In this issue:
- Message from Chair Elissa Braunstein
- Department Celebrations
- Department Events
- New Undergraduate Tracks
- Research Highlights
- Alumni Spotlight: Shabda Gyawali
- Association of Graduate Economists (AGE)
- Congratulations to Fall Graduates
Message from Chair Elissa Braunstein
Dear Economics community,
This fall is one-of-a-kind. Our focus has been ensuring a safe, vibrant in-person learning and teaching experience, and I am thankful for every member of this department who pulled together to keep our community healthy. While returning to campus this semester has certainly felt more familiar to many of us, we continued to be flexible, adapt to new challenges, and take care of one another.
This fall has also been, like many before it, incredibly busy! Faculty continue to pursue heavy research agendas while mentoring both our Ph.D. students and the first cohorts of undergraduate research interns. Virtual conferences and seminars mean we have been presenting to and hearing from economists around the globe.
We have also been eager to come back together in person, kicking off the semester with a barbeque, meeting with several student organizations, and gathering with alumni and friends of the Department in Denver on the occasion of the North American Regional Sciences Conference last month. I am thankful for the generous support of our alumni and friends, whose financial gifts help fund these enrichment opportunities for our undergraduate and Ph.D. students.
In the coming weeks, we look forward to celebrating our graduating students, and enjoying a safe, restful winter break. Students, I wish you the best with your finals, and to those graduating, please keep in touch as member of our alumni community! To all, I wish you a warm and joyful holiday season.
Elissa Braunstein, Professor and Chair of Economics
Department Celebrations
Chair Elissa Braunstein was appointed by leaders of the Colorado Legislature to serve as Vice-Chair of the Economic Recovery and Relief Cash Fund Subpanel.
Professor Anita Pena was named Pilot Program Director for the High Plains Intermountain Center for Agricultural Health and Safety at CSU.
Ph.D. candidate Kit Deming was selected as 1 of 5 inaugural student members of the APPAM Entrepreneurship Policy Fellowship.
Ph.D. student Debora Nunes has been asked to serve on CSU's Women's Studies Advisory Board, helping to shape the university's Women's and Gender Studies programs (major, minor, graduate certificate) and participate in ongoing activities of the Gender Research Center.
Ph.D. student Angela Mensah's proposal for original research, "Growth and Inequality Convergence: The Role of Environmentally Related Impacts on Human Capital,” was recently accepted to UNU-WIDER's World Income Inequality Database. UNU-WIDER received nearly 230 proposals in response to this call for research and accepted a select few. Congratulations, Angela!
ECON Gives Back! Thanks to generous gifts from members of the ECON department, we raised just over $1,000 for CSU's 35th annual C.A.N.S. Around the Oval benefiting the Food Bank for Larimer County. Great work!
Omicron Delta Epsilon (ΟΔΕ) Fall 2021 Inductees
Congratulations to our newest members of ODE, the international Economics honor society!
- Jake Becker
- Uriel Bonilla
- Braden Bontempo
- Samantha Bryan
- Jessica Kennedy
- Aidan Knaus
- Anh Ngoc Nguyen
- Henrique Magalhaes Rio
- Vlad Toma Suciu
- Lauren Vilims
Department Event Updates
The fall was a great time to reconnect in person, on campus! We were excited to see so many students join us for our Welcome Back BBQ in August and Fall RAMPAGE in October, and UWE's Welcome Session in October.
Professors Terry Iverson and Daniele Tavani coordinated an incredible lineup of speakers for our virtual seminar series. If you missed out, check out the recordings of the series on our YouTube channel.
Ph.D. student Bhavya Sinha has been doing a great job coordinating the Monday Brown Bag series of graduate student presentations, and she will continue to take the lead on this in the spring. If you are interested in presenting, look for an email from Bhavya early in the spring to get on the schedule.
Students, keep an eye out for a calendar of spring semester events coming to you early in the new year!
NEW! Undergraduate Tracks
Earlier this year, the Department faculty approved and created six undergraduate "tracks" for Economics majors. If you choose to complete a track, you will complete three courses (9 credits) in an area of economics.
Click each track to see courses and requirements:
- Development/International
- Environmental
- Political Economy
- Public Policy
- Quantitative
- Race, Class, and Gender
This is an optional component of your Economics degree, and it will not appear on your transcript. We encourage you to talk to your Academic Success Coordinator about your interests and get signed up for the courses that make sense for you.
Research Highlights
Selected Publications
Ed Barbier and Jo Burgess Barbier debuted a major policy report on “Economics of Peatlands: The Case for Urgent Action” at the UN Climate Change Conference (aka COP26), streamed from Glasgow in November.
Anita Alves Pena, "Pesticide Exposure and the Physical and Economic Health of U.S. Crop Workers," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy
Ray Miller, "Health, Longevity, and Welfare Inequality in Older Americans," Review of Economics and Statistics
Prasiddha Shakya, "Impact of Remittances on Economic Growth in Nepal," Nepal Public Policy Review
Daniele Tavani, "Path Dependence, the COVID-19 Crisis, and Inequality in the United States," European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention
Daniele Tavani and Luke Petach (Ph.D. '19), "Differential Rates of Return and Racial Wealth Inequality," Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy
Ed Barbier and Jo Burgess Barbier, "Institutional Quality, Governance and Progress Towards the SDGs," Sustainability
Ph.D. candidate Ashish Sedai recently discussed his job market paper "Piped Water: Welfare and Empowerment: Empirical Evidence From a Gendered Analysis in India" on the Ideas of India podcast
Fall Conference Highlights
In September, our department co-hosted the annual Western States Graduate Workshop on Economics, alongside the University of Utah and University of Missouri-Kansas City. Several of our Ph.D. students presented papers and/or served as discussants for peers.
Ed Barbier presented on a panel at the Conference on Bangladesh at 50 hosted by the University of Queensland and broadcast internationally in October.
Ed Barbier presented on "The Economics of the Water Crisis" at the Royal Society's meeting "Drought Risk in the Anthropocene" in October.
Daniele Tavani and Manuel Cruz Luzuriaga co-presented "Classical Political Economy and Secular Stagnation" at the Forum for Macroeconomics and Macroeconomic Policy in Berlin in October.
Many faculty, Ph.D. students, and alumni attended and presented at the North American Regional Sciences Conference (NARSC) in Denver in November. We were thrilled to use the opportunity to host many visiting scholars and area CSU Economics alumni at a cocktail reception during the event!
Congratulations to alumna Tessa Conroy (Ph.D. '14) who received the NARSC Geoffrey J.D. Hewings Award recognizing distinguished contributions to regional science research by scholars who have recently completed their doctoral studies. Well done, Tessa!
ECONOMICS ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT:
SHABDA GYAWALI (BA '09)
Alumnus Shabda Gyawali (B.A. Economics ‘09, M.B.A. ‘11) returned to the CSU campus on October 20 to give a presentation on “The Role of Equity Fund in Sustainable Development in Developing Countries: View from Nepal.” Hosted by the Poverty Action Center, a REDI research team focused on development economics, Gyawali spoke with Economics students and faculty about his work as Investment Director at Dolma Impact Fund in Nepal.
“The cornerstone of national development strategy is to work with the private sector to achieve its goals. We believe there is a profound role for private equity in delivering employment opportunities to a dynamic young workforce by investing institutional capital.” - Shabda Gyawali, Investment Director for Dolma Impact Fund
Alums, want to be featured in an upcoming newsletter? Share your story with us!
Association of Graduate Economists (AGE)
Content submitted by Ph.D. student Kendall Stephenson
Leadership: This semester, AGE reorganized to minimize its hierarchy of responsibilities and increase engagement. In Fall 2021, the newly elected Executive Board is:
- Saniya Jilani
- Luke Maddock
- Vedanshi Nevatia
- Kendall Stephenson
Equity Work: One of AGE's priorities is campus equity. This fall, we partnered with the Graduate Workers Organizing Cooperative (GWOC), AAUP, and other groups to hold a panel discussion on a Colorado bill that would grant collective bargaining rights to public sector workers across the state. We encourage you to learn more about this work and sign a letter of support.
Organizing to End Graduate Worker Fees: Outgoing AGE president Deb Nunes has also been elected as Secretary of GWOC, the highest leadership position in that organization. AGE and GWOC will continue to co-organize to push for the university to end student fees for grad workers (a move recently adopted by CU Boulder).
Congratulations, Class of 2021!
Fall Graduate Degrees
Ph.D. Economics
- Maame Hagan
M.A. Economics
- Benjamin Basow
- Sanchari Choudhury
- Vedanshi Nevatia
- Untima Sangsubhan
- Bhavya Sinha
- Jackie Young
Fall 2021 Graduating Economics Majors and Minors
- Li Bai
- Sarah Baker
- Joel Barraza Nava
- Jake Becker
- Braden Bontempo
- Luis Caro
- Nicholas Carty
- Anthony Castillo
- John Castro
- Alex Chavez
- Julien Counts
- Citlaly Fierro
- Eridani Gomez
- Ben Harsha
- Hunter Hill
- Jun Jiang
- Jared Johnson
- Sreenath Reddy Koppula
- Ethan Lee
- David Lopez
- Ashton Mabry
- Abdul Messri
- Nic Miller
- Ahamed Mohamed
- Kyle Nelson
- Nick Nitzsche
- Wyatt Palmer
- Juan Perez
- Aileen Rascon
- Brenden Royere
- Josh Rudd
- Ryan Schmidt
- Rachel Siewertsen
- Vlad Suciu
- Alex Taylor
- Zach Weiss
- Brodie Wolfe
- Moselle Yohn
Credits:
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