Joseph P. Kaboski brings a rare combination of skills and interests to the economics department: the ability to move between macroeconomics and microeconomics—and experience using both areas of study to answer some of today’s most pressing questions about growth and development.
In recent years, research by the faculty of Notre Dame’s Department of Economics has captured attention beyond the world of higher education, sparking public policy discussions on issues from health care and education to social justice. That’s just as it should be, says Richard Jensen, professor and chair of the department. “I have long stated that our objective is to hire economists whose research has an impact not only on the economics discipline but also on important public policy debates,” Jensen says, pointing to several recent examples.
Success in life often starts with a great mentor. And Professor William Leahy has been that mentor for hundreds of Notre Dame students over the last several decades, building a reputation as an exemplary instructor whose commitment to students inside and outside the classroom has an enduring influence on their lives.
Associate Professor of Economics James X. Sullivan has been named a recipient of the 2010 Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C., Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.
It is not part of the regular curriculum, but William Evans is the kind of professor who goes the extra mile so his students can, too—that’s why he created a special course for students interested in submitting their statisical research to a University-wide competition.
This year, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) appointed Assistant Professors Eric Sims and Abigail Wozniak as research fellows, a validation of their ongoing work in the field—and testament to the growing influence of Notre Dame’s Department of Economics.
Understanding the role of economics in our lives is the challenge at the heart of the 2010-11 Notre Dame Forum, “The Global Marketplace and the Common Good.”
Last year was an eventful one for our department.
Research from University of Notre Dame labor economist Abigail Wozniak shows that individuals who begin their careers during economic downturns earn lower wages than similar workers who begin careers at other times, and that negative impact lasts five to 10 years after starting work.
The official poverty report the U.S. Census Bureau releases on September 16 is expected to show that the number of Americans defined as poor in 2009 increased by 2 to 3 percentage points—the largest year-to-year increase of the past 50 years. But those figures don’t tell the whole story, says University of Notre Dame economist James Sullivan.
From the late 1980s to the early 2000s, the rate of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) diagnosis soared 500 percent. Today, five to 10 percent of all U.S. children between the ages of six and 18 have been diagnosed with ADHD. But according to a recent study led by University of Notre Dame Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Economics William Evans, 1.1 million children may have been misdiagnosed.