MICHAEL JAMES HALL
2406 Wright Ave
Greensboro, NC 27403
Education (University of North Carolina at Greensboro – UNCG):
Ph.D. in Economics (Albert N. Link, adviser)
Dissertation: Public Investments in Sustainability Technology
M.A. in Applied Economics
B.A. in Economics/Business Administration
Email: mjhall@uncg.edu
Phone: (336) 803-2417
May 2015 (Expected)
May 2013
August 2010
Fields:
Environmental Economics and Policy, Technology and Innovation Policy, Public Economics,
Applied Microeconomics
Job Market Paper:
“Public Investments in Sustainability Technology: An Evaluation of North Carolina’s Green Business
Fund.” Submitted to Economics of Innovation and New Technology.
Teaching Experience (UNCG):
Economics 201: Principles of Microeconomics (In Class)
Economics 300: International Economics (Online)
Economics 250: Business Statistics (Online, Co-Instructor)
Fall 2014 – Spring 2015
Fall 2013 – Spring 2014
Summer 2013
Work Experience:
Senior Teaching Assistant, UNCG
August 2013 – Present
Duties: Teaching both in-class and online courses at the undergraduate level. Preparing and
delivering course materials in a range of formats including: in-class lectures, course websites, online
assessments via Blackboard and Pearson’s MyEconLab. Managing general student learning and
achievement.
Graduate Research Assistant, UNCG
August 2010 – July 2013
Duties: Assisting with academic research including: reviewing literature, collecting and cleaning
data, implementing econometric methods, and writing article sections. Topics of research covered a
range of fields in management and economic disciplines. Assisting with teaching through preparing
and delivering lectures, evaluating student performance, and collaborating in the development of
course content.
Programming Skills:
STATA, MatLab, SAS
References:
Professor Albert N. Link, University of North Carolina at Greensboro: anlink@uncg.edu
Professor Stephen P. Holland, University of North Carolina at Greensboro: sphollan@uncg.edu
Professor Dennis Patrick Leyden, University of North Carolina at Greensboro: dpleyden@uncg.edu
Professor Dora Gicheva, University of North Carolina at Greensboro: d_gichev@uncg.edu
Publications and Submitted Papers:
Hall, M.J., (2014). “Public Investments in Sustainability Technology: An Evaluation of North
Carolina’s Green Business Fund.” Submitted to Economics of Innovation and New Technology
Abstract: North Carolina’s Green Business Fund, a state-level sustainability-technology program, is
evaluated in terms of net economic surplus. To conduct this evaluation, this paper develops and
implements an economic model from which values of producer and consumer surplus can be
measured. Data limitations drive modeling choices, namely the model must be applicable when the
researcher is unable to decompose revenues into separate prices and quantities. The method
employed herein is an extension of one previously employed to examine SBIR programs facing
similar data limitations. An additional facet of the modeling method is a specification such that the
presence of an existing technology can also be taken into account. This allows the researcher to limit
the evaluation to only newly created surplus. The findings from this evaluation suggest that the
Green Business Fund has resulted in a positive net social surplus and, when imposing an elasticity of
demand drawn from the literature on other sustainability-based technologies, a benefit-to-cost ratio
above 2.
Hall, M.J. and Link, A.N. (2014). “Investing in Green Technology: Employment Growth from North
Carolina’s Green Business Fund.” The Annals of Regional Science, revisions requested.
Abstract: In 2007, North Carolina introduced a two-year program to encourage the development of
the green economy in the state and create new jobs. The North Carolina Green Business Fund
competitively awarded to 27 organizations in FY2008 and FY2009 a total of nearly $2,000,000 to
conduct research and development relevant to this purpose. In this paper we estimate the number of
new jobs created through this program. We find that 59 new full-time equivalent jobs were created in
the short-run through this program. We also find that those organizations that can attract greater
additional financial support for their research generate relatively more jobs. Lastly, we find that
university involvement in these projects tempers job losses among projects discontinued early as well
as job growth among those that commercialized their technologies. We cautiously offer, because of
limited data, recommendations to states with similar programs to create structures to advise
technology-based research organizations about sources of additional financial resources.
Hall, M.J., Layson, S.K., and Link, A.N. (2014). “The Returns to R&D: Division of Policy Research
and Analysis at the National Science Foundation.” Science and Public Policy, 41: 458-463.
Abstract: The U.S. National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) Division of Policy Research and Analysis
(PRA) supported academic research related to, among many other things, measurement of the returns
to private and public R&D, during the early 1980s. The findings from this body of research became a
foundation for a number of technology and innovation policies promulgated in the aftermath of the
U.S. productivity slowdown in the 1970s, and, as we suggest in this paper, a foundation for many
contemporary technology and innovation policy initiatives. We argue that there are lessons to be
learned from PRA’s successes from its sponsorship of research in this area, and we suggest one
possible area of future emphasis for NSF’s ongoing Science of Science and Innovation Policy
program.
Dissertation:
“Public Investments in Sustainability Technology”
Chapter 1, Introduction.
Chapter 2, Theory of the Dual Market: reviews the theoretical literature on the nexus between
sustainability and technology policies. This review includes an overview of the theory that underlies
public support of sustainability and technology policy from both an individual perspective as well as
from a dual perspective. Thus, this chapter provides theoretical arguments for the public support of
sustainability-technology programs, such as North Carolina’s Green Business Fund.
Chapter 3, History of Policies that Address the Dual Market: outlines the history of federal- and
state-level policies that have and still are addressing sustainability and technology issues. This
overview places the North Carolina’s Green Business Fund in context.
Chapter 4, Government Accountability: motivates the following evaluation chapters by reviewing
the theory and policy related to government accountability. This chapter articulates the impetus for an
evaluation of government policies, including North Carolina’s Green Business Fund.
Chapter 5, North Carolina’s Green Business Fund and Similar Programs: describes North
Carolina’s Green Business Fund in detail as well as other similar federal- and state-level programs.
The chapter explains the details of the Green Business Fund’s operation and the projects it has
supported. Also, this chapter examines the diffusion of state-level sustainability-technology programs,
provides an empirical description of the growth of these programs, and estimates the relationship
between having adopted a sustainability-technology program and state-level characteristics.
Chapter 6, Data: describes the survey data used in chapters 7 and 10; issues of survey response bias
are discussed.
Chapter 7, Employment Growth from North Carolina’s Green Business Fund: provides an
empirical assessment of job growth attributable to projects supported by the Green Business Fund.
Chapter 8, Program Evaluation Literature Review: reviews the program evaluation literature with
an emphasis on cost-to-benefit analysis and others methods that applicable to sustainability and
technology programs. This review provides a basis for which the results of an evaluation of North
Carolina’s Green Business Fund can be compared.
Chapter 9, Evaluation Methods*: sets forth the theoretical model used for the economic evaluation of
the Green Business Fund.
Chapter 10, Result of Empirical Evaluation of Benefits and Costs*: presents the empirical findings
from implementing the theoretical model in Chapter 9.
Chapter 11, Summary and Concluding Remarks: summarizes the findings from this dissertation and
discusses the applicability of the model in Chapter 9 to an economic evaluation of other sustainability
and technology programs.
Appendix A, Survey Instrument: includes the survey instrument used by the North Carolina Board of
Science and Technology
Drafts of all chapters are available on request.
* Job market paper. Under submission.