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Economics at Carolina Economics at Carolina THE UNIVERSITY of NORTH CAROLINA at CHAPEL HILL From the Editor 2004 Welcome to the 2004 curriculum reform. The plan is to have the faculty (The Journal of Econometrics and edition of the Econom- new curriculum operational by Fall 2006. The Journal of Economic Development). ics Department News- We continue to be pleased with our re- Department members have continued the letter. Because there vamped basic math course and statistics strong participation in international was a positive response courses, and with the contributions of our projects in various countries of the world to last year’s combined senior economics major TAs who have been that we focused on in the last newsletter. newsletter, we again are combining both assisting in Econ 10, the Principles of Eco- Faculty have been particularly active in Asia undergraduate and graduate news items. We nomics course. We are now in the second where they continue to be involved in think that the combined format allows for year of this experiment and it appears to projects in China, Korea, The Philippines, more complete coverage of activities and have had a significant positive impact on Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Cambodia. hope that all of you will find this edition the learning environment in these courses. In summary, the Department has had a interesting and informative. In another vein, the Department is in the productive, albeit financially difficult, year. This past year saw us facing similar process of establishing a minor in Entre- Let me again thank all of you who took the budget constraints to those of previous preneurship which is a core element of the time to contact us this past year, either by years. This has occurred at a time when broader University push to develop an edu- written communications or stopping by the both student enrollments and declared Eco- cational focus in this area. The success of Department. As usual, we thoroughly en- nomics majors have remained at high lev- this endeavor was apparent in the recent joyed spending time with those of you who els. We continue to have in the neighbor- Forbes magazine article which ranked the came by the office when you were in Chapel hood of 510 juniors and seniors declaring UNC-Chapel Hill Entrepreneurship pro- Hill, and bringing us up-to-date on what Economics as their first or second major, gram tops in the country. The Department had happened in your life since leaving and approximately 600 total majors if early is excited about this new program and our Carolina. I hope that you have had a good declared majors in the General College are role in developing this, our first, Depart- year and that life has treated you well dur- included. One item of interest is that there ment minor. For this reason, we have de- ing the ups and downs of this past election is an increasing number of students declar- voted a special section to the Entrepre- year. We hope that you will continue to ing Economics as their second major. We neurship minor later in the newsletter. We keep in touch with us regarding important taught a total of 5575 undergraduate stu- hope you will find this information both events that you have experienced as well dents in the 2003/2004 school year. The interesting and informative. We, of course, as providing feedback on how we can im- quality of our undergraduate majors con- welcome any comments or ideas you might prove the educational program for our ma- tinues to be high, as reflected in their strong have about this new academic endeavor. jors. If you know of internship or job academic records, the high quality of our Department faculty have continued to possibilities that you feel might profitably senior honors theses, and the number initi- lead active research lives and to be success- be brought to their attention please let us ated into Phi Beta Kappa and the Econom- ful in obtaining research grants, publishing know. A final reminder is that the most ics honorary, Omicron Delta Epsilon. Our in high quality journals and consulting with current information about the Department majors have also continued to do well in government agencies and international or- can always be found on our website the job market, even though it has been a ganizations. Several spent part or all of www.unc.edu/depts/econ. As usual, my relatively lean market for undergraduates last year on funded research leaves at top very best wishes for a successful, prosper- in general the past couple of years. research institutions both in the United ous and interesting year. I encourage you The College of Arts and Sciences is in States and in Europe. Two major econom- to stop by and see us anytime. the midst of implementing an extensive ics journals continued to be edited by our Al Field Economics at Carolina -- Page 1 Economics Resea Faculty at Carolina continue to be spans. The share of the U.S. popula- is provided by employers until eligibil- engaged in research, both theoretical tion aged 65+ is expected to increase ity for Medicare begins at age 65. Some and applied, in many different areas at from 13 percent today to about 20 per- employer health insurance plans pro- both the micro and macro levels. This cent by 2030. This is an unprecedented vide coverage for retired workers, but year we focus on the current research change, and will have far reaching im- others do not. The absence of retiree activities of three professors working plications for many aspects of the health insurance coverage creates a in both theoretical and applied fields. economy. With funding from the Na- link between employment decisions This group includes Professor David tional Institute on Aging (part of NIH), and health insurance coverage that Blau who discusses several research Blau has conducted research on sev- may affect the incentive to retire be- projects dealing with the economics of eral of the economic implications of an fore age 65. This link does not exist for aging, Professor Richard Froyen who aging population. With his background workers who are eligible for retiree provides an overview of his various as a labor economist, studying retire- health insurance coverage from their research efforts in macro and monetary ment from the labor force was a natural employers, or who have coverage from policy, and Professor Gary Biglaiser place to begin. His early research other sources. This is an important who describes several of his ongoing showed that the timing of retirement is policy issue because reform proposals research projects in the areas of micro strongly influenced by the age of eligi- that would make health insurance cov- theory and industrial organization. bility and the level of Social Security erage independent of employment sta- It is important to again note that benefits (Econometrica, 1994). This is tus could increase the already-high much of the research which takes place a key issue for policy makers con- rate of retirement before age 65, thus in the Department is dependent upon cerned about the long run solvency of worsening the financial condition of outside grants and endowments from Social Security. Most Social Security Social Security and Medicare. In a se- prestigious organizations as well as reform plans give workers incentives ries of papers with UNC-CH colleague from private contributions to the De- to retire later, and Blau’s research Donna Gilleskie, Blau has explored the partment Trust Fund. We very much shows that such incentives could have empirical importance of this link. They appreciate all the contributions many large effects on retirement timing and found that older men with employer- of you have made to the Department could help stabilize Social Security in provided health insurance are about in recent years which have supported the long run. Subsequent research two percentage points more likely to our research efforts by helping fund showed that another major change in retire in a given year if they have re- research assistants, the acquisition of labor force behavior, dramatically tiree health insurance coverage than if important costly data sets, computa- higher labor force participation of mar- they lack such coverage, controlling tional facilities and faculty travel to ried women, also has important impli- for many other factors (Review of Eco- professional meetings and confer- cations for retirement behavior. Many nomics and Statistics, 2001). In addi- ences. For more specific information two-career married couples prefer to tion, this is the first research to ana- about Department research needs and retire within one or two years of each lyze health insurance and retirement of funding, please contact John Akin, other, but economic incentives often women, and the findings suggest the Chair, [email protected]. work against this preference. For ex- need for richer models to understand ample, employer-provided Defined the behavior of women. Benefit pension plans can provide very Blau’s most recent research tackles The Economics of Aging strong incentives to remain employed another major public policy issue: the in spite of the retirement plans of the adequacy of saving for retirement. David Blau is an spouse. Blau’s research showed that Consumption expenditure declines aging economist who these incentives matter but are gener- sharply at the time of retirement for is also an economist ally trumped by preferences (Journal many households. Some analysts ar- interested in the eco- of Labor Economics, 1998; Labor Eco- gue that this is inconsistent with the nomics of aging. The nomics, 1997, 1999). behavior implied by forward-looking population in the U.S. One of the hottest topics in retire- life-cycle models and implies that and many other countries will be ag- ment research in recent years is the households do not save adequately for ing rapidly in the next few decades, impact of health insurance on retire- retirement.
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