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Announcements for Friday, April 6, 2012

Announcements

  • Soccer match between team "Economics" versus "Rest of the World United" this Saturday

    Join in or watch a soccer match between team "Economics" versus "Rest of the World United" on Saturday, April 7, 3 PM, at the Maple-Willow-Lurch Grounds (next to Lied React creation Center). For more information contact Vipin Veetil at: vipin.veetil@gmail.com

  • RSVP needed for spring graduate student picnic

    The annual graduate student picnic will be on Friday, April 13, starting at 5 PM. Organizers are requesting an RSVP ahead of time in order to plan for food and minimize potential over-purchase. Please contact Matt Clancy, mclancy@iastate.edu, and let him know your plans for attendance.

News

  • Friday's (April 6) Department Seminar: Alice Schoonbroodt, University of Iowa

    "Property Rights and Efficiency in OLG models with Endogenous Fertility," is the title of Friday's, April 6 Department Seminar with Alice Schoonbroodt, University of Iowa. The seminar will be presented in 368A Heady Hall at 3:40 PM

    Alice Schoonbroodt earned her PhD in Economics from the University of Minnesota in 2006, spent five years at the University of Southampton, UK, upon graduation and recently returned to the Midwest to join the faculty at the University of Iowa as an assistant professor. Her main focus in research lies in the demographic aspects of applied Growth and Development Theory. That is, how does the economic environment affect demographic choices such as fertility and how do these choices and changes thereof feed back into the macroeconomy? Besides the positive questions on the topic, she also asks normative (policy) questions such as: should the government subsidize/tax fertility?

    Abstract: Is there an economic rationale for pronatalist policies? We propose and analyze a particular market failure that leads to inefficiently low fertility in equilibrium. The friction is caused by the lack of ownership of children: if parents have no claim on their children’s income, the private benefit from producing a child can be smaller than the social benefit. We analyze an overlapping-generations model with fertility choice and parental altruism. Ownership is modeled as a minimum constraint on transfers from parents to children. Using the efficiency concepts proposed in Golosov, Jones, and Tertilt (2007), we find that whenever the transfer floor is binding, fertility choices are inefficient. Second, we show that the usual conditions for efficiency are not sufficient in this context. Third, in contrast to settings with exogenous fertility, a PAYG social security system cannot be used to implement efficient allocations. To achieve an efficient outcome, government transfers need to be tied to fertility choice.

  • Friday's I. W. Arthur Memorial Seminar with David Autor, MIT

    David Autor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will present the I. W. Arthur Memorial Seminar on Friday, April 13th. "Impacts of Rising Imports from China on the Operation of U.S. Labor Markets: Differential Effects by Exposure," is the title of his talk, which will begin at 12 PM in 368A Heady Hall.


    Autor received his Ph.D. in Public Policy, J.F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, in 1999, and has been on the faculty at MIT since then. He is also a Research Fellow at National Bureau of Economic Research. His fields of specialization are human capital, skill supply and demand, and earnings inequality; labor market impacts of technological change and globalization; disability insurance and labor force participation; contingent and intermediated work arrangements. He has published five articles in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, two in the Review of Economics and Statistics, and others in Journal of Political Economy, Economic Journal and Industrial and Labor Relations Review and the Economic Journal. He also has two handbook chapters on topics in labor economics. He is a Fellow of the Society for Labor Economics and received the Sherwin Rosen Prize for Outstanding Contributions in the Field of Labor Economics.


    Ira W. "Duke" Arthur was born in Iowa in 1893. He graduated from Ames High School in 1912 as president of his senior class. He then attended Iowa State College where he studied animal husbandry. After graduating in 1916, he briefly taught animal husbandry at the University of Georgia. However, when war broke out he became a World War I flyer with the United States Air Corps. After the war, he returned to Ames where he completed a Masters degree in agricultural economics in 1927. He continued his study of economics, first at the University of Chicago and then at the University of Minnesota where he received his doctorate in 1939. I.W. Arthur joined the Iowa State Economics Department in 1936. He became a full professor in 1959. His duties were divided between extension and teaching. His extension research and activities included contributions in the areas of farm leases, land tenure, Social Security, partnership agreements, pork and beef marketing, and rural human capital. However, his greatest contributions were in undergraduate teaching, and his students admired him for both his kind, compassionate nature and for his straightforward, no-nonsense approach to economic problems. The Department of Economics at Iowa State University is proud to dedicate this seminar to the memory of I.W. Arthur and to the academic spirit which he strived to enhance.

  • Graduate Student News & Updates

    Huan Zhao graduated with a PhD in Economics in December 2011.  His co-major professors were Leigh Tesfatsion and David Hennessy.  In October 2011 he assumed a full time position as Market Analyst with the Independent System Operator of New England (ISO-NE) in Holyoke, MA, the organization in charge of managing wholesale power market operations for the entire New England region.


    Abhishek Somani successfully defended his Economics PhD thesis in December 2011 and will graduate in May 2012.  His major professor is Prof. Leigh Tesfatsion.  In February 2012 he assumed a full time position as Smart Grid Market Analyst with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, one of the sixteen national laboratories currently operated by the U.S. Department of Energy.

  • Weekly Media Connections for the Department of Economics

    Dave Swenson was interviewed by Jens Krogstad, the higher education reporter at The Des Moines Register, about the economic impacts of high student loan costs. He was also interviewed by Jennifer Hemmingson of the editorial board of The Cedar Rapids Gazette on proposed tax increment financing (TIF) reforms pending before the Iowa House and Senate in light of Swenson’s research, recommendations and testimony on TIF reform before the House Ways and Means Committee in February.

    Follow up media coverage for Kling, Herriges, Otto river study:


    http://s3.amazonaws.com/TVEyesMediaCenter/UserContent/119761/959262.3937...

Graduate Student Announcements

  • Graduate Assistant, 2012-2013

    Graduate Assistant, 2012-2013, Liberal Arts and Sciences Career Services, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

    107 Catt Hall, www.las.iastate.edu/careers

    20 hours/week—9 month, paid position. Graduate Assistants may qualify for in-state tuition and fees. See Graduate Student Handbook for more information. Training is provided and necessary for successful execution of the following:

    • Review resumes and cover letters for students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences looking to improve their job search materials
    • Coordinate the Mock Interview program and conduct mock interviews for College of Liberal Arts and Sciences students
    • Serve as a part of Career Fair committees which involves student organization advising and working with undergraduates to execute major career fair events each semester
    • Give presentations promoting Liberal Arts and Sciences Career Services and related events in classrooms and student organization meetings
    • Design, develop, and implement a major project to be determined with supervisor
    • Attend meetings to discuss projects/questions/issues
    • Other duties as assigned

    Qualifications: Candidates with a background in liberal arts and sciences or career services are highly encouraged to apply.To apply, please submit a resume, cover letter, and list of three references to Taren Reker Crow at taren@iastate.edu. Position will remain open until filled.

Conferences and Calls for Papers

  • ISU-NWRC Symposium Invitation

    This Symposium will bring together National and International Experts from Academia, Non-Profit Groups and Government to cover topics including Climate Change, Food Insecurity and Sustainable Food Systems as it relates to Plant, Animal and Human Health both within the United States and Globally.Early Registration Deadline: April 15, 2012. Register at www.nwrc.iastate.edu/symposium

Funding Opportunities

  • USDA Women and Minorities in STEM Fields (WAMS)

    Deadline: April 12, 2012; Requires 1:1 cost share; $75K to $300K

    WAMS Grant Program Goals:

    1. Develop successful academic recruitment and retention programs increasing the number of women and underrepresented minorities from rural areas who will pursue and complete a postsecondary degree in STEM disciplines funded by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, and for FY 2012, encourage projects focused on any of the five NIFA Challenge Areas; and,
    2. Foster partnerships among academic institutions and employers that develop sustainable research or extension initiatives to increase the participation of women and underrepresented minorities from rural areas in experiential learning opportunities leading to STEM-related careers in disciplines funded by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, and for FY 2012, encourage projects focused on any of the five NIFA Challenge Areas.

    A WAMS project should focus on at least one of the following three Program Areas:

    1. Recruitment/Retention Strategies: Projects specifically developed to identify, advise, and place women and underrepresented minority students from rural areas into postsecondary academic degree-granting programs within STEM disciplines addressing at least one of the five NIFA Challenge Areas and ensure their continued success through mentoring activities.
    2. Research and Extension Strategies: Projects specifically developed to identify, advise, and place women and underrepresented minority students from rural areas into experiential learning opportunities within STEM disciplines listed in the five NIFA Challenge Areas and ensure their continued success through mentoring activities. Where possible, projects that also contribute to the economic viability of rural communities are also encouraged.
    3. Career Guidance Programs or Motivational Strategies: Projects specifically developed to identify, advise, and select women and underrepresented minority employees from rural areas currently working in non-STEM occupations to obtain any necessary, postsecondary academic coursework, research or extension training needed to switch to STEM-related occupations addressing the five NIFA Challenge Areas.
  • NARUC Request for Proposals on regulatory certification

    Please find a Request for Proposals from the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) for development of certification concepts for regulatory professionals. http://www.naruc.org/RFP/NARUC-RFP%20certification%2004%2002%2012.pdf.

    Please note the following timelines:

    • Expressions of Interest due April 16, 2012, 5:00 pm Eastern
    • Questions due April 30, 2012, 5:00 pm Eastern
    • Questions & Answers posted to NARUC website May 15, 2012
    • Full proposals to RFP due June 29, 2012, 5:00 pm Eastern
  • NSF and NIH: Core Techniques and Technologies for Advancing Big Data Science & Engineering (BIGDATA)

    More information available at: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=504767

    Proposal Due Dates:

    • June 23, 2012 – Mid-Scale Projects ($250,001 to $1M per year for up to five years)
    • July 11, 2021 – Small Projects ($250K per year for up to three years)
  • USAID Climate-Resilient Ecosystems and Livelihoods (CREL) Grant - Bangladesh
  • USAID Initiative for Conservation in the Andean Amazon Phase II Grant

Job Opportunities