William Bellinger, professor of economics at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., will be the featured presenter at the next Faculty Lecture Series event to be held at 3 p.m. on April 18, in room 320 at Penn State Lehigh Valley, Center Valley, Pa. Bellinger will present "Retail Markets in Small Towns and Cities." This event is free and open to the public. (more)
Penn State alumnus David Grow and his wife, Carolyn, have made a leadership gift with a commitment of $2 million from their estate to the Department of Economics in the College of the Liberal Arts at Penn State. Their gift will endow the position of director of undergraduate studies, the first endowment of its kind at the University. Susan Welch, the Susan Welch Dean of the College of the Liberal Arts, said, "Thanks to David and Carolyn's generosity, their gift will greatly enrich the educational experience of so many of our students in the future. We're very grateful for their vision in seeding new teaching initiatives and innovative learning opportunities through extended internships, study abroad, and undergraduate research projects." (more)
The national campaign to improve public schools and the quality of the education provided to young children, including minority children, is a key focus of groundbreaking research led by Harvard economist Roland Fryer, one of the most prominent Ph.D. graduates of Penn State's College of the Liberal Arts. He was selected this fall by the MacArthur Foundation, along with others, for its distinguished "genius" grant to expand his research in racial inequality in American society. The economics graduate has offered new insights on such issues as the cognitive underpinnings of racial discrimination, labor market inequalities, and the educational paths of minority children. (more)
The rising cost of a college education and limited access to financial aid may create a less productive workforce and steeper wealth inequity, according to a study by two North American economists.Students with low-income parents are discovering that it is more difficult to find funds to pay for a college education now compared to students of similar economic backgrounds in the 1980s, said Alexander Monge-Naranjo, assistant professor of economics, Penn State."The consensus was that in the 1980s, credit constraints didn't seem to matter for those who went to college," said Monge-Naranjo. "But according to the latest data, we see family income and parental wealth are making a big difference in who is attending college." (more)
Recent weeks have been bad for agricultural commodity producers, with falling prices impacting Pennsylvania's farmers. An economist in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences said there are reasons why prices for corn, milk, soybeans, beef, pork and wheat have fallen sharply. (more)
Christopher Cook, solar energy leader and former SunEdison partner, will visit Penn State to present "Solar Energy Economics" at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 29, in 309 Walker Building on Penn State's University Park campus. This lecture is free and open to the public. (more)
Due to sharp declines in revenue and steep operating costs, the future of the U.S. Postal Service is uncertain, says economics professor Mark Roberts. "The USPS has faced major changes in the competition for parcel service over the last couple of decades as UPS and FedEx have grown," said Mark Roberts, Penn State professor of economics. "It is now facing large declines in the demand for first-class service as substitute delivery methods -- particularly electronic bill paying and Internet streaming of movies -- have developed." One major challenge, notes Roberts, is the hybrid nature of the USPS as a "quasi-governmental agency." Created in Philadelphia by the Continental Congress in 1775 -- with Benjamin Franklin at the helm as the first Postmaster General of the United Colonies -- the service is neither an entirely government-owned corporation (as Amtrak is) nor an entirely independent business. The USPS is defined as a semi-independent federal agency, mandated to be "revenue-neutral," meaning just breaking even, without making a profit. Breaking even it is not. (more)
High-tech training may trump tax breaks for creating more jobs and improving a state's economy, according to a team of economists. "We found that lower state taxes were not statistically associated with a state's economic performance," said Stephan Goetz, professor of agricultural economics and regional economics, Penn State. "The tax climate was not linked to either growth or income distribution." (more)
Economists recognize that companies that export are more productive. However, a more complex relationship between exporting and investing in research and development may better explain the high productivity of companies in "economic miracle" countries such as China and Taiwan, according to a team of economists. "The old story is that there's some type of magic that makes your company more productive if it exports," said Bee-Yan Aw, professor of economics, Penn State. "Actually what we found is that really productive firms tend to export in the first place." (more)
Robert Crassweller, professor of horticulture in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, is part of a $3.8 million, multiuniversity research project to evaluate the wine quality of grapes, with an eye toward improving grape and wine sustainability and economic vitality in the eastern United States. Crassweller will help to evaluate the horticultural characteristics and adaptability of grape varieties grown at Penn State's Fruit Research and Extension Center in Biglerville and Lake Erie Regional Grape Research and Extension Center in North East for production in Pennsylvania. He also will work with the Penn State Extension enologist to evaluate wines made from the grapes. (more)
