AUAL EWSLETTER
2009 Edition
Department of Economics
Texas Christian University
50 million Beatles fans can’t be wrong!
Edition ine 2009
Fort Worth, Texas
Lattitude 32° 50' N, Longitude 97° 3' W
So, welcome to Number Nine, dear readers.
We send our newsletter out once a year,
sharing it with students and alumni alike.
We hope it provides readers with a fun way
to keep up with our department. Whether
you are a student, an alumnus, an alumna, a
Beatles aficianado, or an Elvis fan, we hope
you enjoy our publication.
Welcome to the 2009 TCU Economics
Department newsletter! I am shaking with
excitement as I write this. Like me, many
people have been waiting for this moment
with great anticipation. Yes, of course I’m
referring to the digital re-mastering of all the
Beatles songs! The release date is 9-9-09.
(FYI for hardcore Elvis fans: the 9’s refer to
one of the Beatles’ songs.)
Speaking of the number nine, did you know
this is the ninth edition of our economics
department newsletter? “That’s a funny
coincidence.” you say. Think again! We
believe the Beatles release date was selected
to coincide with the release of this year’s
newsletter, no doubt to ride the coattails of
our success.
In fact, upwards of 50 million economicsloving Beatles fans from around the world
have affectionately dubbed this year’s
newsletter “Number Nine.” 1 And you know
--------------------------------------------------------
SPECIAL AOUCEMET: Alumni
Create Scholarship! At this point I was
going to present the Table of Contents, but I
can’t wait to share this news. It’s about the
creation of a brand new scholarship that will
help our excellent economics majors offset
the cost of tuition.
Here’s how it went down: Alumnus George
Henderson (class of 1970) contacted us a
while back expressing interest in the
creation of a student scholarship for our
economics majors. He offered to make a
generous contribution to get the scholarship
started, with the hope that other alumni will
help by chipping in. Serious planning
1
If traveling abroad you’ll hear the newsletter
referred to as ‘El Numero Nueve’ in Latin
America, ‘Numero Neuf’ in France, ‘Nummer
Neun’ in Germany, and ‘ 號碼九’ in China.
1
ensued and the details were ironed out. Now
we are happy to announce the establishment
of the TCU Alumni Excellence in
Economics Scholarship.
Table of Contents!
We are also happy to announce that the very
first scholarship winner has just been
chosen. Standing at six feet two inches tall
and weighing in at a powerful 3.99 G.P.A. is
senior economics major, Curt Mason.
Congratulations, Curt! And warm thanks go
out to George Henderson for his initiative
and generosity! 2
III. Our Brilliant Graduates…..…page 6
I. Our Brilliant Students………..page 2
II. Department Events…………....page 5
IV. Faculty News…….…..….......page 8
V. Bonus Material...........................page17
VI. We’re Moving! …………… ……..…….page19
!
I. OUR BRILLIAT STUDETS
Department Senior Scholar: Each year
we choose an outstanding graduating
economics major as our “Senior Scholar.”
This year it’s Brad Williams. Hear hear!
PBK Honor Society Inductee: This year
economics major Carlos Valera was
inducted into the prestigious honor society,
Phi Beta Kappa. Muy bien!
Alumni Scholarship Recipient, Curt Mason
(above). Curt smiles at the news of being
selected. It’s nice to be rewarded for hard work!
FYI: If you are interested in contributing to
the Alumni Excellence in Economics
Scholarship or you would simply like to
know more about it, please contact Ann
McDonald. She can be reached via email at
ann.mcdonald@tcu.edu or by phone at 817257-6187. Or you can contact our
economics department chair, Ed McNertney.
His email address is e.mcnertney@tcu.edu
and his office phone is 817-257-7230.
A Gentleman and a (Senior) Scholar.
Brad Williams (above) who majored in
economics and philosophy, stoically assumes the
mantle of Senior Scholar. (But if we know Brad
like we think we do, deep inside he is actually
jumping for joy, clapping his hands, and
probably playing some air guitar. 3 )
And now for that…
2
Did you notice Curt Mason has a 3.99999 GPA?
Do you still think the Beatles thing is a
coincidence?!
3
Update: I just spoke with Brad and he says we
don’t know him like we thought!
2
AddRan Festival of Scholarship and
Creativity: This year two of our
And the AddRan award is sponsored by the
AddRan College of Liberal Arts.
economics majors received awards for their
excellent presentations at the annual
AddRan Festival:
Boller Award Winner, Brad Williams:
•
Sam Hamann was given AddRan
Best Presentation honors by a panel
of AddRan judges. Sam’s topic was
“Microfinance Plus: Adapting
Traditional Finance to Address the
Complex Problem of Poverty in the
U.S.”
•
Carlos Valera won the Economics
Department Top Presentation award
for his study “The Financial Crisis of
2007: A Multidisciplinary Approach
Toward its Understanding.”
Each spring the TCU Honors Program
sponsors a day of presentations by Honors
students. The Boller Award is given for the
best presentation. This year economics
major Brad Williams claimed first prize for
his discussion of “A Troubled Industry:
Fraud and Deception in the Subprime
Mortgage Industry.”
A Smile from Brad Williams, at last!
Remember the earlier photo of Brad? We asked
him what had become of his stoic demeanor. He
told us that the relentless onslaught of awards
eventually melted his cool, rational veneer,
giving way to what he described as “a warm
5
glow of accomplishment.”
Economics major Carlos Valera (above)
discusses the recent U.S. financial crisis before
an audience at the AddRan Festival. 4
DABE Regional Business Economists
Competition: For his research paper
exploring the potential of microfinance in
the U.S., TCU economics major Sam
Hamann won second place at the Dallas
Association of Business Economists
(DABE) spring 2009 competition.
The DABE competition is always heated as
contestants are drawn from colleges
throughout the north Texas region.
As part of their AddRan Festival awards,
Sam Hamann and Carlos Valera each
received a cash prize of $100. The
Economics Department award is sponsored
by alumnus Lane Smutz. (Thanks, Lane!)
4
There was a time constraint on the AddRan
presentations, but as you can see in the photo,
Carlos was able to double the amount of
information conveyed per minute by talking
with his mouth and his hands. Now that’s an
efficient use of resources!
5
Actually, Brad didn’t say any of that, but isn’t
it obvious that’s what happened?!
3
finance.
Then in the spring Joe went to Uganda to
observe micro-finance in action. His
thoughts?
“The trip really brought to life the
“micro” side of development papers I
read in class. It was inspiring and
informative to hear first hand the
challenges the Ugandans had go
through to succeed at their ventures.”
In an unrelated, but interesting, vein, Joe is a
Certified Personal Trainer.
(Above) TCU Economics major Sam
Hamann congratulated by DABE president.
o Time to Pose! This year Joe Brownback
(above) was very busy. He secured a grant,
fought financial illiteracy, learned microfinancing in Africa, and helped people
achieve physical fitness! He’s so busy he
barely had time to stop for this photo.
The Beatles song that best describes him?
Eight Days a Week, of course!
Achtung! Wunderkind found in TCU
Economics Department! Stephanie
Jennings’ achievement calls for applause. She
just graduated with a 3.9 G.P.A. It’s hard
enough to earn a 3.9 in one semester, but she
did it over her academic career, while
majoring in economics and finance.
Wunderkind, ja! Sehr Gut! Eine kleine
nachtmusik!
Omicron Delta Epsilon Honor Society
Inductees: We were proud to see the
following six students inducted into the
national economics honor society, Omicron
Delta Epsilon:
• Tristan Atwood
Student Receives Grant to Promote
Financial Literacy, Travels to Uganda:
Working in Dr. Elliot’s Development
Studies class, international economics major
Joe Brownback applied for, and received, a
grant to promote financial literacy among
needy members of the local community. Joe
organized data generated by previous
Development Studies classes and focus
groups at the local Union Gospel Mission.
Working with Dr. Elliot, he used that data to
create a teaching manual for personal
4
•
Joel Eckhardt
•
Dariya Fadeeva
•
Alex Higgins
•
Ujaala Rashid
•
Maria Runco
Adam Smith’s Lost World of Gratitude:
Ted Harpham drove over from the UT Dallas
Political Science department one day to give a
lively lecture on the treatment of emotions in
Adam Smith’s works. We were all grateful for
his visible hand of altruism!
Econ Department Events_
Green Chair Lecture: In February we
were visited by Professor Barry Naughton,
the 2009 Cecil and Ida Green Chair in
Economics at TCU. Naughton is an
internationally recognized authority on the
Chinese economy, and the author of
numerous books and articles. He gave a
public
presentation
entitled
“China
Succeeding: Who Does the Chinese
Development Model Challenge?”
The Economics Club sponsored a fruitful
jobs discussion by Jacob Watson and
Andrew Jennings (both TCU Class of ’08).
Fab Four Fotos: As you can see from their
Professor Barry aughton (above) speaking
about the prospects for the Chinese economy.
gestures, Jacob Watson (top) and Andrew
Jennings (bottom) are enthusiastic speakers.
They discussed their job experiences, lessons
learned, and then shared information about job
opportunities at Lockheed Martin, where they
are both employed.
Tables Turned: Former Student
Lectures Professors! At the behest of Dr.
Charles Sawyer, one of our best former
students, Tibor Besedes, visited us and gave
a lecture. Tibor is now an economics
professor at Georgia Tech. He delivered a
presentation on “The Role of Extensive and
Intensive Margins and Export Growth.”
Upcoming Speakers!
We will have two speakers this fall:
Our first speaker is Danielle Dimartino.
She is a Financial Analyst with the Federal
Reserve Bank of Dallas.
Topic: The Recent Financial Crisis
Time: 6:30pm Tuesday, October 6
Location: Dan Rogers Hall, Room 134
The Student becomes the
Master! TCU alumnus
Tibor Besedes returned to
lecture his former
economics professors.
This event is open to the public. That means
you are invited to attend!
5
Danielle Dimartino, analyst
for the Dallas Fed, will speak
Oct. 6.
FYI: Danielle has a special connection to
TCU. She married a Horned Frog!
Our second guest speaker this fall is a
TCU product. David McAllister (Class of
‘08) is a pricing analyst for Southwest
Airlines. He uses a lot of economics in his
job and he’d like to tell our economics
majors exactly how he does that. What
thoughtful alumni we have!
“HELP!” Southwest Airlines analyst,
David McAllister, passes out snacks at
30,000 feet. He isn’t on the flight crew,
but he enjoys helping out when he travels.
He says the flight crews do appreciate
him being ‘round. And in return, they
help him get his feet back on the ground.
OUR BRILLIAT GRADUATES
In this section our graduating seniors answer the age old question…
“ow that you’ve got your degree, what will you do with it?!”
Kirsten Bjorn: I commissioned as a Second
Lieutenant in the Army and I'll be managing
hospitals in South Korea. I will go back to
graduate school eventually, but not for a few
years. But when I do, the Army will pay for
that degree as well!
Sam Hamann: I will attend law school
at Southern Methodist University beginning
this fall.
Stuart Hamilton: This fall Im starting my
pursuit of a Masters in Econ from SMU...
6
Show me the money! Travis Kennedy and
Chace Langford look ready to take on the world
of banking and financial planning.
Tijani wadei: I will be starting the
Economics Graduate program at Boston
University in the fall.
Philip Truong: I'm working at Stevens
Financial Group in downtown Fort Worth. It
is a part of Mass Mutual.
Brad Williams: I'm working for a company
in Dallas by the name of Group
Pension Administrators. In the fall I will
begin my graduate work in economics at the
University of Texas at Dallas.
Modern Woman: Kirsten Bjorn: In top
photo, spring graduate Kirsten Bjorn is shown
proudly receiving her wings at Airborne
School in Fort Benning, Georgia. In bottom
photo, Kirsten poses with fellow fashionista
(and economics major), Hannah Fiddick, at a
swanky banquet filled with sophisticates.
Travis Kennedy: I graduated this year and
I'm going to work for American Bank of
Commerce in Austin Texas.
Chace Langford: I will be doing Financial
Advising for Smith Barney. I am currently
studying for the Series 7, Series 66, and
Group 1 exams. I’ll be a Financial Advisor.
Spring graduate Adam Thorne ponders
the future, trying to glean what’s in store.
He hopes to land a research position,
preferably with the Treasury, the Fed, or the
BLS.
Stephanie Jennings: I just took a full time
job with Target Corp. at one of their stores
here in the Fort Worth District as an
Executive Team Leader in their Executive
Development Program.
7
Faculty ews!
Factoid: The addition of Dr. Bucila
represents a 100% increase in the eastern
European presence among the TCU
economics faculty. Dr. Kiril Tochkov, who
joined us two years ago, is from Bulgaria.
ew Faculty Member! Laura Bucila,
Lecturer: This year we are being joined by
Laura Bucila. She received her PhD from
Clemson, but she comes to us straight from
Massachusetts’ College of the Holy Cross in
Worcester, where she was teaching
economics. (We asked Dr. Bucila if she ate a
lot of Worcester sauce while at Holy Cross,
but she just kind of stared at us.)
Dr. Bucila can teach a variety of economics
courses. She has studied Labor economics
and Industrial Organization, with some
Health Economics thrown in for good
measure. From her dissertation she has
developed a paper entitled “EmploymentBased Health Insurance and the Minimum
Wage.”
Dr. Bucila was born and raised in Romania.
She says she can remember well the events
surrounding Ceauşescu’s overthrow and his
attempt to flee by helicopter. And she’ll be
happy to discuss it with anyone who wants
to hear more!
8
summer intermediate micro class yet: double
the usual enrollment! Then in spring I’ll
teach two sections of intermediate micro
instead of the usual single section. Our
department believes that when you attract
more majors, you accommodate them!
“Which amendment is that one?” This
summer I did some more work on the 17th
amendment of the US Constitution. No, not
to help get it passed, rather to understand the
forces that supported and opposed it.
Conclusions so far? It looks like self-interest
played a (statistically) significant role on
both sides. Somewhere Adam Smith is
saying “Duh!”
Dr. Laura Bucila
In keeping with the theme of this year’s
newsletter, we asked Dr. Bucila about her
favorite Beatles song. She said she likes so
many it’s too difficult to say, but her least
favorite is definitely “Back in the USSR!”
Doug Butler, Instructor: What a crazy
economy! What a great year to be teaching
macroeconomics!
And
how
many
macroeconomics classes did I teach? Zero!
I taught microeconomics. But hey, there’s
always something happening in the fastpaced world of microeconomics, such as the
N1H1 flu…?
Economics in Real Life: When Swine Flu,
so did I! This summer my wife and I
traveled to Mexico to visit her familia.
Direct flights can be pricey, so we often fly
to south Texas and then take a bus. But this
year the swine flu scared many US travelers
away, decreasing demand for trips to
Mexico, leading to lower airfares. So we not
only got to fly direct for a change, and in
less time than usual, but the experience gave
me a real world micro-economics
application for class. Ole! 6
McGlobalization! The not-so-golden arches in this
Mexican McDonalds are made of cantera, a
beautiful stone quarried in Mexico for centuries. In
stark contrast, you can see the modern electronic
menu displayed in the background. 7
Stuff: I’m Faculty Advisor for the Econ
Club. I’ve been asked to be Faculty Advisor
for Delta Sigma Pi business fraternity, as
well. 8 I served as judge in the AddRan
Festival.
I was the editor of the econ department
annual newsletter. I also served as the
newsletter’s Chief Photographer, Typesetter,
More Econ Majors = More Classes
Teaching in summer has a different feel due
to the low number of students. However,
we’ve been experiencing an increase in
economics majors, so I witnessed my largest
7
This building was once the private home of a
very wealthy don.
8
Despite being Faculty Advisor of 2
organizations I have still not advised any faculty.
6
Hoping to lure travelers, some Mexican hotel
chains offered the following deal: If you catch
swine flu while vacationing with them, your
next 3 trips are free.
9
Legal Counsel, Inspector General, and
Sergeant-at-Arms. 9
Music ews: My wife’s favorite Beatles
song is their cover of “Besa Me Mucho.”
Muy caliente!
investigating possible differences in the
preferences of citizens of EU nations
regarding inflation and unemployment. They
are also interested in the implications such
differences might have for the Eurozone.
Elvis Research: Dr. Butler is an Elvis fan.
(There’s a life-size cardboard cut-out of the
King in his office!) Dr. Butler is conducting
research to answer the question, “Are Elvis
Fans Wrong about the King? If so, How
Many?” Early results indicate that while it is
possible that a small number of fans are, in
fact, wrong (50 or 60, tops), this pales in
comparison with the vast number of fans
who can’t be wrong. Dr. Butler reminds the
reader that these are only preliminary
findings.10
Music ews: I asked Dr. Butler which
Beatles song is his favorite, but he just
stared at me.
Michael R. Butler, Associate Professor
and Associate Dean of the AddRan
College of Liberal Arts: As Associate
Dean of AddRan, Dr. Butler is kept busy
with a myriad of duties. But he also makes
time to share his knowledge in the
classroom, teaching intermediate micro and
introductory micro courses. And this last
year he was able to bring something new to
the TCU economics students. Dr. Butler
taught a brand new course: Economics of
the European Union.
To prepare for the new course Dr. Butler got
an Instructional Development grant. With
those funds, he attended educational
conferences in Europe last summer to learn
about European economic integration. (You
can read all about his trip in last year’s
newsletter!) Dr. Butler’s course bolsters our
relatively new, and increasingly popular,
International Economics major.
Dr. Butler was recently overheard
expressing interest in attending another
European Union education conference. The
good news is he won’t have to travel so far
this time, since the conference is in
California. But Dr. Butler insists he really
doesn’t mind the extra travel time for those
conferences in Europe. What dedication!
Above: Dr. Butler’s album recommendation
of the month.
Dawn R. Elliott, Associate Professor:
With a Little Help from My Friends: Dr.
Butler is collaborating with a fellow TCU
economist on new research. He and Dr.
Sawyer have begun preliminary work
Teaching: Dr. Elliot says she had an
interesting and rewarding year of teaching.
She incorporated Steven Levitt’s book,
Freakonomics, into her courses to show
students the many applications of economics
to everyday life. She also made a great deal
of progress toward the creation of a Service
9
Sadly, I was forced to give up my position as
the newsletter’s Lead Scribe due to
technological advances that rendered the job
obsolete. This also explains why my cat, Baron
von Steuben IV, is no longer Assistant Scribe.
10
And I remind the reader not to believe
everything you read!
10
Learning Pedagogy. Toward this end, her
fall 2008 Development Studies class teamtaught a Financial Literacy course at the Fort
Worth Union Gospel Mission. They taught
members of the community who face
economic hardship and who are in need of
basic lessons in personal finance. A local
branch of Washington Mutual Bank even
assisted Dr. Elliot’s students in their
instruction.
If you’ll recall from the ‘Brilliant Students’
section, Dr. Elliot worked with economics
student Joe Brownback to get grant money
to create the financial literacy teaching
manual. 11
Dr. Elliot was nominated for the Dean’s
Award for Teaching Excellence!
food, but they provided us with plenty of
Red Stripe Jamaican beer! 12
Dr. Elliot recommends this tribute to the
Beatles (above).
Research: Dr. Elliot wrote a paper based on
her class experience with the financial
literacy course. The title is “What is the
Comparative
Advantage
of
Service
Learning? Insights from Development
Economics.” It will be published in a special
issue of Forum for Social Economics.
Robert F. Garnett, Associate Professor
Dr. Garnett ventured into new teaching
territory this year! It was his first time to
teach
Contending
Perspectives
in
Economics, a relatively new course in our
department. Dr. Garnett says his chief goal
for the course was “to increase student
willingness and ability to think for
themselves about economic issues.” A noble
goal, indeed!
Dr. Elliot has submitted a paper to the
journal Social and Economic Studies entitled
“Why re-inventing the political economic
tradition is essential to Caribbean
Development.”
Teaching students to think for themselves is
something Dr. Garnett is passionate about
and takes an active interest in. Recently, he
contributed a book chapter entitled
“Thinking
for
Yourself,
like
an
Economist.”13 In April the economics
department of Dickinson College in Carlisle,
Pennsylvania invited Dr. Garnett to present
Other Activities: Dr. Elliot advises our
growing list of International Economics
majors. She is also on the Economics
Department Advisory Committee.
ew Frontiers in Baby Showering: Dr.
Elliot and her husband, Peter, hosted a baby
shower for TCU professors Dr. Rob Garnett
(economics) and his wife Dr. Lisa
Vanderlinden (sociology). It was a big hit.
The Elliots not only served great Jamaican
12
Several males on the newsletter staff are
hoping Red Stripe becomes more common at
U.S. baby showers. They say they’ll do their part
to promote this great Jamaican custom!
13
The forthcoming book is entitled The Teagle
Discussion: The Economics Major as Part of a
Liberal Education, (2009, Edward Elgar).
11
Fighting economic hardship on many fronts,
Dr. Elliot also serves on the committee for the
Tarrant County Coalition against Poverty.
11
his thoughts on this matter to their
economics majors.
stroller. The stroller is called the Quad 500.
As you can probably tell by the name, it’s
more advanced than most strollers. It has
GPS, XM Radio, and is equipped with OnStar. We hope they like it! 14
ew Book/opportunity for another
Beatles reference! Dr. Garnett collaborated
with fellow TCU econ prof, Dr. Harvey, to
edit a new book on economic pluralism. The
title is Future Directions for Heterodox
Economics. The thrust of the book’s essays
is that ‘no single economic theory or system
holds the key to human betterment.
Heterodox economists have much to
contribute.’
Frugal readers will be happy to know the
book is available in paperback. You Beatles
fans know what that means: Dr. Garnett is a
‘Paperback Writer!’ (Yes, I said it.)
John T. Harvey, Professor (prepared
by Dr. Harvey): As you may have read in
earlier issues of the newsletter, I have been
working on a book for the last 10 years or
so. In 2008, I announced that it had been
accepted for publication–now, it has actually
been published! I understand that all over
the country, kids showed up at bookstores,
dressed as me, waiting for the midnight
publication. I was (and continue to be)
deeply touched. The book is entitled
Currencies, Capital Flows, and Crises: A
Post Keynesian Approach, and I used the
theories outlined there to completely revise
my International Monetary Economics
class. I’d been adding concepts over the
years, but this was a substantial overhaul.
Lots of graphs, and lots of fun!
In other research news, I had an article
accepted for the Journal of Economic
Issues. It took a model I created in the book
and used it to explain the dollar’s fall since
2001. I also have three articles underway,
one with Dr. Tochkov (a model of financial
crises) and two solo projects (a computer
simulation of a trading bloc, plus a piece on
the impact of financial liberalization policies
on currencies over the past several
decades). I presented the financial crisis
paper in London this summer and will
present the liberalization one in Atlanta in
January. I’ll have a sabbatical in the spring,
when I plan to further extend work from the
book into papers on policy.
Above: The cover of the new book
edited by Dr. Garnett and Dr. Harvey.
ew Research: Dr. Garnett recently
published (or has forthcoming) articles on
Austrian economics, economic pedagogy,
philanthropy, and academic freedom.
Other stuff: Dr. Garnett was an instructor
for ACHIEVE, the Neeley School of
Business summer program for non-business
majors. He also co-organized the economics
department seminar series.
Personal ews: Dr. Garnett and his wife,
Lisa, are expecting a new arrival in October.
It’s a baby! Everyone in the economics
department chipped in to get them a baby
14
You’re probably wondering ‘Does that
stroller really have those features?’ Allow me
to answer this way: No.
12
victory to giving 110% and taking it one
game at a time. I also want to say hi to my
mom.
Kristin Klopfenstein, Associate
Professor (a.k.a. “Dr.K”):
Teaching: Dr. K kept busy teaching several
different courses this year. She taught
introductory microeconomics and Labor
Economics in the fall and Regional and
Urban Economics and The Economics of
Education in the spring. The latter course is
an area dear to Dr. K, as you will see below.
(Above) Dr. Harvey’s new book!
Research: Dr. K broadened her research
horizons in a fruitful collaboration with
TCU political science prof, Charles
Lockhart. They produced two publications
on Medicaid support of nursing facilities.
I mentioned in last year’s newsletter that I
was going to do something I had never done
in my 20+ years at TCU: teach intro micro.
I had done intermediate micro and an MBA
class that included a section on micro
theory, but 2008-9 was my first foray into
the beginning class. I don’t know about the
students, but I enjoyed it! This fall, I’ll be
doing International Monetary Economics
and Econometrics,
plus Contending
Perspectives in Economics. We just
introduced the last a couple of years ago but
it has already shown itself to be very
popular. In fact, the feedback from our
survey of graduating seniors indicated that
students are strongly behind our decision to
teach economics as a controversial subject
that includes a variety of schools of
thought. This approach is, incidentally, very
unique, and when I have told faculty at other
institutions they express great envy! It
really puts us on the cutting edge.
In addition, Dr. K co-authored (with
M.Kathleen Thomas) an article examining
her true passion, education. They produced
“The Link Between Advanced Placement
and Early College Success,” which will
appear in the Southern Economics Journal
this year.
Grant Project: Dr. K served as a team coleader of research analyzing student
outcomes in the Evaluation of Texas High
School Project. The research is funded by a
Texas Education Agency grant.
BIG EWS/She’s got a ticket to ride:
As you can see, Dr. K loves studying
education. Now she has a unique chance to
focus on her love. Dr. K will be taking a
two-year leave from TCU to work with the
Texas Schools Project (TSP) at the
University
of
Texas
at
Dallas, where she will be a senior
researcher. TSP has become one of the
premier education research institutions in
the country, working with leading
researchers at universities in Texas and
throughout the country to analyze relevant,
policy-related questions that benefit students
In personal news, my daughters finished
their first year of high school (and are
currently in driver’s ed!) and Melanie
molded another set of anxious 4th graders
into the leaders of tomorrow. But, the most
important thing that happened last year was
that I won my 7th fantasy football world
championship in 15 years of play.
Champagne and tears flowed. I owe our
13
in Texas and nationwide. As you can
imagine, Dr. K is very excited!15
Advisor for Omega Delta Epsilon, the honor
society of economics majors.
Family news: Dr. Lovett shares softball
coaching duties with TCU philosophy prof,
Richard Galvin. Dr. Lovett’s eight year old
daughter, Amanda, plays on the team with
Dr. Galvin’s twin girls. Meanwhile, back at
home the trees the Lovetts planted are doing
well. So is the herb garden!
John Lovett, Instructor:
Teaching: Besides painstakingly explaining
the nuances of macroeconomics to our
incoming freshmen, Dr. Lovett also taught
U.S. Economic History I and II. He’s a bit of
a history buff, in fact. Dr. Lovett also has a
passion for the development/evolution of
machines.
Naturally,
the
industrial
revolution draws his attention, which brings
us to…
ew Course offering! Dr. Lovett sought an
opportunity to combine his passion for these
with his love of teaching. As a result, he
developed a new exciting course. It’s called
“European Economic History: The Industrial
Revolution.” The piece de resistance of his
new course is to teach it in the home of the
industrial revolution, England! Dr. Lovett
submitted the course for inclusion in TCU’s
London Study Abroad program and it has
been accepted. Three cheers!
Music: Our staff reporter asked Dr. Lovett
for his favorite Beatles song. He replied “I
really like ‘All You Need is Lovett’ but my
favorite is probably ‘The Last Train to
Clarksville.’ Our reporter just stared at him.
ew Horizons! Dr. Lovett is writing a
textbook.
It’s
called
Horizons
in
Macroeconomics: An Introduction to the
Macroeconomy. Be sure to place your
advance orders with Amazon.com or the
publisher, Kendall-Hunt!
Dr. Lovett’s five year old daughter, Sarah,
highly recommends this album. 16
Pushing the Boundaries of Economic
Education! Dr. Lovett submitted a paper for
publication to Perspectives in Economic
Education
Research.
It’s
entitled
“Comparative Advantage and Productivity.”
Edward M. Mcertney, Associate
Professor and Department Chair:
After taking a break for a few years, Dr.
McNertney came out of “chairmanship
retirement” last year and remains our
fearless leader! He’s been busy this summer
monitoring enrollment of new student
orientations to make sure our incoming
freshmen have enough seats available. If the
students only knew, I bet many would send
him a thank you card.
On the Tech Front: Dr. Lovett has been
applying his plethora of computer skills.
He’s digitizing old volumes of the
Southwestern Economic Review.
Service: Dr. Lovett served as a judge for the
AddRan Festival of Scholarship and
Creativity. He also serves as the Faculty
16
15
In fact, this is the consensus Album of the
Year for all faculty children between 2 and 6
years of age!
The TSP web address is:
http://www.utdallas.edu/research/tsp-erc/
14
The Core and Assessment: Dr. McNertney
also serves as Director of the TCU Core
Curriculum. In that capacity, he regularly
holds Faculty Learning workshops to
instruct TCU professors about the new Core.
He’s been actively pursuing effective ways
to assess what kind of teaching job we’re
doing here at TCU.
timely courses in the area of finance. He
covered Financial History in the fall and in
the spring he taught the Economics of
Financial Markets.
Also in the spring, Dr. Quinn conducted the
senior seminar. The topic of this seminar
changes from year to year and this time Dr.
Quinn decided to cover the recent financial
crisis. In fact, he named the course
“Understanding the Financial Crisis.” Two
of his students did work in this class for
which they later won awards. Recall Carlos
Valera and Brad Williams from the “Our
Brilliant Students” section of the newsletter.
Dr. McNertney has co-authored (with Dr.
Catherine Wehlburg) a book chapter entitled
“Faculty Learning Communities as an
Assessment Technique: Measuring General
Education Outcomes at Texas Christian
University.” It will appear in Principles and
Profiles of Good Practice in Assessment.
Idea of the Year! Speaking of the financial
crisis, Dr. Quinn not only teaches students
how to understand it, he also offers solutions
on how to get out of it. He proposed an idea
of how to price the seemingly un-priceable
collateralized debt obligations (CDO’s). Dr.
Quinn’s brilliance was finally recognized as
his idea was selected as the ew York
Times Magazine Idea of the Year! (Dr.
Quinn is what you’d call ‘an idea man.’) To
read more about “The Quinn Solution” go
to:
Similarly, in December Dr. McNertney
(with TCU’s Dr. Blaise Ferrandino and Dr.
Catherine Wehlburg) attended the Southern
Association of Colleges and Schools Annual
Meeting in San Antonio where they
presented the paper “Global Learning in the
TCU Core Curriculum.”
Common Reading: Dr. McNertney helps to
give our freshmen a good introduction to the
university experience. He chairs the
committee that carefully selects the
readings. This year’s common reading
explored the second amendment.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/magazine/
14ideas-section3-t-006.html
In other news, Dr. McNertney continues to
serve as editor of the Southwestern
Economic Review and Southwestern
Economic Review: Research 3otes. (Yep,
that’s the journal Dr. Lovett has been
digitizing.)
Book Chapter: Dr. Quinn co-authored a
chapter forthcoming in The Evolution of
Financial Institutions from the Seventeenth
to the Twentieth-First Century, published by
Cambridge University Press. The chapter
includes a discussion of the early Bank of
Amsterdam.
Stephen
F.
Quinn,
Associate
Professor: In the fall Dr. Quinn shared his
Travel: Dr. Quinn attended a conference at
the University of Utrecht. (Dr. Quinn says
the university is located in a city called
Utrecht. Coincidence?) He presented his
paper on Britain’s securitization of
microeconomic insights with 78 incoming
freshmen. They were enrolled in his fall
course “A Strategic Approach to
Microeconomics.” 17 He also taught some
Approach to Microeconomics.” While these two
courses exhibit similaritosity, the older course
was much more stategeric in its approach.
17
Dr. Quinn says not to confuse this with an
earlier course he taught: “A Strategery-Based
15
sovereign debt in the century following the
Glorious Revolution.
FYI, Dr. Quinn was invited to present his
paper. Apparently, the people at 3ew York
Times Magazine are not the only ones who
recognize Dr. Quinn’s brilliance!
Yet another textbook! Dr. Sawyer is our
Chair of Latin American Economics, so it
shouldn’t be any surprise that he is currently
working on a textbook in that field. The title
will be Latin American Economics. Javier
Reyes is the co-author. The book is nearing
completion and is scheduled for publication
in 2010.
Reflections
on
Current Economic
Conditions: Dr. Quinn continues to lament
the weak US dollar, namely because it has
caused the price of imported beer to rise. He
has been trying to persuade his wife of the
wisdom of including imported beer into their
investment portfolio, as a hedge against
continued dollar devaluation. He says she
isn’t convinced yet, but he thinks he’s on the
verge of a real breakthrough. Until that time
occurs, he will console himself with beer
‘imported’ from Colorado.
Sports! Dr. Sawyer loves to play tennis and
is quite knowledgeable about all aspects of
the game, the players, and its history.
Kiril Tochkov, Assistant Professor and
World Traveler:
Dr. Tochkov grew up in Bulgaria, studied in
Germany and the U.S., and specializes in the
economy of China. He speaks nine
languages and he’s a huge Beatles fan! 18
Charles Sawyer, Hal Wright Professor
in Latin American Economics (prepared
Given
Dr.
Tochkov’s
international
background, it should not shock the reader
to learn that he has been doing a bit of globe
trotting. Dr. Tochkov somehow squeezed
trips to Hangzhou, China and Oxford into
the month of September. He rested a bit
before leaving in December to attend the
Indian Statistical Institute Conference on
Economic Growth and Development in
Delhi, India.
by our Latin American correspondent):
In Housing ews! This was Dr. Sawyer’s
second year in our economics department.
He had the dubious honor of spending his
first year in a dormitory, never far enough
away from late night student noise. His wife,
Diana, remained in Mississippi during that
first year while their son completed his
senior year of high school. Diana was finally
able to join Dr. Sawyer this past year, as
their son began his studies at the University
of Arkansas. The Sawyers currently rent a
house in the TCU area, but are keeping an
eye out for a home to buy. Dr. Sawyer is in
no rush. He’s just happy to be in a real
house again, in a quiet neighborhood!
Research: In 2008, Dr. Tochkov was a
Visiting Researcher at the Bulgarian
National Bank where he completed a study
on the efficiency of Bulgarian commercial
banks before and after the accession to the
European Union. The paper was written
jointly with Nikolay Nenovsky and was
published this year as discussion paper Nr.
75 of the Bulgarian National Bank.
Guest Speaker: Dr. Sawyer invited TCU
alumnus Dr. Tibor Besedes to speak to the
department about his trade research.
In addition, Dr. Tochkov co-authored a
Textbook: When Dr. Sawyer wasn’t
teaching or traveling, he was usually
working on the third edition of his
International Economics, co-authored with
Richard Sprinkle. Good news: It’s finished!
18
Actually, he speaks five languages and he’s a
bit partial to Mozart, but don’t hold that against
him!
16
paper with Dr. Sawyer and Richard Sprinkle
on the magnitude and determinants of intraindustry trade in Asia which is currently
under review.
scented candles. Ah, and the candy! But this
year she’s added something new. Now
Linda provides us with free anti-bacterial
hand lotion! Hoorah! Yep, she’s doing what
she can to keep us safe from swine flu.
Thanks, Linda!
Buckingham, Beckenham, or Bust! This
year Linda and her daughter, Lauren,
traveled to England. They saw many cool
sights for what Linda described as “ten
lovely days.” They stayed in Beckenham,
Kent, a suburb of London, in a friend’s flat.
From there they ventured out each day to
ride something called “The Tube.” Linda
says it carried them to interesting places
with names like Notting Hill, Wimbledon,
and Harrod’s. They ate wondrous foods like
bangers and mash, but not necessarily in that
order. Linda says they paid for all these
things with bobs, pounds, shillings, and half
crowns. What a strange but magical land!
Doesn’t it sound like something straight out
of a Harry Potter book?
Dr. Tochkov (right) with Green Professor
Barry aughton (opposite of right).
Teaching: Dr. Tochkov taught several
different courses this year, including Asian
Economics, Econometrics, and Introductory
Macroeconomics. Due to the increasing
number of economics majors in our
program, Dr. Tochkov is going to be
teaching not one, but two sections of
intermediate macroeconomics in the fall of
2009.
Bonus Material!!!!
Special Wedding Announcement
*******************************************
This year Dr. Tochkov supervised a special
research project by economics major Tijani
Nwadei. With Dr. Tochkov’s guidance,
Tijani examined the efficiency of Nigerian
banks.
DABE: In his capacity as faculty sponsor,
Dr. Tochkov accompanied economics major
Sam Hamann to the Dallas Association of
Business Economists’ banquet in the spring.
Linda
“McCartney”
Administrative Assistant:
Martinez,
“I wanna hold your hand!” Our best
wishes go out to spring ‘09 economics
graduate, Sam Hamann, and his new
wife, Cami!
Linda helps to keep things organized and
generally under control in the department.
She also makes the place feel more like
home with her green thumb, art work, and
********************************************
17
How are YOU dealing with the
recession?
In this section we take an up close and
personal look at the creative way one
economics student is responding to these
challenging times.
Happiness is a Warm Gnu! Caroline says
when Jackalopes are scarce, Gnu makes a
good substitute, especially in a casserole and
with a side of blackbird and fresh pickings
from her strawberry fields. She adds, “The
perfect meal ends with Rocky Road
Raccoon ice cream!” 20
Did you notice how elegantly Caroline is
dressed for her dinner guests? She says
they’ll never suspect how little money the
meal costs. Our brilliant students!
(above) Caroline “Bungalow Bill” Walker
flexing her budgeting muscle. The recession
has inspired her to find a new way to reduce
her food expenses. How? By “shopping for
deals” in the forest, a place she now refers to
as ‘nature’s discount grocery store.’ The
above photo was taken when Caroline was
just moments away from ‘making a down
payment’ on a Jackalope.
you are now reading.
20
Yes, I am cramming in as many Beatles
references as I can. Did I mention Caroline
has a dog named Lucy in the Sky with
Diamonds? And she had a goldfish named
Paul, but it died.
(My apologies to you Elvis fans …and
vegetarians, as well!)
The Texas Jackalope (above) has become a
staple food for a new generation of budget
cutters, like Caroline, although some prefer
more exotic animals like the Walrus. 19
19
Many claim the Jackalope is a mythical
creature, but we swear it is as real as the story
18
Attention: The Economics Department is MOVIG!
Don’t worry! We’ll still be here at TCU. But in January 2010 we will be moving to the fourth
floor of the new Scharbauer Hall. (It’s being built at this moment!) Scharbauer Hall will house
the AddRan College of Liberal Arts and the TCU Honors Program. Here are two web links so
you can learn more about our future home:
http://fortworthology.com/2009/08/20/tcu-scharbauer-hall-progress/
http://www.tcuphysicalplant.com/projects/projectPhotos.cfm?project=15
Above: Architect’s Rendering of Scharbauer Hall.
****************************************************************************
“Here comes the sun!” More correctly, there goes the sun. This photo was taken
on the east side of the TCU campus during sunset. That’s the economics
building/trailer on the far left. Given our impending move to Scharbauer Hall, you
might think of this sunset image as a metaphor for these final moments spent in our
current home. Well, that or just a nice photo of TCU.
19
Earlier Editions of the ewsletter
If you’d like to check out copies of our newsletter from previous years, go to this web address: 21
http://www.econ.tcu.edu/news.html
You can also check out current research of our faculty in the Working Papers section:
http://www.econ.tcu.edu/papers.html
Please contact us if you have suggestions for the newsletter or if you have some news you’d like
to share!
Contact Information
Department of Economics
TCU Box 298510
Texas Christian University
Fort Worth, Texas 76129
(817) 257-7230
www.econ.tcu.edu
*****************************************************************
Goodbye and thanks for reading.
You’ve been such a lovely audience!
-the newsletter staff
21
All editions are available for free, thanks to a generous grant from the NBER and SPECTRE.
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