Department of Economics at Temple University

Please enjoy these photos from the April 30, 2024 Annual Awards Luncheon of the Economics Department.

Professor Joshua Mask was quoted in today's New York Times - Why Better Times (and Big Raises) Haven't Cured the Inflation Hangover:

“But most people don't worry about broad state-level or national-level trends" said Joshua Mask, a labor economist at Temple University in Philadelphia. "Most people's understanding of the economy is going to be their own little world”.

Why Better Times (and Big Raises) Haven’t Cured the Inflation Hangover Frustrated by higher prices, many Pennsylvanians with fresh pay raises and solid finances report a sense of insecurity lingering from the pandemic.

A group of Temple Economics majors - Matthew Drayton (MathEcon-CLA); Zachary Somogyi (Econ-CLA); Karina McKenna (Econ-Fox); and Akash Banerjee (Econ-CLA) - have placed in the finals of The Fiscal Challenge. The Fiscal Challenge is a national competition in which teams of students present policies to reduce the share of the publicly held national debt to 95 percent of GDP by 2054. The competition attracts teams from schools like Princeton University, Notre Dame University, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The team will travel to Washington DC for the final round of competition on April 12!

On Friday December 8 at 2:30pm Prof. Jake Wagner from Washington State University is giving a talk in our Fall Seminar Series.

On Friday Nov 10 at 2:30pm Prof. Sophie Calder-Wang from Wharton’s Real Estate Department is giving a talk in our Fall Seminar Series.

Save the Date!
Join fellow alumni, faculty, and current Economics students
for a tailgate prior to the November 4 football game against the US Naval Academy.

Details to follow.

Adam Ozimek (Ph.D. 2013) recently published an article in The Atlantic that details how the US might have averted a recession:

The Simple Mistake That Almost Triggered a Recession Leading economists said we’d need higher unemployment to tame inflation. Here’s why they were wrong.

Congratulations to Prof. Joshua Mask, who has a recent publication in the journal Labour Economics.

Salary history bans and healing scars from past recessions In a recession, increased competition forces inexperienced job market entrants to accept lower wages than those who start their careers during an econ…

Research by Prof. Joshua Mask on leading indicators of recessions was featured in a recent article in the Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/07/11/part-time-jobs-economy/?fbclid=IwAR0fy0DT1KvqWQh50atHoT4vrojLX9yOObrnEIZUgLOxWgS_b9oA_2Oq_z0

Businesses are cutting workers’ hours in a warning sign for the economy The number of people working part-time for economic reasons beyond their control jumped by nearly 500,000 last month, the biggest jump in more than three years.

Prof. Michael Leeds quoted in this article by the Philadelphia Inquirer about the feasibility of a new Center City arena for the Seventy-sixers.

Sixers say area around proposed Center City arena could handle thousands of cars on game days On game days, the Sixers estimate, about 3,700 cars would arrive and depart from the area around their proposed arena. That’s if the team can slash the percentage of fans who now drive to games.

Prof. Mike Bognanno is cited as a faculty expert in WHYY.

See which industries are adding jobs across Philly in a strong labor market New data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that health services and hospitality drove job growth across the Philadelphia metro area over the past 12 months.

Dr. Timoshenko was recently invited to be a discussant at the 13th Annual Conference of the LACEA Trade, Integration and Growth Network at INTAL in Buenos Aires. She discussed the work of Ariel Burstein, UCLA, entitled "Input Varieties and Growth: A Micro-to-Macro Analysis.

The Department held its annual Awards Luncheon yesterday, May 2, 2023. Here are some photos from this joyous occasion.
Photo credits: Dr. Dimitrios Diamantaras for all photos but the one including him, which was made by Dr. Viviane Sanfelice.

Members of the Temple Economics Society recently attended the NABE Policy Conference in Washington, D.C and met with Janet Yellen.

Prof. Michael Leeds shares his expertise in this Forbes' article!

The Super Bowl Doesn’t Always Produce Super-Sized Revenues For Local Taxpayers As spectators, teams, and the news media fill up hotel rooms and restaurants, Super Bowl LVII should be a big win for the host city—but that's not always the case.

Congratulations to Prof. Michael Leeds on the seventh edition of The Economics of Sports, co-authored by Peter von Allmen (Temple Ph.D.-1990, Skidmore College) and Victor Matheson (College of the Holy Cross) that has just been published by Routledge.

Prof. Joshua Mask shares his knowledge in the May 2022 issue of the Philadelphia Tribune.

He will also be presenting his latest research titled "How Increased Labor Demand at the Start of Your Career Can Improve Outcomes" at two upcoming conferences:

New York State Economics Association 74th Annual Conference – SUNY Old Westbury

15th Annual People and Organizations Conference – Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania

Recession may or may not be here, but be prepared The late U.S. President Harry S. Truman famously said: “It’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose yours.”

Professor Rhiannon Jerch was quoted by Philadelphia Magazine in this interesting article about the rising cost of dining out.

Why Your Burger and Fries Cost $24 at Southwark A breakdown of the expenses behind Southwark's cheeseburger explains how inflation and supply-chain issues impact the price tag.

Professor Christopher Swann, a Temple alumnus (MA, 1981; Ph.D. 1997), has been doubly honored by Ivey Publishing. Ivey announced that his case study, “Netflix: Will Content be Enough” (link below) coauthored with Mary Kelly (Villanova University), was the best-selling case of the year. Professor Swann also received Ivey Publishing’s Best New Author Award. This award is presented annually to the author who has published their first Ivey Publishing case within the last three years and who the highest total case usage over this period.

https://www.iveypublishing.ca/s/product/netflix-will-content-be-enough/01t5c00000Cwq3u

Prof. Catherine Maclean shares her expertise in an interview with Freakonomics M.D. on sin taxes. Listen now to this interesting episode.

Should We Have to Pay for Our Sins? - Freakonomics Taxes on alcohol and to***co promise to make people healthier and raise public funds. But can they backfire? Bapu Jena looks at the complicated economics of sin taxes.

Prof. Shreyasee Das is a co-editor for this quarter's CSWEP newsletter that writes a guide for non-tenure track faculty position. Check out the newsletter in the link below.

www.aeaweb.org

We had our annual departmental awards luncheon in person this year, on April 26, after two pandemic-affected years when we held it virtually. Here are some visual highlights. Photo credits to Michael Leeds and Dimitrios Diamantaras

Check out this very recent publication of Prof. Viviane Sanfelice and her co-author Prof. Hao Teng Fe (Department of Economics, SDSU) that measures how local crimes affect subsequent consumer visits to food and entertainment establishments.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094119022000250?via%3Dihub&fbclid=IwAR21ECpaefCJFuKQK2EpMKExPesAYGmqqEQ7-9oUJq4AKCxS_3_bPx4NFFs

How bad is crime for business? Evidence from consumer behavior Understanding how consumers respond to crime offers evidence of how safety perception impacts individuals daily choices and has important implications…

Congratulations to James Bailey (Ph.D. Economics, 2014), who has just been granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor at Providence College. 👏👏

Congratulations to alum 🦉 Afrouz Jahromi - Assistant Professor at
Widener University for being selected as an AEA Summer Fellow at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth.

We are very proud of you! 🥳

More information about the fellowship is below. https://equitablegrowth.org/engage/funding-opportunities/american-economic-association-summer-economics-fellows-program/

American Economic Association Summer Economics Fellows Program - Equitable Growth An overview of Equitable Growth’s American Economic Association Summer Economics Fellows Program and how to apply.

Professors Simon Hakim and Erwin Blackstone are coauthors (with Brian Meehan, Berry College) of “No Child Left Behind in Foster Care” which appeared in the November 2021 volume of The Independent Review. They are also co-editors (with Robert M. Clark, EPA, ret.) of the Handbook on Public Private Partnerships in Transportation, Volume I, which was recently published by Springer.

https://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?id=1664

No Child Left Behind in Foster Care | Brian Meehan, Simon Hakim, Erwin A. Blackstone As children within the foster care system age, they suffer greater emotional, educational, and criminal justice problems

Check out the article in the Inside Higher Ed with an interview of Professor Michael Leeds on the skyrocketing salaries of college football coaches.

Huge coaching contracts—unjustifiable or business as usual? Massive contracts for college football coaches have prompted criticism from some administrators and elected officials, but economists note such paydays have been building to this level for years.

Elizabeth Wheaton (Ph.D. '06) was awarded the Southern Economic Association's Kenneth G. Elzinga Distinguished Teaching Award at the SEA's annual conference this November.

https://blog.smu.edu/economics/2021/11/12/beth-wheaton-wins-sea-teaching-award/

Lyft is hosting an internship information session for econ students on October 25th. More information in the link below. https://www.canvas.com/app/discover/events/a/a/82fda78f-063a-494b-9b68-e9bfe9280d48

Lyft Economist Internship: Info Session | by Lyft | Canvas Join Lyft’s Economics team for an info session on the Summer 2022 Economist Internship at 3pm PDT on Monday, October 25th! Current team members will share

Check out this very recent publication of professor Viviane Sanfelice that uses data from Brazil to study how in utero exposure to the dengue virus affects birth outcomes.

Mosquito‐borne disease and newborn health While mosquito-borne diseases are currently most prevalent in mid-latitude countries, rising global temperatures could expand their range. This paper investigates whether one such disease, dengue, ha...