SMU Department of Economics
SMU-North Texas Food Bank study will analyze causes of hunger in Dallas and rural North Texas
Economists at SMU will analyze the roles social networks and isolation play in fighting hunger in North Texas.
Recent studies have found that household economic resources are not the only factor contributing to food insecurity, according to Thomas B. Fomby, SMU professor of economics. Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Society & Family, Economics & Statistics, Researcher news
Tagged Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development, Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering, Cox School of Business, Daniel L. Millimet, Dedman College, Fondren Library, Richard B. Johnson Center for Economic Studies, SMU Department of Economics, Thomas B. Fomby
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Despite belief WIC improves infant health, new study finds no positive or negative impact
Existing scientific literature suggests the U.S. government nutritional program known as WIC improves birth outcomes of children, but new SMU research is unable to find either a positive or negative impact on infant health.
WIC, which serves 53 percent of all U.S. infants, is for low-income pregnant women and their young children under five who are at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level. Continue reading
Imposing trade restrictions on parallel imports can motivate a firm to export, study finds
Imposing trade restrictions on parallel imports has the surprising effect of motivating a firm to export, according to a new study using game theory economic analysis, says co-author Santanu Roy, SMU. The study found that diverse parallel importing policies make it possible to analyze for the first time how competition between firms and allowing or banning parallel imports can influence competition. Continue reading
UPI: Study looks at how language excludes many in EU
UPI and other media outlets have covered the research of SMU economist Shlomo Weber.
In the new book “How Many Languages Do We Need? The Economics of Linguistic Diversity” (Princeton University Press), Weber and his co-author, Victor Ginsburgh, researched the costs and benefits of the many languages across the globe. Continue reading
Vast majority of European Union citizens are marginalized by dominance of English language
A new study finds nearly two-thirds of the European Union’s 500 million people are linguistically disenfranchised because they don’t speak English, which is the EU’s most dominant official language.
History has shown that political regimes mandate single languages for efficiency or social control. But limiting linguistic diversity can backfire, says economist Shlomo Weber, Southern Methodist University. Continue reading
International Monetary Fund: A review of “How Many Languages Do We Need?”
Renowned non-fiction author Henry Hitchings covers SMU economist Shlomo Weber’s new book “How Many Languages Do We Need? The Economics of Linguistic Diversity” (Princeton University Press).
Writing for the International Monetary Fund, Hitchings’ review “Speaking in Tongues” notes that Weber and his co-author, Victor Ginsburgh, have scrupulously researched the costs and benefits of the many languages across the globe. Hitchings, the author of “The Language Wars” and “The Secret Life of Words” among other books, notes that the books most thought-provoking section is the case study of linguistic policy in the European Union. Continue reading
UPI: Infants: Public insurance better, cheaper
The news wire service United Press International has covered the research of SMU economist Manan Roy, a doctoral candidate and adjunct professor in the SMU Department of Economics.
Roy analyzed new federal data about insured infants to compare public health insurance with private health insurance. Her analysis found that among the insured, infants in low-income families are better off under the nation’s government-funded public health insurance than infants covered by private insurance. Continue reading
Public health insurance provides insured infants better, less costly care than private plans
In the fierce national debate over a new federal law that requires all Americans to have health insurance, it’s widely assumed that private health insurance can do a better job than public insurance.
But a first-of-its-kind study of newly available government data found just the opposite for infants covered by insurance, says economist Manan Roy in SMU’s Department of Economics. Continue reading
A mathematical model determines which nations are more stable and which are more likely to break up
Thanks to a new model created by an international research group that includes SMU economist Shlomo Weber, it is now possible to predict which European countries are more likely to become united or which are more likely to break up. It does so by not only considering demographic and economic criteria but, most ingeniously of all, culture and genetics. Continue reading