SMU Faculty and PhD students attended the 2025 Texas Camp Econometrics on February 22nd and 23rd at Canyon of the Eagles near Austin. The conference is a mix of theory and applied work in both macro and microeconomics. Assistant Professors Alipio Ferreria and Wookun Kim, and PhD student Shuo Qi presented their research. The conference was attended by faculty and students from UT, A&M, Rice, Houston, Dallas Fed and Stata Corp.
Category: Faculty
SMU Economics professor Dr. Beth Wheaton-Páramo leads the SMU Human Trafficking Data Research (HTDR) Project Team
SMU Economics professor Dr. Beth Wheaton-Páramo leads the SMU Human Trafficking Data Research (HTDR) Project Team (www.smu.edu/htdr) and participates in other anti-human trafficking activities, such as acting as judge for Eagle Venture Fund’s Global Pitch Competition.
Click here to see the related research and publications.
Tom Fomby presented with Chief Marshal Award
The Guild of Marshals at Southern Methodist University presented the Chief Marshal Award to Chief Marshal Emeritus Tom Fomby, Professor of Economics, at the December 2024 Marshal’s Luncheon. The award recognizes Prof. Fomby’s outstanding and dedicated service as Chief Marshal of Southern Methodist University for 12 years, from 2009 to 2020 and again from 2022 to 2023. Thank you, Tom. You will be missed!
Senior Lecturer Mea Ahlberg has been nominated for the 2025 HOPE Award
We are excited to share that Senior Lecturer Mea Ahlberg has been nominated for the 2025 HOPE Award. HOPE stands for Honoring Our Professor’s Excellence and is the highest recognition a student can bestow on a faculty member. The winners of the 2025 HOPE Award will be announced at the annual HOPE Banquet.
Assistant Professor Alipio Ferreira’s research has been published in Scientific Reports
Assistant Professor Alipio Ferreira’s research Virtual reality is only mildly effective in improving forest conservation behaviors has been published in Scientific Reports.
Below is a brief description of his research in this publication:
Virtual Reality (VR) enables immersive experiences that can enhance awareness about environmental problems. We measure the effectiveness of VR versus 2D in an environmental campaign using a field experiment in Brazil. 617 passers-by at a mall were randomly assigned to watch a video clip about the Amazon Forest through VR or a traditional 2D device, with some being randomly interviewed before watching the movie (control group). We find that both the 2D and VR interventions increase individuals’ propensity to (i) contribute to an Amazonian humanitarian campaign, (ii) share contact information, (iii) interact with a conservation campaign, and (iv) state pro-conservation opinions. We find no additional impact of VR compared to 2D, but VR participants were more likely to engage with pro-conservation content online 3 months later. Our findings provide cautionary evidence about the additional potential of using immersive technologies, like VR, to improve conservation behaviors compared to 2D methods.
Congratulations, Alipio!
SMU Economics faculty, PhD students, and alumni gathered at Southern Economic Association Meeting in Washington DC
SMU Economics faculty, PhD students, and alumni gathered at Southern Economic Association Meeting in Washington DC!
Professor Tim Salmon has been named one of the inaugural recipients of the Moody Outstanding Mentor Award
Professor Tim Salmon has been named one of the inaugural recipients of the Moody Outstanding Mentor Award, awarded by the Moody School, Office of Faculty Success, and Center for Teaching Excellence! The award recognizes exceptional mentoring of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars by SMU faculty. It also comes with a nice chunk of research funds to help future students.
Professor Salmon has advised 24 Ph.D. students in the 24 years he has been a tenure-track/tenured professor, serving as the main advisor for ten of these students. In addition, he served as the Director of Doctoral Studies in our department for six years. Of the 24 students whose dissertation committee he served, 17 are currently employed in academia, ten of whom have tenure, one of whom is an associate dean, one who is the editor of a journal, several direct centers, and several are or have been department chair. Of the ten students for whom Professor Salmon served as the main advisor, eight are employed in academia and one will graduate this May. Three of these students have already been granted tenure; several of the remainder have not been out long enough. Thus, Professor Salmon has given significant time in his career “paying it forward” to the next generation of Ph.D. students.
Professor Sposi discussed deindustrialization and industry polarization on Faculti Streaming Platform
Professor Michael Sposi discussed deindustrialization and industry polarization in an interview on the Faculti Streaming Platform.
See the video of the interview here.
The Faculti Streaming Platform disseminates academic and professional research insights. It covers the most cited research in numerous research subjects.
Professor Klaus Desmet’s research on U.S. polarization was covered by an opinion piece in Le Monde, France’s premier newspaper
Professor Klaus Desmet’s research on U.S. polarization was covered by an opinion piece in Le Monde, France’s premier newspaper.
French version: https://people.smu.edu/kdesmet/files/2024/10/LeMondeOct2024.pdf
English version: https://people.smu.edu/kdesmet/files/2024/10/LeMondeOct2024Eng.pdf
In this paper, Professor Desmet shows that for the last forty years, the degree of underlying polarization of the American public in terms of their values has been high and relatively stable. Growing partisan polarization in the U.S. is a reflection of partisan views becoming increasingly aligned with the main values-based clusters in society. For a link to the paper: https://people.smu.edu/kdesmet/files/2024/07/LatentPolarization.pdf.
Assistant Professor Wookun Kim’s research is accepted for publication in the Journal of Human Resources
Assistant Professor Wookun Kim’s research Baby Bonus, Fertility, and Missing Women has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Human Resources.
His forthcoming work was featured in the article South Korea’s Plan to Avoid Population Collapse at Think Global Health, an initiative from Council on Foreign Relations.
Below is Wookun’s brief description of his research in this publication:
I estimate the effects of pro-natalist cash transfers on fertility, sex ratio at birth, and infant health in South Korea, using registry data from 2000 to 2015. I find that the total fertility rate in 2015 would have been 4.7% lower without the transfers. Cash transfers also lowered the sex ratio at birth, historically skewed toward boys in South Korea. Additionally, I show that the cash transfers led to reductions in birth weight and gestational length, which appear to be driven by negative selection into fertility, and that the cash transfers had positive impacts on birth weight among low-income families.
Congratulations, Woo!