Radford University welcomes Virginia economists for annual meeting

The Virginia Association of Economists held its 2018 annual meeting at Radford University on April 5-6.
Ann Macheras, vice president of regional research and economic education at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond spoke at the opening plenary session about the U.S. and Virginia economies.

The Virginia Association of Economists (VAE) held its 2018 annual meeting at Radford University on April 5-6.

Leading economists and economics educators from around the Commonwealth gave presentations and participated in a plethora of panel discussions during the two-day event, hosted by the university’s College of Business and Economics (COBE) and the Department of Economics.

In opening remarks to the group, Radford University President Brian O. Hemphill said the university and COBE were honored to have the “important group of doers and thinkers” on campus.

“Your eagerness to innovate and incorporate best practices in research on behalf of students and citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia is greatly appreciated,” President Hemphill said. “I am very pleased that Radford University can help fuel the fires of your passion for teaching, learning and practice.”

Ann Macheras, vice president of regional research and economic education at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond spoke at the opening plenary session about the U.S. and Virginia economies. She was followed by a talk from John R. Layman, director and chief economist for the Virginia Department of Taxation.

Later in the day, Virginia Tech Economics Professor Sheryl Ball delivered the meeting’s keynote address, speaking about neuroeconomics and “why economists need brains.”

The meeting offered various breakout sessions, giving participants an opportunity to share their research. Members of the Radford University’s Omicron Delta Epsilon economics honor society attended sessions throughout the meeting.

Many COBE faculty members presented at the meeting, including:

·       Finance Professor Murugappa Krishnan: “A Kyle Market with Correlated Noise.”

·       Economics Professor Seife Dendir, “Estimating Wage Returns to Education in Ethiopia using Pseudo-panel Framework.”

·       Economics Assistant Professor Con Dugan, “The Optimal Uniform Tariff with Trade and Collection Costs in a Multi-Good Ricardian Trade Model.”

·       Economics Professor Nozar Hashemzadeh, “The Empirical Correlation between U.S.-China Current Account Balances and Changes in the Yuan-Dollar Exchange Rate.”

·       Economics Assistant Professor Eftila Tanellari, “The Effects of Land Tenure and Erosion Measures on Productivity and Investments: Plot and Household Level Evidence from Mali.”

·       Economics Assistant Professor Dan Farhat, “Economics and the Evolution of Heroic Altruism.”

·       COBE Associate Dean and Finance Professor Steve Beach: “Variance Decomposition in Four Dimensions.”

“The conference was illuminative and well attended,” said Department of Economics Chair Prahlad Kasturi. “It was personally a matter of great pride to be involved with hosting this conference and working along with Dr. Raymond MacDermott of VAE and Debbie Rynberg, Director of Radford University Conference Services to make it a success.”

 

Apr 17, 2018
Chad Osborne
540-831-7761
caosborne@radford.edu