Economics
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 Maria Mileva ‘07 investigated economic determinants and effects of childhood malnutrition in the United States as an EXCEL research assistant to David Stifel, assistant professor.
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Economist Charles Schultze observed that markets are perhaps the most important social invention humankind has yet achieved. Markets are the primary means of economic interaction among the earth’s inhabitants. The study of markets for labor, land, and capital, the understanding of economic systems, and the analysis of current economic issues are the core of Lafayette’s economics and business curriculum. Economics and business is the largest of Lafayette’s academic programs. The department’s elective courses are grouped into four areas: finance, political economy-public policy, applied economics, and international economics. Well-qualified students are encouraged to conduct independent study and honors research. The department offers a major, a minor, a joint major with the mathematics department, and a joint major with the department of foreign languages. All economics and business majors become proficient with spreadsheets and with an econometric package, and many students learn other econometric and analytical software. The department provides access to economic, business, and census figures through Citibase and ICPSR, a database shared by a group of colleges and universities, as well as through the Internet. |
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Special FeaturesEach year, approximately 40 students participate as interns in local public agencies and private corporations. Seniors who participate in the department honors program prepare and defend a thesis with close guidance from a professor. Recent honors projects have focused on collusion in major league baseball, the gender wage gap, and the efficiency of the crude oil market. Beyond the core curriculum, students work with their advisers to design a program of study to meet individual interests and career objectives. For example, a student choosing to concentrate in international economics would elect departmental courses within this area plus courses in related departments such as history, government and law, and foreign languages. In addition to teaching, faculty members continue their professional development through research, writing, and consulting. Students can collaborate with professors as research assistants through the EXCEL Scholars program. Several students have coauthored published articles with faculty members. The Investment Club is a student-run organization that manages a portfolio of about 30 securities, most of which are stocks, valued at about $316,000. Students learn about investing firsthand by making decisions regarding the purchase and sale of securities, and observing the results of their actions. In addition to managing the portfolio, the club holds workshops to educate members about investing and Wall Street. Members invite speakers and organize trips to meet firms, gain exposure to Wall Street, and network with alumni in the financial world. The campus chapter of Omicron Delta Epsilon, the international economics honor society, provides tutoring for students in economics and business courses, operates a speaker’s program, and sponsors social events. Members also help community residents complete income tax returns as part of the Internal Revenue Service’s program of volunteer income tax assistance. The volunteers receive special training outside the classroom using materials provided by the IRS and gain professional experience. FacilitiesThe department is located in the William E. Simon Center for Economics and Business, named in honor of former U.S. Treasury Secretary William E. Simon ’52. A computer classroom is heavily used by classes in financial accounting and econometrics. “Smart” classrooms allow faculty to use the Internet, computer software, film, video, and live camera to display images and three-dimensional objects to complement discussions and presentations. The department subscribes to several economics databases used by students and faculty. A lounge in the lobby provides comfortable space for students to work together on group projects or socialize between classes. After GraduationAmong the economics and business graduates in the Class of 2006, 79 percent accepted full-time jobs, 3 percent went to law school, and 2 percent enrolled in other graduate programs. Fifteen percent were traveling, applying to graduate school, working part-time by choice, had unpaid internships, or were doing volunteer work. Graduates are aided in their employment search by the independently endowed James Lee Pardee Placement Service and the alumni career advisers network. The network includes 2,200 graduates representing virtually every vocational field in 47 states, the District of Columbia, and several foreign countries. A sampling of postgraduate employment in recent years includes consulting with Accenture; accounting with Price Waterhouse, KPMG, and Deloitte and Touche; banking with Bank of America, Citigroup, M&T, Morgan Stanley, Central Pennsylvania Bank, Wachovia, Deutsche Bank, Chase-Manhattan, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; financial services with American Express, Merrill Lynch, Putman Investments, Smith Barney, Vanguard Group, Thomson Financial, Bear, Stearns & Co., Credit Suisse First Boston, T. Rowe Price, and Prudential Securities; and managerial training programs with Procter & Gamble, Cintas, and General Electric. In recent years students have entered graduate programs in business at Stanford University, University of Chicago, University of Rochester, University of Maryland, University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh, Ohio State University, and Columbia University; in economics at Chicago, Cornell University, Pennsylvania State University, Princeton University, and Yale University; law schools at Harvard University, Georgetown University, Boston University, George Washington University, Maryland, University of Washington, Penn, New York Law School, Villanova University, and Dickinson School of Law; and teaching at Columbia, George Washington, and Moravian College. FacultyRexford A. Ahene, Professor and Co-chair of Africana Studies. Ph.D., University of Wisconsin. Special interests: urban economics and real estate, and international business and development. Susan L. Averett, (Home Page), Charles A. Dana Professor of Economics and Business and Head. Ph.D., University of Colorado. Special interests: labor and child care economics. Recipient of Student Government Superior Teaching Award, Marquis Distinguished Teaching Award, Lennertz Prize for teaching and mentoring, and Jones Faculty Lecture Award. Howard N. Bodenhorn, (Home Page), Professor. Ph.D., Rutgers University. Special interests: economic history and law and economics. Member of National Bureau for Economic Research. Recipient VanArtsdalen Prize for scholarship and Student Government Superior Teaching Award. Thomas H. Bruggink, Professor. Ph.D., University of Illinois. Special interests: regulation, natural resources, quantitative methods, and economics of sports. Rose Marie L. Bukics, Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Professor of Economics and Business. M.B.A., Lehigh University. CPA, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Special interests: auditing and accounting theory. Recipient of Marquis Distinguished Teaching Award and Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award. Donald R. Chambers, Walter E. Hanson/KPMG Peat Marwick Professor of Business and Finance. Ph.D., University of North Carolina. Special interests: corporate finance, investments, and derivative securities. W. Mark Crain, (Home Page), William E. Simon Professor of Political Economy. Ph.D., Texas A&M University. Special interests: public choice economics, political economy, and public finance. James DeVault, Associate Professor. Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison. Special interests: international trade and finance. Recipient of Marquis Distinguished Teaching Award. Edward N. Gamber, Professor. Ph.D., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Special interests: macroeconomics and time-series econometrics. Recipient of Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award. Sheila Handy, Assistant Professor. Ph.D., New York University. CPA, State of New York. Special interests: financial accounting and tax accounting. Jerome F. Heavey, Professor. Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University. Special interests: microeconomic theory, public finance, and land reform. Gladstone A. Hutchinson, Associate Professor. Ph.D., Clark University. Special interests: economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Michael A. Kelly, Assistant Professor. Ph.D., Cornell University. Special interests: investments, derivatives, futures and options, and macroeconomics of information. Christopher Ruebeck, (Home Page), Assistant Professor. Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University. Special interests: industrial organization, evolutionary economics, and experimental economics. Recipient of Student Government Superior Teaching Award. Edmond J. Seifried, Professor. Ph.D., West Virginia University. Special interests: banking and financial markets. Julie K. Smith, (Home Page), Assistant Professor. Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University. Special interests: macroeconomics, monetary policy, and applied macroeconometrics. David C. Stifel, (Home Page), Assistant Professor. Ph.D., Cornell University. Special interests: developmental economics, applied microeconometrics, and poverty and multidimensional welfare dynamics.
Susan L. Averett
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