Category: Research

2025 SMU Human Trafficking Data Conference on June 9-10, 2025

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SMU Human Trafficking Data Research (HTDR) Project Team (www.smu.edu/htdr) is honored to host these dynamic speakers at the 2025 SMU Human Trafficking Data Conference: Strategies for Effective Human Trafficking Data on June 9-10, 2025. 

Content will include presentations, breakout and networking sessions, and innovation highlights. The main areas of focus are law enforcement, nonprofit, medical/healthcare, legal, survivor leadership, and research/data science.

Date: Monday, June 9 – Tuesday, June 10, 2025
Location: Frances Anne Moody Hall on Southern Methodist University (SMU) campus

About the Conference
Registration (Deadline: Monday, May 19)

Browse the contents of SMU Human Trafficking Data Conference: 

Conference Schedule

Professor Sposi discussed trade deficits and tariffs at the DFW chapter of NABE

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Professor Sposi gave a luncheon presentation to the D/FW chapter of the National Association for Business Economics about trade deficits and the effects of tariffs.

Summary: Two fundamental principles from national income accounting. First, a country’s trade deficit, defined to be its imports minus its exports, is the same as the country’s income minus its spending, which means fiscal policy (part of spending) cannot be ignored. Second, a country’s deficit also equals its investment minus its saving, which means that international finance (foreign borrowing, FDI) cannot be ignored either. When it comes to bilateral deficits, it is imperative to consider value-added measures of trade, in addition to traditional gross measures, to account for global supply chain linkages.

Link to the presentation slides below: 

https://bpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/people.smu.edu/dist/b/1355/files/2025/04/Sposi-Slides-20250428.pdf 

2025 Texas Camp Econometrics

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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.

SMU Economics professor Dr. Beth Wheaton-Páramo leads the SMU Human Trafficking Data Research (HTDR) Project Team

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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.

Dissertation by SMU PhD graduate Seth Emblem was featured in Australian media

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The dissertation by Seth Emblem, a recent PhD graduate from SMU economics department, was featured by Inside Story, an Australian magazine featuring analysis, commentary and reporting by leading writers and researchers!

By surveying 300 Americans in late 2021, Seth’s dissertation shows that political partisan gaps tended to be smaller than people expected and that monetary incentives tended to diminish partisan gaps where they existed. 

See the Inside Story article here.

Assistant Professor Alipio Ferreira’s research has been published in Scientific Reports

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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!

Professor Sposi discussed deindustrialization and industry polarization on Faculti Streaming Platform

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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

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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

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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!