Maxwell Syracuse University Economics

DEPARTMENT NEWSLETTER

Fall 2017

1 Yinger selected as Steven D. Gold Award recipient

2 Letter from the Chair

2 Yinger article cont.

3 Coffee Chat with Economic Majors, Career News

4 Welcome New Faculty

5 Major Advisors, Faculty News

6 Economics Student Association

7 Student Awards & Recognition

8 Tutoring and Excel Training

Yinger selected as APPAM’s 2017 Steven D. Gold Award recipient The award recognizes a person who has made a significant contribution to public financial management in the field of intergovernmental relations and state and local finance.

Congratulations to John Yinger, Trustee Professor of Economics and Public Administration and International Affairs, as he was selected as the 2017 Steven D. Gold Award recipient by the Association of Public Policy Analysis and Management (AP-PAM). The award recognizes a person who has made a significant contribution to public finan-cial management in the field of intergovernmental relations and state and local finance. Yinger’s research focuses on racial and ethnic discrimination in housing and mortgage markets, as well as state and local public finance, particularly education.

His new book, Housing and Commuting: The Theory of Urban Residential Struc-ture, is forthcoming. His 1995 book, Closed Doors, Opportunities Lost: The Con-tinuing Costs of Housing Discrimination, won the 1995 Meyers Center Award for the Study of Human Rights in North America. Yinger also edited 2004’s Helping Children Left Behind: State Aid and the Pursuit of Educational Equity and co-authored 2002’s The Color of Credit: Mortgage Discrimination, Research Methodology, and Fair Lend-ing Enforcement.

Yinger’s widely-published research includes “Geography of Housing Discrimina-tion” in the Journal of Housing Research, “The Impact of State Aid Reform on Property

John Yinger, Trustee Professor of Economics and Public Administration and International Affairs

Fall 2017 3 2 Fall 2017

Economics NewsletterEconomics Newsletter

YOUR CAREER #SUCAREERWEEK

Values” in Education and Finance Policy, “What Have We Learned from Paired Testing in Housing Markets?” in City-scape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research and “How Much More Does a Disadvantaged Student Cost?” in Economics of Education Review.

Yinger has served as in The Max-well School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University since 1985, currently as Trustee Professor of Public Administration and Economics. He is also the director of the Education Finance and Accountability Program and the associate director of the Center for Policy Research. His prior teaching experience includes Harvard University, the University of Michigan, the Univer-sity of Wisconsin and Princeton Univer-sity. Yinger holds Ph.D. from Princeton University and a BA with honors from Swarthmore College.

This award is given annually in con-junction with the National Conference of State Legislatures and the National Tax Association. Established in 1997, the award is in memory of Steve Gold, an active member of all three organizations that sponsor it. Gold’s career and life was tragically shortened by illness in 1996. The sponsoring organizations rotate in chairing the selection committee. AP-PAM convened the selection committee for the 2017 award. Yinger will accept the Steven D. Gold Award during the Presidential Address and Award cere-mony on Friday, November 3, during the 2017 APPAM Fall Research Conference in Chicago.

Letter from the Chair

by Stuart Rosenthal

Hello S.U. Students! My name is Stuart Rosenthal, and I am the new Chair of

the Economics Department. I completed my Ph.D. in econom-ics in 1986 at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. From

there, I began my career at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 1986-1989. My first year overlapped with Paul Volcker in his stint as Chairman of the Federal Reserve (and again now in his role as a valued member of the Maxwell Advisory Board). Alan Greenspan was the Fed Chairman in my last two years. The Federal Reserve is a place where economics is put into practice every day. Mon-day morning briefings for the Governors drew on all of the tools of economics and econometrics as staff sought to advise the Governors on where the economy might be heading, and the effect of possible shifts in policy. That focus on applications and policy has stayed with me in my years on the faculty at the University of British Co-lumbia (1989-1997), Virginia Tech University (1997-1999), and here at Syracuse University, which I joined in 1999. My research has focused mostly on cities. Is that interesting to you? I hope so! Economic growth in most countries is a synonym for urban economic growth. Con-sider this: Manhattan is an extraordinarily expensive place to do business, with high costs of space and labor. Why would you choose to do business in such a place? In part, the answer is that the intense concentration of economic activity in Manhattan makes it easier to get the job done by providing opportunities for companies to hire skilled labor, interact with clients and input providers, and to learn from others in their industries. But cities are also places to live. For a city to thrive, the built and natural amenities must be appealing enough to attract households, or firms must want to do business there, or both. Take these ideas together, and we can begin to explain why rust belt cities like Buffalo, Cleveland and Detroit have shrunk in recent decades while places like Phoenix and San Diego are thriving. Urban economies are affected by events that play out in labor and housing markets, along with the influ-ence of a wide range of local government tax, expenditure and regulatory policies. This makes cities fascinating places to experience and study, and has also meant that my work covers a wide range of topics.

We are fortunate to have a wonderful faculty in the department who are committed to helping you, our students, to discover the manner in which econom-ics is so fundamental to all of our future opportunities. In keeping with my early experiences at the Federal Reserve, we offer a menu of courses that includes careful training in economic theory and principles, extensive applications to different topical questions and areas, and quantitative skills and tools in the form of statistics and econometrics. We also have an exceptional staff in 110 Eggers Hall, who are happy to answer your questions about pursuing graduate or undergraduate studies in economics.

Some describe economics as the “dismal science.” No way! Economics is about opportunities and possibilities and I am proud to chair a department filled with people eager to help you see why.

Coffee Chat with Economics Majors An opportunity for economics majors & minors to meet with employers who are interested in hiring.

Economics majors and minors speaking with prospective employers on Sept. 28, 2017.

Every semester Career Services holds a networking event called “Coffee Chat with Econom-ics Majors.” This is a special networking event to meet with prospective employers that are interested in hiring economics majors and minors at Syracuse University.

During the fall semester, the event was held on Thursday September 28, 2017 from 9:30 - 11:00 a.m. in Maxwell

Hall room 204. As shown in the picture, students were speaking to the employers that attended including, Colonial Voluntary Benefits, Crowe Horwath, Key Bank, Macy’s, New York Life, Pyramid Management Group, University of Southern California Leven-thal, and Syracuse University’s National Security Studies program.

Career Services provides tips on what to expect, research & preparation before the fair, presence & pitch at the fair, and follow-up & follow-through after the fair. Visit their web page for more information, tips, and stay tuned to when the next upcoming career week will be.

Career connects family histo-ry, research interests for Maxwell alum Alexei Abrahams ’08 BA (Econ), a member of both the Renée Crown University Honors Program and the inaugural class of Coronat Scholars, is a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton and a consultant for the World Bank. Looking back, he sees a clear line from his family history to his career as an economist studying the Is-rael-Palestine conflict. Read the full story.

A career in Economics is much more than you think. Economics majors are successful in a wide variety of careers. Although various roles in businesses are most common, economics majors are successful in law, medicine, govern-ment, non-profits, and international relations, as well as in academic roles. The American Economic Association (AEA) discuss-es what careers can follow after obtaining a degree in economics.

Fall 2017 5 4 Fall 2017

Economics NewsletterEconomics Newsletter

Welcome New Faculty This fall, we have added two new faculty members.

Carmen Carrión-Flores Research Assistant Professor

Please welcome Carmen Carrión-Flores, whose primary research interests include environmental economics, regional and urban economics, and applied econometrics. She studies how green technologies affect air pollution and how consumers’ knowl-edge of green technologies reveals a preference for protecting the environment.

She previously served as assistant professor of economics at SUNY Binghamton and at the University of Florida.

Recent published articles Carrión-Flores has co-written include “An Analysis of the Energy Star Program in Alachua County, Florida” (Ecological Economics, January 2017); “A Fixed Effects Logit Model of Rural Land Conversion and Zoning” (The Annals of Regional Science, December 2016); and “Does the Housing Market Value Energy Efficient Homes? Evidence from the Energy Star Program” (Regional Science and Urban Economics, December 2015). (New on the Faculty 2017-18)

During the fall semester, Professor Carrión-Flores is teaching ECN 301Intermediate Microeconomics, and ECN 437 Environmental and Resource Economics.

Yulong Wang Assistant Professor

Please welcome Yulong Wang, an econometrician whose work focuses on the devel-opment of more reliable estimates in the presence of small samples and other instanc-es when data are limited.

His dissertation studies the threshold model, in which the relationship between an outcome measure and a key control variable changes discretely when the covariate crosses above or below an unobserved and sometimes unknown cutoff. Applications of these models abound in social science and include, for example, tipping phenomena in which neighborhood racial composition changes dramatically in response to the arrival of a seemingly small number of minority households. Wang’s research extends structural break methods from time series to threshold conditions, providing new tools for applied research in this area.

Other work by Wang includes development of more refined methods for modeling geographic boundaries when the location of population and economic activity are central to a research question, as well as properties in the tail of a distribution as relates to behavior of star performers, and the econometrics of “Value-at-Risk” and “Expected Shortfall” conditions that arise in financial markets.

Wang previously studied at Princeton, UCLA, and Tsinghua University in China. (New on the Faculty 2017-18)

During the fall semester, Professor Wang is teaching ECN 522 Econometric Methods.

Major Advisors Our advisors provide extra office hours for students in preparation for spring registra-tion. Please see the chart below for this information. To see our advisor’s regular office hours, or if you want to know more about all of our professors, check our department listing.

Last Initial

Advisor Office & Phone Extra Office Hours

A-B Carmen Carrión-Flores

cecarrio@syr.edu 110 Eggers Hall

443-3717 M 10/30, W 11/1 10:00 –12:00 M 11/6, W 11/8 10:00 -12:00

C-D Elizabeth Ashby

eakerste@syr.edu 110E Eggers Hall

443-1354 TH 10/26, 11/2 9:30 – 10:30 F 11/3 10:00 – 1:00

E-G Michael Wasylenko mjwasyle@syr.edu

426 Eggers Hall 443-9050

F 11/3, 11/10 Afternoons by appt.

H-J Leyla Karakas

lkarakas@syr.edu 133 Eggers Hall

443-2294 T 11/7 2:00 - 4:00

K-L Abdulaziz Shifa

abshifa@syr.edu 117 Eggers Hall

443-3802 M 11/6, W 11/8 9:00 – 11:00

M-N Eugene Liu

cliu09@syr.edu 110G Eggers Hall

443-2078

M 11/6, 11/13 11:00 - 12:30 T 11/7 10:00 – 12:00 F 11/10 2:30 – 4:00

O-R Inge O’Connor

iwoconno@syr.edu 110F Eggers Hall

443-9311 T/TH 11:10 – 12:10 W 10:00 – 12:00

S Derek Laing

dlaing@syr.edu 311 Maxwell Hall

443-3746 M 10/30, W 11/1 12:00 – 2:00 M 11/6, W 11/8 12:00 - 2:00

T-W Perry Singleton

psinglet@syr.edu 426 Eggers Hall

443-3690 M 11/6

2:00 – 4:00

X-Z Jerry Evensky

jevensky@syr.edu 316B Maxwell Hall

443-5863 TH 10/19, 10/26, 11/2

12:00 - 3:00

Schwartz research on education, summer jobs programs cited in Politico A report co-authored by Amy Ellen Schwartz , Daniel Patrick Moynihan Chair in Public Affairs, was cited in the Politico article, “The Life-and-Death Conse-quences of Summer Jobs Programs.” Schwartz and her co-authors found that high school students who joined New York City’s summer jobs program were more likely to take, pass and earn higher scores on the Regents exams.

Dutkowsky weighs in on cash back credit cards in WalletHub article Don Dutkowsky, professor of economics, was inter-viewed for the WalletHub article, “Best Cash Back Credit Cards.” “Theoretical-ly, cash back should be the best rewards currency, since the rewards can be used practically anywhere,” says Dutkowsky. “But that only holds when the value of the rewards (for a given amount of purchases) of cash back and product/service-based rewards (e.g., airline miles, automobile discounts) are the same.”

Fall 2017 7 6 Fall 2017

Economics NewsletterEconomics Newsletter

Economics Student Association A student-run organization with a mission to help their members reach their personal, professional and academic goals.

Image of the SU Campus during the fall. Can you find the Maxwell School and Eggers Hall?

The Economics Student Asso-ciation (ESA) is a student-run organization with a mission to help members reach their personal, professional and academic goals. ESA is open to both ECN and non-ECN majors and minors in Syracuse University. They hold events, workshops, and activities that connect their members with fellow students, faculty, employ-ers, and alumni to help develop lasting personal and professional relationships and learn leadership and organizational skills.

This year, the ESA has a newly designed web page featuring a new executive board, upcoming event, and holds regular workshops to help you prepare for the Excel Certification program. Further, they have an email listserv students can sign up for to receive announcement, but also can email the ESA with comments and suggestions.

Recently, on Friday October 20, 2017 the ESA held an event called “Get Together”. This event was created for majors, minors and any student interested in economics to have the opportunity to meet other students in the program, Q & A with Professors, tips for suc-cess, and information about career options. On Monday October 23, 2017 they also had space reserved in the Hall of Languages for current students to meet with Bozzuto Group to learn more about internships and jobs in the real estate management field. Kirkland Locey, an alumna of SU who was also on the women’s LAX team, along with Bozzuto’s hiring manager was in attendance. More great upcoming events to come, stay tuned!

ESA Executive Board President - Cameron Taylor

Vice President - Abdulaziz (Aziz) Al Sulaiti Treasurer - Khalid Bin Ayaz Khan

Secretary - Christian Tague Director of Public Relations - Alex Lim

Director of Professional Development - Xintong (Claire) Wang Director of Recruitment - James L Shin

Chair of Advisory Committee - Kartik Vijay Advisory Committee Members - Matthew Ryan Gonzalez, Woo

(Will) Hyun Jung, and Paola Garcia Soto.

Web page: esa.syr.edu Facebook page: @cuseESA

Program of Distinction in Economics

(left to right) 2017 Distinction Students Wyatt Suling, Nathalie Budiman, Jeffrey Gould, Canming Jiang, with Prof. Perry Singleton.

The Economics Department offers a Program of Distinction in Economics under the direction of Professor Perry Singleton. Selected economics students are invited in their junior year to join the program. More information about the program is available at the Program of Distinction in Economics web page.

Renée Crown Honors Capstone Projects

Wednesday May 3rd, 2017 was the Honors Capstone Presentation Day.

The following students presented their Honors Capstone projects in Economics:

Canming Jiang Sija (Joy) Xu

Mengran Zhang

For information about the Renée Crown Honors Capstone Process, visit their web page.

Maxwell econ alum captures top prize in innovation competition Josh Aviv ‘15 BA (Econ), co-founder and CEO of Spark-Charge, won grand prize at the Blackstone/Techstars global venture pitch competition in New York City on October 18, 2017. Read the full story.

JoAnn Heffernan Heisen Award 2017 This award is given annually to recognize the academic contributions of an outstanding graduating senior in Economics. The recipient receives a $500 award. Congratulations to Mengran Zhang, as last semester she was the award recipient.

left to right) Prof. Gary Engelhardt, Men-ran Zhang, Prof. William Horrace.

(

Omicron Delta Epsilon Inductees April 2017 Awards Outstanding economics majors are invited to become lifetime members in the Omicron Delta Epsilon international honor soci-ety. The society exists to form a community of economists across countries. Membership is based on scholarly achievement and is recognized worldwide.

For more information about the Omicron Delta Epsilon, visit their web page.

g

M 111 Syracuse axwe University

Microsoft Excel Certification

Syracuse University Center for Learning and Student Success CLASS

Free Tutoring ECONOMICS - ECN203

Economic Ideas & Issues - Dr. Ashby

Schedule - 6 seats each session

Day of Week Time of Day Location

Monday 4-5pm Flint 100B

Tuesday 3:30-4:30pm 348 Bird Library

To make an appointment:

Login to Orange SUccess through MySlice, under Student Services . Click link "Ask for Help" in Orange SUccess,

Blackboard under Tools,

or contact CLASS at Cj,ASS@syr edu or call (315) 443-2005.

Department of Economics 110 Eggers Hall Syracuse, New York 13244-1020

Training and Tutoring Excel Training & Tutoring for ECN 203 are available this semester.

The Excel Training and Certification Program is available to Maxwell School and Col-lege of Arts and Sciences matriculated students who are actively enrolled in courses during the semester in which they are attempting to participate in this certification program. If you have not declared a Major or Minor in the Maxwell School or the Col-lege of Arts and Sciences, and are not actively enrolled in courses, you are not eligible to participate. Learn more at the Maxwell Testing Center.

The Center for Learning and Student Success (CLASS) offers free, small group tutoring for students enrolled in selected large undergraduate courses that have tradition-ally created hurdles for students. This semester, tutoring for ECN 203 Economic Ideas & Issues is available. These sessions are available on Mondays 4-5 p.m. in Flint Hall, room 100B and on Tuesdays 3:30-4:30 in Bird Library, room 348.

CLASS has more information about tutoring and includes other helpful resources on their web page. Check it out!

Free tutoring sessions offered by the Center for Learning and Student Success.