A Report from the Chair

Dear Alumni and Friends,

Since last year’s newsletter, we have had a changing of the guard in the Department of Economics. Professor Keith Maskus’s term as department chair ended at the beginning of the summer while I began a new four-year term as chair. On behalf of alumni, students, staff, and faculty, I express thanks for Keith’s leadership. Despite some difficult times for the University of Colorado during Keith’s term, the department prospered and continues to do so. Thanks to a university faculty fellowship, Keith will devote the 2006–2007 academic year to scholarly pursuit at CESifo (Joint Initiative of the University of Munich’s Center for Economic Studies and the Ifo Institute of Economic Research) and, as usual, he will be hopping the globe presenting his research. I also want to thank Professor Yongmin Chen for his service as associate chair of graduate studies and Professor Ann Carlos for her service as associate chair of undergraduate studies. Professor Donald Waldman takes over as associate chair of graduate studies and Professor Jeffrey Zax takes over as associate chair of undergraduate studies.

News Highlights

In the spring of 2006, the department successfully recruited three new faculty members. Hâle Utar will join economics and the International Affairs Program this fall from the graduate program at Penn State University. While Hâle’s primary research field is industrial organization, her work also intersects with macroeconomics, international trade, and development economics. Drawing on theoretical, statistical, and computational skills, Hâle’s dissertation work develops and estimates several models of industrial evolution. In one paper Hâle investigates the effects of foreign competition on job creation/destruction for Columbian metal product producers. In a second paper she explores the effects of volatile macroeconomic environments on industrial evolution for Columbian apparel producers.This year Hâle will teach courses in international policy and industrial organization.

Ufuk Devrim Demirel joins the economics department this year from the graduate program at the University of Virginia. Devrim is a macroeconomist whose research emphasizes the nature of macroeconomic policy in a variety of contexts. Drawing on theoretical macroeconomic modeling skills, Devrim provides a sound theoretical justification for the procyclical monetary and fiscal polices that are observed in middle- and low-income emerging market countries. Other research considers monetary policy in cases where governments must rely on seigniorage to finance public services, how the size of government influences macroeconomic stability, and how optimal fiscal policy is affected by exchange rate policy. Devrim will teach graduate and undergraduate macroeconomic theory.

Our final spring 2006 recruit is Stephen Yeaple, who will join the economics department in the fall of 2007 as an associate professor. Considered among the very best young international trade economists in the world, Stephen leaves the University of Pennsylvania to further strengthen our international trade group. Stephen has made significant contributions in trade theory, the statistical estimation of foreign direct investment models, and technology transfer. Stephen is a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research and associate editor of the Journal of International Economics. For the 2006–2007 academic year, Stephen will be visiting Princeton University on the Peter B. Kenen Fellowship. Once on campus, Stephen will teach courses in international trade.

Turning to news highlights for current faculty, Professor Robert McNown was awarded a prestigious Fulbright Fellowship (see story in this newsletter) and will spend time away this academic year teaching econometrics in Vietnam, with other visits planned to Thailand and Norway. This year Professor Murat Iyigun became a research fellow at both the Institute for the Study of Labor in Bonn, Germany, and the Center for International Development in the Kennedy School at Harvard University. Murat will spend much of the spring at the Center for International Development. In September 2006, Professor Ann Carlos was elected vice president of the Economic History Association. Finally, Professor Mushfiq Mobarak will be a visiting professor in the economics department at Yale University for fall 2006.

Alumni and Friends Financial Support

We appreciate the generous contributions made in the past year to the Faculty Enhancement Fund and other programs in the economics department. Your contributions help maintain the department’s tradition of excellence. Information on giving to the department is provided in the newsletter. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly.

Celebrating 50 Years

Plans are now in place for our department’s 50th year celebration. Festivities will begin the evening of Friday, October 27, 2006, with a reception at the Koenig Alumni Center on campus. On Saturday, October 28, there will be several economics panel discussions during the day and a celebration dinner that evening at the Hotel Boulderado. The guest speaker for Saturday evening is economics department alumnus Don Grusin. Don has worked in many aspects of the music business as a musician, arranger, producer, and composer. Don will treat us to music and a special talk about how CU economics training and the University of Colorado so profoundly influenced his life. Invitations have been mailed. If you have not received yours, please call 303-735-5500 or e-mail annmarie.ladd@colorado.edu to request one. Additional information is posted on the department’s website at www.colorado .edu/economics. Please mark your calendar for this special celebration. Nicholas Flores