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! 

Professor Tim Salmon published his research in Experimental Economics.

Professor Salmon published his article (with E. Glenn Dutcher and Krista J. Saral) Is “real” effort more real? in Experimental Economics.

Many laboratory experiment studies use “real” effort designs where subjects complete an actual task to exert effort rather than using a stylized effort design where subjects simply choose an effort level from a predefined set. Professor Salmon’s research finds no differences in participants’ behavior when the experiment proposes “real” effort tasks instead of “stylized” efforts, when controlling for effort costs.

Congratulations to Professor Salmon!

Alumni Punarjit Roychowdhury receives prestigious award

Punarjit Roychowdhury received the prestigious “Prof. M.J. Manohar Rao Award 2021” from The Indian Econometric Society! The award is presented annually to an Indian economist under the age of 35 years for his/her outstanding contributions to quantitative economics while working in India. For more information click here.

Opportunity for students to publish in the Student Monthly Labor Review

There is a new publishing opportunity for students with an established and respected journal, the Monthly Labor Review (MLR), which is published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The MLR publishes a wealth of research in a wide variety of fields. Subjects include the labor force, employment, inflation, productivity, occupational injuries and illnesses, wages, prices, and more. The new Student MLR department is intended to complement our current MLR offerings in which students have an opportunity to publish their work in a peer-reviewed journal.

To help introduce faculty and students to this new opportunity, there will be information sessions on September 10, 2024, at 3:00 pm eastern time and on September 11, 2024, at 6:00 pm eastern time. Registration for the events is required and is available online at the following links: session 1 and session 2.

If you are unable to attend, let us know. Respond to this email with your name and university to receive submission information. See the MLR for authors page for more information about submitting articles or email Justin Holt, Economist with the Bureau of Labor Statistics at holt.justin@bls.gov. Click these links for a factsheet and video about the Student MLR.

 

 

SMU Faculty Research in the News

For business owners that don’t regularly get repeat customers, such as real estate agents, does being transparent about past business make them more or less likely to make a sale that benefits both them and the buyer? That is the question Dr. Roy and coauthor address in their recent paper “Repeated Trading: Transparency and Market Structure“. SMU Research News summarizes some of their insights here.

Santanu Roy named Robert H. and Nancy Dedman Professor in Economics

The Dean and Provost have named Santanu Roy the Robert H. and Nancy Dedman Professor in Economics. This is an endowed position given to a faculty member in recognition of their outstanding research accomplishments. Roy has firmly established himself as an international leader in microeconomic theory, and is expected to continue to make significant contributions to the discipline.

Human Trafficking Data Conference a huge success

The SMU Human Trafficking Data Research (HTDR) Project Team and volunteers hosted the first-of-its-kind SMU Human Trafficking Data Conference! It was an amazing 2-day event of human trafficking experts working together to learn, ask questions, and network. Researchers, practitioners, law enforcement and governmental officials, nonprofit organizations, data scientists, and other stakeholders met to discuss the quality, availability, and efficacy of human trafficking data.

Work by Recent Alumnus Jesse LaBelle Garners National Attention

We are very proud of our recent alumnus, Jesse LaBelle. He graduated from SMU in 2020 with a BS in Economics with a focus on Mathematics. After graduating from SMU he joined the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, eventually becoming a Senior Research Associate, where he has had a tremendous impact. His work on multinational corporations was featured in the famous podcast – Trade Talks – “How multinationals avoid taxes through technology licensing”. In addition, his work on supply chain disruptions and inflation was cited by the United States White House in the 2024 Economic Report of the President. In Jesse’s words: “Being cited in the CEA report is a tremendous honor and exciting to know that the work we did has some real world policy relevance.”

Jesse is currently enrolled in the PhD program in Economics at Northwestern University, one of the top programs in the world. We wish him the best and look forward to many more great achievements.