News

08 June 2010 12:00AM It’s not uncommon to hear economics students complaining about their struggles with econometrics, but Federico Bugni found himself attracted to the subject as a graduate student at Northwestern University. “I enjoy technical work,” said the department’s new professor and econometrician. “Econometrics is extremely useful to provide answers to all sorts of economic problems.” Econometrics is the application of statistical analysis to the study of economics. “For example, if there were a situation in which… read more about New Professor Federico Bugni  »

02 June 2010 12:00AM Three faculty members of the economics department were recently promoted. The Department is pleased to announce that Atila Abdulkadiroglu, Peter Arcidiacono and Juan Rubio-Ramirez are now full professors. A faculty member since 2006, Atila Abdulkadiroglu’s research focuses on mechanism design, market design and economics of education. His research has led to the design and implementation of improved admissions policies in school choice programs in the US, including Boston and New York City. Learn more… read more about Congratulations to Abdulkadiroglu, Arcidiacono, and Rubio-Ramirez  »

18 May 2010 12:00AM Duke University held its 158th Commencement Ceremony on Sunday morning, May 16, at Wallace Wade Stadium. Immediately following, the economics department held its Graduation Recognition Ceremony in Cameron Indoor Stadium. This year the Department of Economics recognized six graduates with a Ph.D, 35 graduates with a Master of Arts, 160 graduates with a First Major in economics and 37 graduates with a Second or Third Major in economics. Various speakers addressed the audience of students, family and… read more about Class of 2010 Graduates, Celebrates  »

10 May 2010 12:00AM Approximately 30 top undergraduate students participated in honors program events this Spring. Competitions were held for best thesis, best research presentation and best poster. The students' wide-ranging research included topics such as market volatility, health care, microfinance, small business loan default, and software patents. Following is a list of the prize winners. Best Thesis:1st: Matt Rognlie "Spurious Jump Detection and Intraday Changes in Volatility… read more about Undergraduates Impress With Solid Research in Theses, Posters  »

07 May 2010 12:00AM Professor of Economic History Gionvani Zanalda helped viewers of the evening news of local station WRAL (CBS) understand the volatility in the stock market on Thursday, May 6. Here you can watch a video of the news clip that includes insights from Zanalda as well as photos from Greece. Watch the video. Read the online story. Learn more about Professor Zanalda at his profile page. read more about Zanalda on Greece and Recent Market Turbulence  »

06 May 2010 12:00AM Economic Research Initiatives at Duke (ERID) and the the Wallis Institute are co-sponsoring a matching conference titled "Roth and Sotomayor: Twenty Years After" on May 7 - 9 at the R.J. Reynolds Auditorium in the Fuqua School of Business. More than 50 economists and researchers from around the world are expected to attend, including Alvin Roth of Harvard University and Marilda Sotomayor of the Universidade de Sao Paulo. Roth and Sotomayor published "Two-Sided Matching: A Study in Game-Theoretic… read more about ERID Conference on Roth and Sotomayor: Twenty Years After  »

04 May 2010 12:00AM Twelve of our graduating Master's program students have been admitted to Ph.D. programs worldwide in economics, finance, business and health policy. "I'm really proud of of this group," said Meghan Jackson, Assistant to the Director of Graduate Studies. "The Ph.D. placements continue to get better each year thanks to our hardworking students always pushing to improve."  One such student, Harvard University-bound Daria Pelech, described why she chose to pursue her economics studies at Duke. "My… read more about Graduating MA Students Heading to Ph.D. Programs Worldwide  »

28 April 2010 12:00AM The Director of the Center for the History of Political Economy, Bruce Caldwell, recently gave a talk on F.A. Hayek and the Keynes-Hayek relationship at a conference in Cambridge on "new economic thinking." Here you can watch talks by Caldwell and other leading economic researchers, policy makers and historians of economic thought. Watch the 20 minute video of Caldwell's lecture. Many other videos on various topics can be found at the INET website. Download Caldwell's speech on F.A. Hayek and the… read more about Professor Bruce Caldwell on the Keynes-Hayek Relationship  »

20 April 2010 12:00AM Professor Ed Tower and Master's student Zhang Yichong (pictured) examine the equity returns of Vanguard and and other mutual fund families. Their results recently grabbed attention at CBS MoneyWatch, an award-winning website covering personal finance and economic topics.    See the article citing their research: "DFA vs. Vanguard - Which is better?" Read the researchers' paper: "Vanguard Verses DFA & Wisdomtree, and the Value Added by Dan Wiener's Independent Adviser for Vanguard… read more about Researching Mutual Funds: Tower and Zhang Collaborate  »

19 April 2010 12:00AM Cincinnati native Justin Knowles graduated from Duke in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in economics and political science. He then received a Master's in economics from Duke in 1997. Knowles later obtained his MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he also met his wife Jessica. We interviewed Justin to hear about his experience at Duke and learn how he puts his economics knowledge to use now:Was there a certain area of economics that you focused on? Public… read more about Alum Now at Oracle Corporation Shares His Experience, Advice  »

12 April 2010 12:00AM Originally from the picturesque city of Prato near Florence, Italy, Francesco Bianchi joined the department of economics last summer as an assistant professor. “I really liked that the department was committed to building a new macro group,” Bianchi said when asked why he took a position at Duke. “Things have turned out even better than I expected now that Nir Jaimovich [a macroeconomist currently at Stanford] is joining the faculty next year.” Bianchi completed his economics and statistics… read more about New Professor Francesco Bianchi  »

01 April 2010 12:00AM In a sneak attack this morning, a group of ravenous zombies overtook the department of economics for a short time, entering faculty offices and creating mayhem in the halls. Professor Ed Tower, unfazed, was seen smacking one unfortunate zombie on the head with his newest working paper, while the frightened EcoTeach staff threw their office candy to the zombies to distract them. Speculation arose that perhaps these zombies were rejected graduate school applicants who felt they had been discriminated… read more about Zombies Overtake Department  »

31 March 2010 12:00AM The Wharton School, the University of Toronto and Quinnipiac University will each have a new assistant professor next year who graduated from the Master’s in Economics Program at Duke.   Alumni Adam Aiken (’05), Byung Soo Lee (’06) and Daniel Taylor (’05) will complete their Ph.D.s this spring and have now finalized their job decisions.   Dan Taylor, a Ph.D. student in accounting at the School of Business at Stanford University has taken a position at The Wharton School of the University of… read more about Master's Program Alums Obtaining Ph.D.s, Top Placements  »

28 March 2010 12:00AM News station NBC 17 visited the economics department on March 26 to meet with Professor Atila Abdulkadiroglu to discuss how economic models can assist in designing flexible school assignment policies. School systems can achieve racial and socioeconomic diversity while also keeping parents who prefer neighborhood schools happy, according to Abdulkadiroglu. Read the full interview online. Learn more about Professor Atila Abdulkadiroglu. read more about Professor Atila Abdulkadiroglu Interviewed on School Choice Work  »

25 March 2010 12:00AM "What's Durham's competition? You're looking at some of the other top, hot high tech cities. And yet, Durham does it with a much greater degree of diversity and vitality, having regenerated its downtown," said Duke University Economics Associate Chair Charles Becker. Professor Becker, whose specialties include urban economics, spoke with ABC News 11 on the economic situation in Durham at the State of Durham's Economy breakfast on March 23. Watch the video interview or read the complete article. read more about Professor Charlie Becker on the Durham Economy  »

18 March 2010 12:00AM On March 26 and 27, friends and colleagues of Craufurd Goodwin will gather at Duke University for a two-day series of events celebrating forty years of History of Political Economy, the first scholarly journal devoted to the history of economics and economic thought, and forty years of Craufurd’s extraordinary stewardship as the only editor the publication has ever had. The celebration begins with a keynote address at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, March 26th, in the Goodson Chapel in the Divinity School by… read more about Celebrating 40 Years of the History of Political Economy Journal  »

15 March 2010 12:00AM On April 2-3, an ERID conference is being held on "Islam and Economic Development: Past and Present." A total of 14 papers will be presented over a day and a half, two by members of our own department and twelve by economists and political scientists from other universities in the US and abroad. The presentations will be in the Social Sciences building in room 113. The conference papers have started to come in, and all will be available approximately one week before the conference. Visit the conference… read more about Islam and Economic Development ERID Conference  »

04 March 2010 12:00AM In his scholarship, Duke Professor Timur Kuran attempts to answer the complex and politically charged question of why Islamic countries are less economically developed, in general, than Western ones. Watch him discuss the topic and field questions in a “Office Hours” webcast interview. View the video interview. read more about Timur Kuran Discusses Economic Development of the Islamic World  »

03 March 2010 12:00AM Beginning with the class of 2012, economics students can select a finance concentration, and non-economics majors can obtain a minor in finance. "The finance minor is an opportunity for non-Economics majors with strong quantitative skills to obtain exposure to a broad array of finance classes, without having to complete the extensive economics core curriculum," explained Professor Emma Rasiel, who teaches finance both in the classroom and through the Financial Education Partnership. Requirements for… read more about New Finance Concentration and Minor Now Offered to Students  »

26 February 2010 12:00AM “The main reason I came back to the area is because of the economics department at Duke – people here are passionate about doing research,” said Assistant Professor Jimmy Roberts. “It’s a department on the rise, and folks are always trying to improve it – they aren’t complacent.” After growing up in Charlotte, North Carolina, Roberts first came to the department’s attention six years ago when he won Best Paper and Participant for the Duke University Undergraduate Economics Research Symposium, while… read more about New Professor Jimmy Roberts Returns to the South  »

22 February 2010 12:00AM The department of economics will host the 2010 meeting of the Diversity Initiative for Tenure in Economics (DITE) beginning this Thursday, Feb. 25. Funded by the National Science Foundation, DITE is an initiative to increase the tenure rates among young minority faculty around the country. "We had excellent participation by our faculty in these sessions last year," said department chair Patrick Bayer. "I hope that we continue the tradition of contributing our time and energy to this important effort… read more about Diversity Initiative for Tenure in Economics (DITE) 2010 Meeting  »

15 February 2010 12:00AM This year the department of economics has received the most graduate student applications in its history. More than 1000 applicants sent in their materials to be considered for the Master's or Ph.D. program in 2010. "Applicants are becoming more aware of the department's serious commitment to expanding research, funding, and career opportunities for graduate students," explained Jennifer Counts, graduate program coordinator. "This is an exciting place to be a graduate student right now." Master's… read more about Most Graduate Program Applicants in the History of the Econ Department  »

11 February 2010 12:00AM Originally from Romania, Cosmin Ilut joined the department of economics at Duke University last summer. Ilut's major fields of interest are macroeconomics, finance and the economics of information.   "I like studying topics related to information and macroeconomics because to me it's a very exciting and relevant area to work in," Ilut said. "These aren’t just some boring math models but rather about analyzing how information is processed and disseminated and the general problem of what… read more about New Faculty Member Cosmin Ilut  »

09 February 2010 12:00AM Economics professor Rachel Kranton and Nobel Laureate George Akerlof were recently highlighted in The Chronicle of Higher Education for their groundbreaking work on identity economics. "Without identity," Kranton says, "you will miss a huge part of what drives economic outcomes and economic behavior." Identity economics, according to Akerlof and Kranton, is both a continuation of and a departure from other developments in the field over the last half-century that have brought economics… read more about Rachel Kranton and Nobel Laureate George Akerlof on Identity  »

04 February 2010 12:00AM In its latest list, Tilburg University has slotted Duke University at number 14 in its worldwide rankings for economics schools based on publications between 2004-2008. Duke shares the 14th spot with the University of Michigan. Following is Duke University's ranking broken down by year: 2004: 20th 2005: 17th 2006: 15th 2007: 13th 2008: 10th "Any such ranking is subject to arbitrary methodological choices. Rankings like this are only an indicator of research output, not an end in and of themselves,"… read more about Duke University Ranked #14 in Economics Based on Research  »

01 February 2010 12:00AM Atila Abdulkadiroglu, who researches mechanism design, market design and the economics of education, had an article published in the December 2009 issue of the American Economic Review (AER) and has had another paper accepted by the AER for publication.  Learn more about Professor Abdulkadiroglu by visiting his profile page and reading the abstracts of his two papers below. Published in December 2009 issue of the AER: Title: Strategy-proofness versus Efficiency in Matching with… read more about Professor Atila Abdulkadiroglu in the American Economic Review  »

26 January 2010 12:00AM Why are some societies relatively rich and others relatively poor? This is perhaps the most fundamental question in all of economics. Although aspects of the issue remain unresolved, there is a consensus among economists that well-defined property rights, low and stable inflation, and reasonable regulatory and taxation regimes are conducive to growth. In short, markets do produce the goods. But what produces the institutions that are necessary for the development of a well-functioning market… read more about Timur Kuran Discusses Islamic Economics, Preference Falsification  »

22 January 2010 12:00AM “It’s a very vibrant department that continues to be rising across the board,” said Professor Patrick Bayer, the chair of the department of economics. “I’m happy to commit to this place because of the unique intellectual energy here.”Bayer, who joined the department in 2006 and became chair in 2009, took a break from his research, teaching and advising to answer some questions related to the department and its future. Q: Why did you accept the position of chair of the department? A:… read more about Department Chair Pat Bayer on Recent Changes, Future Plans  »

21 January 2010 12:00AM Saturday, Februrary 6, 8:00-11:00 PM  The EGSC Faculty and Ph.D. Student Wine and Cheese party will be held, conveniently, on West Campus at the LGBT Center directly below The Loop. Who could ask for more than tasty wines and savory cheeses, good company and stimulating debates? This highly anticipated annual event has always been thoroughly enjoyed by scores of graduate students and faculty members that choose to attend. To foster a more collegial environment between faculty and students, we… read more about EGSC Student-Faculty Wine and Cheese Party  »