Nathan Balke, 2007 Dedman Family Distinguished Professor in the Department of Economics, to serve as Dean ad interim of Dedman College

Nathan Balke, 2007 Dedman Family Distinguished Professor in the Department of Economics, has agreed to serve as Dean ad interim of Dedman College effective June 1, 2024, until a permanent dean has been named.
Professor Balke has twice been department chair in Economics, from 2000 – 2006, and again from 2010 – 2013. He has also been a Research Associate at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas since 1994 and currently chairs the Faculty Senate’s All-University Finance Committee. His research areas are in macroeconomics and applied time series analysis, and he teaches courses in macroeconomics at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Nathan brings a wealth of experience to this position, and we are so proud he will be serving as interim Dean!

Research Article by Professor Roy Forthcoming in Top Economics Journal

Professor Santanu Roy’s recent paper, co-authored with Ayca Kaya, is forthcoming in the American Economic Review. Their paper “Repeated Trading: Transparency and Market Structure” introduces a framework whereby market structure and rent play critical roles in determining whether reliable records of past trading volumes in markets improve efficiency.

The American Economic Review is the flagship journal of the American Economic Association and is one of the most prestigious in the discipline. Congratulations to Professor Roy!

Dr. Mea Ahlberg Nominated for Prestigious Award

Dr. Ahlberg has been nominated for the 2024 HOPE Award. HOPE stands for Honoring Our Professor’s Excellence and is the highest recognition a student can bestow on a faculty member.

Residence Life and Student Housing believes that it is important to highlight those professors who have gone above and beyond in their role. The HOPE Banquet is an opportunity each spring for students from all residential communities to celebrate faculty excellence and involvement in the student experience at SMU.

Beth Wheaton-Paramo and team publish in Empirical Economics!

Beth Wheaton-Paramo, team lead for the SMU Human Trafficking Data Research (HTDR) Program, and her colleagues have published a paper in Empirical Economics this month. 

Using data housed in the newly created SMU Human Trafficking Data Warehouse, an interdisciplinary team of researchers from Southern Methodist University and University College Dublin used count time series regression modeling to explain the effects of economic factors on the counts on federal sex trafficking-related convictions in the U.S.  This adds to the growing body of research being done within the SMU Human Trafficking Data Research (HTDR) Project. 

 

 

ECO Career Blog is Live!

The Economics department is excited to announce that our new ECO Career Blog is now live! In addition to job opportunities, the blog will contain information about internships, webinars, graduate school, conferences, etc.  Please visit the site as often as you’d like to learn more about professional development opportunities, which are updated often.

You can navigate to the blog using this link: https://blog.smu.edu/ecocareers/, or by clicking on the highlighted link on the Undergraduate Programs page :

2023–2024 Provost Research Fellowship recipients

The Economics Department wishes to congratulate Professor Klaus Desmet on being selected as a Provost Research Fellowship recipient!

In the fall 2023 semester, the Office of the Provost, in conjunction with the Vice Provost for Research and Chief
Innovation Officer and the University Research Council (URC), selected the recipients of this year’s Provost
Research Fellowship – a $15,000 cash prize designed to provide research support to SMU’s outstanding
scholars during the current academic year.
This fellowship was open to current SMU tenured faculty nominated by their dean or by the Faculty Senate.
Nominated faculty were invited to submit research proposals for review and evaluation by the URC, who then
recommended the most meritorious proposals for final selection by the Office of the Provost.
The following are the 2023-2024 Provost Research Fellows:

Alexandra Pavlakis – Professor, Department of Education Policy & Leadership, Simmons School of
Education & Human Development
Klaus Desmet – Ruth and Kenneth Altshuler Centennial Interdisciplinary Professor, Department of
Economics, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences
Jennifer Dworak – Associate Director of the SMU AT&T Center for Virtualization and Professor,
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Lyle School of Engineering
David Taylor – Co-Director of the Tsai Center for Law, Science and Innovation and Professor, Dedman
School of Law
James Lee – Professor, Perkins School of Theology