, John Ifcher
Burkina Faso, Michael Kevane
Dim Delobsom, Michael Kevane
Submissions from 2010
General Assistance Recipients and Welfare-To-Work Programs: Evidence from New York City, John Ifcher
The Procyclical Behavior of Total Factor Productivity in the United States, 1890-2004, Alexander J. Field
Identifying the Effect of a Welfare-to-Work Program Using Capacity Constraint: a New York City Quasi-Experinmet, John Ifcher
Submissions from 2009
Post-2011 scenarios in Sudan: What role for the EU?, Damien Helly, Suliman Baldo, Maria Gabrielsen, Fabienne Hara, Damien Helly, Fouad Hikmat, Michael Kevane, Roland Marchal, Tim Murithi, and Luke Patey
Habitudes de lecture et performances scolaires, Félix Compaoré, Michael Kevane, and Alain Joseph Sissao
The Great Depression, the New Deal, and the Current Crisis, Alexander J. Field
U.S. Economic Growth in the Gilded Age, Alexander J. Field
Submissions from 2008
Fuel-Efficient Stove Programs in IDP Settings Summary Evaluation Report Darfur, Sudan, Academy for Educational Development and Michael Kevane
Why Multilevel Selection Matters, Alexander J. Field
Biological and Cultural Group Selection: Comments on Landa's paper, Alexander J. Field
The Impact of the Second World War on U.S. Productivity Growth, Alexander J. Field
Darfur: Rainfall and Conflict, Michael Kevane and Leslie C. Gray
Economic History, Alexander J. Field
Productivity, Alexander J. Field
Burkina Faso, Michael Kevane
Economic Systems in Africa, Michael Kevane
Diminished Access, Diverted Exclusion: Women and Land Tenure in Sub-Saharan Africa, Michael Kevane and Leslie C. Gray
Land Tenure and Rental in Western Sudan, Michael Kevane and Leslie C. Gray
How Much do Village Libraries Increase Reading? Results of a Survey of 10th Graders in Burkina Faso, Michael Kevane and Alain Joseph Sissao
Submissions from 2007
Beyond foraging: behavioral science and the future of institutional economics, Alexander J. Field
From Quasi-Private to Quasi-Public: The Development of Local Libraries in the United States, 1870-1930, Michael Kevane and William A. Sundstrom
Habitudes de lecture au Burkina Faso, Michael Kevane and Alain Joseph Sissao
The Origins of U.S. Total Factor Productivity Growth in the Golden Age, Alexander J. Field
The Equipment Hypothesis and U.S. Economic Growth, Alexander J. Field
Burkina Faso, Michael Kevane
Submissions from 2006
Official Representations of the Nation: Comparing the Postage Stamps of Sudan and Burkina Faso, Michael Kevane
Women’s Access to Credit in Sub-Saharan Africa: Sudan, Michael Kevane and Endre Stiansen
Communications, Alexander J. Field
Technological Change and U.S. Productivity Growth in the Interwar Years, Alexander J. Field
Douglass North, Alexander J. Field
Technical change and US economic growth: the interwar period and the 1990s, Alexander J. Field
Dim Delobsom: French Colonialism and Local Response in Upper Volta, Michael Kevane
Submissions from 2005
Social Preferences in Small‐Scale Societies, Alexander J. Field
Résultats préliminaires d’une enquête sur la lecture à Ouagadougou, Michael Kevane and Alain Joseph Sissao
Reflections on the Joint Assessment Mission, Michael Kevane
Freedom, Servitude and Voluntary Labor, Michael Kevane and Jonathon Conning
Submissions from 2004
Sudan: 2001-2002: From war to the possibility of peace in the south and then to new conflict in Darfur, Michael Kevane
Altruism, Alexander J. Field
Understanding Sudan: An Introduction, Michael Kevane
The Cost of Getting Books Read in Rural Africa: Estimates from a Survey of Library Use in Burkina Faso, Michael Kevane
Submissions from 2003
The Most Technologically Progressive Decade of the Century, Alexander J. Field
Why Isn't There More Financial Intermediation in Developing Countries?, Michael Kevane and Jonathon Conning
Comment on Bergstrom, Alexander J. Field
Land Ordinances, Alexander J. Field
Economics, Biology, and Culture: Hodgson on History, Alexander J. Field
