News

Macroeconomics Conference to be held May 13 - 14 at Grove Park Inn
Macroeconomics Conference to be held May 13 - 14 at Grove Park Inn

02 May 2011 12:00AM DO NOT PUBLISH - HAD TO DUPLICATE TO ORDER CORRECTLY ON HOME PAGE  This ERID conference organized by Duke University will bring together leading macroeconomics researchers to discuss their most recent findings. The conference will focus on business cycles and various phenomenon associated with recessions and expansions. Some of the topics addressed will be the cyclical nature of the labor market, the effects of government spending on the economy, the housing market, and uncertainty and its… read more »

History of Recent Economics Conference on Friday, Saturday

27 April 2011 12:00AM The past decade has been witness to a surging interest in the history of economics post-WWII. This new scholarship has made good use of newly available source-materials, rehearsed new methodologies for the study of the past and looked across disciplinary boundaries for insights. This weekend, the fifth annual HISRECO conference offers a venue for review and development of this work.  The conference will be held this Friday and Saturday in the Social Sciences Building.  See full program… read more »

Presentation of Ph.D. Alum's Book: Why Does College Cost So Much?
Presentation of Ph.D. Alum's Book: Why Does College Cost So Much?

13 April 2011 12:00AM On Friday, April 15th, a celebration of the launch of the new book by Duke Ph.D. alum David H. Feldman and co-author Robert B. Archibald will be held in Room 113 in the Social Sciences Building.  In their book "Why Does College Cost So Much?" the economists argue that a technological trio of broad economic forces has come together in the last thirty years to cause higher education costs, and costs in many other industries, to rise much more rapidly than the inflation rate. Feldman teaches in… read more »

Andrew Sweeting's Research Featured in NSF's Online Magazine
Andrew Sweeting's Research Featured in NSF's Online Magazine

21 March 2011 12:00AM The National Science Foundation (NSF) has featured Professor Andrew Sweeting in a new video story in its online magazine Science Nation. As an applied microeconomist, Sweeting specializes in industrial organization; one line of his research focuses on perishable good markets. In the story "Ticket to Ride," Sweeting's work on the price dynamics of sports tickets is explained, using the example of Duke University basketball tickets.  See the video and text story at NSF's website or access the video… read more »

Master's Student to Speak on US Economic Outlook at Conference
Master's Student to Speak on US Economic Outlook at Conference

18 March 2011 12:00AM  - The robust response of policymakers helped the US economy avoid a worst-case scenario in 2009   - The newsflow has improved markedly since the Fall of 2010, and the economy is likely to grow strongly in 2011 and 2012   - Risks remain, however, from rising oil prices, sovereign debt concerns (both in Europe and domestically) and a potential pick-up in inflation  - The economic improvement bodes well for philanthropic giving read more »

Department Hosts NCAA Bracket Competition To Support Local Charity

11 March 2011 12:00AM This year during March Madness the economics department will host a bracket competition with a modest fee to help the Duke Partnership for Service build a safe playground for a local domestic violence shelter. Think you can outpick the economics professors? Put your prediction skills to the test as you determine which college men's basketball teams will make it to the NCAA Championship on April 4th in Houston, Texas.  See if you can outplay your fellow econ majors, old classmates - even… read more »

Atila Abdulkadiroglu in the QJE
Atila Abdulkadiroglu in the QJE

28 February 2011 12:00AM Professor Atila Abdulkadiroglu has a new article forthcoming in The Quarterly Journal of Economics on the economics of education. Abdulkadiroglu's research has affected the design and implementation of admissions policies of school choice programs in multiple U.S. cities. This new paper evaluates student achievement in Boston's charter schools and another alternative to traditional public schools called pilot schools. Both charter and pilot schools are part of a movement toward choice and… read more »

Duke Student Scores Highest Among 1,200 Global Participants in Bloomberg's Financial Aptitude Test

21 February 2011 12:00AM Bloomberg, the financial data, news and software company, has created a new global standardized test (the “Bloomberg Aptitude Test” or “BAT”), targeted at undergraduate students. The test measures candidates' level of financial knowledge and overall aptitude to succeed as a financial professional. Along with more than 1,000 students at prestigious global universities, approximately 50 Duke students took a "beta" version of the test in Fall 2010. One of Duke's participants achieved the highest… read more »

Vincent Conitzer, Professor of Computer Science and Economics, Wins Prestigious 2011 Computers and Thought Award

14 February 2011 12:00AM Vincent Conitzer was honored for his "seminal work at the boundary of microeconomic theory and artificial intelligence, in particular for groundbreaking work on computational aspects of game theory, social choice, and mechanism design," according to the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence. The organization presents the Computers and Thought award every two years to the world’s top artificial intelligence researchers under the age of 35.  "The award is the most… read more »

Second Annual International Summit for Careers in Economics

10 February 2011 12:00AM The second annual International Summit for Careers in Economics (ISCE) will be held Thursday, February 24th, 2011 in Durham, North Carolina at the Hilton Hotel.  The summit is an opportunity for prospective employers to network with and recruit top students currently enrolled in our consortium schools: Duke University, Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, Boston University and New York University.  Employers from the Triangle area, New York City, and Washington,… read more »

From Wall Street Back to Duke
From Wall Street Back to Duke

08 February 2011 12:00AM "If it wasn't for my start at Duke, I would never have had all of the great things that have happened to me in life, and I want to pay that all back," said Duke alum and Wall Street veteran, John Caccavale. Duke has welcomed that offer, hiring Caccavale to be the new executive director of the Duke Financial Economics center. The center is designed to be a conduit between Duke liberal art students, the world of financial practitioners and economic researchers. Caccavale has been featured in Duke… read more »

Professor & Two MA Alums Offer Insight into Middle East Events
Professor & Two MA Alums Offer Insight into Middle East Events

The recent events in the Middle East have many around the world anxiously watching to see the outcome of the unrest. Professor Timur Kuran, Egyptian-American Karim Foda and Egyptian Ahmed Abdel-Wahab offer their insights into the situation in three separate interviews.  An expert on the economic history of the Middle East, Kuran has written extensively on the region, most recently in a new book which addresses why the Middle East has fallen behind dramatically in living standards, technology, and economic… read more »

New Faculty Member Nir Jaimovich Brings Macroeconomic Expertise
New Faculty Member Nir Jaimovich Brings Macroeconomic Expertise

26 January 2011 12:00AM When macroeconomist Nir Jaimovich was at the age to start reading and learning about the world, he found himself surrounded by interesting but undesirable news. “All the news I was exposed to was about the macroeconomy – instability, big inflation, unemployment, recessions,” Jaimovich explained. The son of two Argentinians, Jaimovich grew up in Israel and visited his parents’ homeland regularly. Both Israel and Argentina experienced significant economic turmoil in the mid-1980s. Now as a faculty… read more »