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Phone 732-932-7482 1. How is the job so far? As the man said when he had just stepped off the Fax 732-932-7416 roof of the World Trade Center, 'So far, so good.' http://economics.rutgers.edu 2. Where do you see the Department going over the next 10 years? I [email protected] certainly expect the number of faculty in the department to increase to [email protected] match our growing popularity and student load. I expect to see Rutgers , 16,'( Economics become even more prominent in national rankings as the excellence of our faculty becomes even better known. I believe that we Ten Questions For the Chair p.1 will become a national model for state universities serving a large, diverse Thank You Prof. Alexander p 2. student population and state. Graduate Director Report p. 3 3. Can you give a brief sketch of your background? I was born in Undergraduate Director Report p. 4 Baltimore, grew up in East Lansing, Michigan, and was an undergraduate Graduate Alumni Survey p. 4 at the University of Michigan, where I was editor of The Michigan Daily Faculty Profiles p. 5 and principal bassoonist in the orchestra. For graduate work I went to Graduate Reunion p. 6 Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, although I didn’t run into Bill Clinton then. I Looking Ahead p. 6 did, however, meet him at a reunion he threw at the White House in the Faculty Research p. 7 days of Zoe Baird and other distractions. I urged him to “stay focused.” He Graduate Alumni News p. 8 gave me an icy stare and replied, “..the problem is not my focus, but the focus of the news media!" In that vein, allow me to say that any problems Undergraduate Survey p. 13 on my watch will likewise be due entirely to the media. I would add that I ODE p. 13 do not expect to grant any pardons, although when my term of service Did You Know? p. 14 ends I may help myself to a desk or two. In the meantime, I hope to In Memoriam p. 15 restore decency, honesty and integrity to the office of chair and to be in bed every night by 10 pm. (The smart people I have to deal with every day make me feel incredibly tired.) )/$6+! We’re hoping to flash the next newsletter to you via 4. Who’s new in the Department? Roberto Chang has joined our faculty email. Please let us know, via after spending seven years at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. email or old-fashioned phone or Roberto's research interest lie in open-economy macroeconomics and paper mail, whether this works for monetary-fiscal policy. Filippo Occhino has just received his Ph.D. from you, and check the Department the University of Chicago. Filippo's dissertation dealt with an analysis of web site to see if we have your the effects of the monetary policy on the real interest rate in an correct email address. environment where investment in government bonds differs across Advantages: faster, easier, and agents. Filippo and Roberto will add significantly to our macroeconomics more (dare we say it?), econom- core group. See the article elsewhere in the newsletter for a bit more on ical. both. I’d also like to welcome Shalene Montgomery, the Department’s new Receptionist-Secretary.
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7KDQN (FRQRPLFV 1HZVOHWWHU 5HSRUWRIWKH in Romania." Ioan is now a research fellow at NYU. *UDGXDWH'LUHFWRU Myeong Su Yun (Ph.D.) Supervisor: Mark %DUU\ 6RSKHU Killingsworth "Essays on Labor Supply and Discrimination." Myeong Su accepted a 2 year post Things are continuing to improve and doc from the University of Western Ontario, Canada. change in the graduate program. This year we were Padmasini Sundara Raman (Ph.D.) Supervisor: able to award seven fellowships and four teaching Hiroki Tsurumi, "Towards Robust House Price Index assistantships to entering students. The new Dynamics-An Empirical Investigation of San Diego, fellowships have enabled us to be more competitive CA." Padma just accepted a position with KPMG during recruiting time. The second year research Consulting in Washington, D.C. Two master's paper requirement is in place and is quickly teaching degrees were awarded to Attila Hajos and Wenhui the graduate students the difference between taking Wei who are continuing on to the Ph.D. program exams and doing real research. Each paper was Professor Michael Bordo is the Graduate reviewed by three faculty members in the student's Placement Officer this year. Please let us know of field, after which the papers were judged by the any job openings. We have several Ph.D. students in Graduate Admissions and Standards Committee. The the job market this year, including: Debajyoti best paper will be awarded the Sidney Simon Chakrabarty, Supervisor: Michael Bordo, "Essays on Research Paper Award. The Education and Inequality and Economics Growth," Fields: Curriculum Committee, as well as the Examination and macroeconomics, industrial organization, economic Dissertation Committee, are also considering some development. Vladimir Mares, Supervisor: Martin new changes concerning the M.A. program and the Perry Fields: industrial organization, anti-trust, finance, qualifying examinations. auctions and bargaining. Antu Murshid, Supervisor: We are pleased to have a new faculty member, Michael Bordo Field: international finance. Alexandre Roberto Chang, teaching in the graduate program Voicu, Supervisor: Hiroki Tsurumi, Fields: Professor Chang taught Macroeconomic Theory I in econometrics, labor, transition economics. If you would the Fall and is teaching International Economics II in like to see their c.v. or research papers, contact the Spring 2001 semester. Another new faculty Dorothy Rinaldi ([email protected]) member, Filippo Occhino, is teaching Macroeconomic The Graduate Economics Students Association Theory II in the Spring. (GESA) encouraged all new students to attend the We welcomed our entering class of 18 students, of informal "Happy Hour" get-together held every Friday which 6 are from Korea, 3 from India, 2 from the U.S. afternoon. They also plan to hold another international and one each from Albania, Turkey, Japan, Ukraine, pot-luck dinner some time in the future. GESA and Greece, Bucharest and China. There are 7 women, 9 Octavian Carare also organized a GAUSS seminar for men. We were also able to award 21 teaching the first year students. assistantships. Two students, Ayse Akincigil and Piu The Teaching Assistant Project continues, thanks Banerjee, were awarded research assistantships in to funding from the Graduate School. So far the TAs the Institute for Health. Elena Goldman received a attended two sessions: one on the obligations and research assistantship at the Center for Health, and responsibilities of teaching assistants presented by the Octavian Carare is working as a research assistant for undergraduate director, Jeff Rubin, and the other, an Eric Friedman on a NSF grant. overview of the teaching philosophy in the department Three doctoral degrees were awarded in time for presented by Professor Rubin and Professor the October dated degree, and one for a January Killingsworth, the new Chairman of the Department of degree: Mythreyi Bhargavan (Ph.D) Supervisor: Economics. Douglas Blair, "The Effect of Employer Provided Health This year there are four workshops scheduled: Insurance on Labor Market Participation." Mythreyi is Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Money, History presently working for American Express in Phoenix, and Finance and Econometrics. If you are interested, Arizona. Ioan Voicu (Ph.D.) Supervisor: Roger Klein, check out the schedules on the Department website "Determinants and Effects of Foreign Direct Investment (economics.rutgers.edu). (FRQRPLFV 1HZVOHWWHU We continue to encourage the graduate students to 8QGHUJUDGXDWH submit papers, so we are pleased that Elena 'LUHFWRU·V5HSRUW Goldman's paper, "Testing Efficient Market -HII 5XELQ Hypothesis For The Dollar-Sterling Gold Standard The combined effects of a growing Exchange Rate 1890-1906: MLE With Double undergraduate enrollment at the Truncation," was published in Economic Letters. More University and an increasingly popular economics students have also been attending conferences and major, drove our enrollments last Fall past the 6,100 presenting papers. Alex Voicu presented "MCMC mark. Over 1500 students were enrolled in estimation of dynamic labor force participation models" Introduction to Microeconomics and another 580 were in November in Chicago at the Regional Science enrolled in Introduction to Macroeconomics. Other Association Conference. Debajyoti Chakrabarty popular courses were Money and Banking, where presented "Poverty Traps and Growth in a Model of enrollments reached nearly 630, and International Endogenous Time Preference" at the Northeast Economics where total enrollment was 387. Universities Development Conference in October. Mike Shor presented some variant of the paper on Among the highlights last semester, was the Asynchronous Games (Experimental) with Eric continuation of our participation in the FAS Honors Friedman, Barry Sopher and Scott Shenker at four program. Bob Stuart taught an honors section of conferences: Economic Science Association in New microeconomics and Neil Sheflin is again doing the York, Stony Brook Game Theory Conference, New honors section of macroeconomics this spring. Bob is York, International Congress on Game Theory over the also offering an honors section of his course on the summer in Bilbao, Spain, and he was invited to the Economy of the USSR and Russia this spring. seminar at the T.J. Watson Center of IBM in New York. Volunteers for participation in the FAS Honors program Vladimir Mares presented "Asymmetric Mergers in are always welcomed. Common-Value Auctions" also at the International The Department’s senior honors program is also Congress on Game Theory in Bilbao. Ayse Akincigil's underway. Jeff Rubin is supervising the honors paper (with Steve Crystal), "Socioeconomic seminar this year. There are 6 students pursuing an Circumstances and Health Care Use in An Aging array of topics including: a study of the determinants HIV/AIDS Population," was presented at the National of foreign direct investment, a study of the role of Institute on Aging Conference on HIV/AIDS in corruption in foreign investment, an analysis of the role September in Washington, D.C. of economic factors in election outcomes, and a reassessment of data from the Milwaukee school *UDGXDWH$OXPQL6XUYH\ voucher program. 'RURWK\ 5LQDOGL Other highlights from last fall include getting some new First, I would like to thank everyone who returned the blood (Rosanne Altshuler) into the large introductory survey mailed out with the last newsletter (oh, so long lecture course and moving some of our 300 level ago). It provided lots of information for our database. courses to a large lecture format (International We now have 555 alumni; 394 with active addresses, Economics taught by Tom Prusa had an enrollment of and 171 with live email addresses. We are updating 159 and Women and the Economy taught by our very our alumni email list (which can be found on our busy new chair, Mark Killingsworth, had an website www.economics.rutgers.edu under enrollment of 137). This spring Professor Dutta is GRADUATE), so if you have not yet sent us your email teaching a 400 level course on the European Union address, do so this minute. I mean it! (send to and Roberto Chang introduced a new course on the [email protected]). Economics of Latin America. We also found out that since 1947 we have awarded To help accommodate the strong demand the 425 Master of Arts degrees and 212 Ph.D. degrees, Department recently hired two additional full time and that Professor Hiroki Tsurumi has supervised the instructors: Dale Warmingham and Walt Paczkowski. most theses: 18 M.A. students and 37 Ph.D. students Both had been teaching for us for several years and (as far as our records show). were extremely popular with our students. Dale taught (FRQRPLFV 1HZVOHWWHU several sections of Managerial Economics and is $Q2FFDVLRQDO/RRN$W handling the Principles and Problems course we offer 6RPH$OPRVW5DQGRPO\ for engineering students this spring. Walt handles courses in the financial sequence and also has taken 6HOHFWHG)DFXOW\ some responsibilities for Econometrics. They join 5REHUWR &KDQJ was Greg Clare who has been an instructor in the born in Lima, Peru and Department for many years teaching some of the large attended the Catholic Introduction to Macroeconomics courses as well as University of Lima, followed by courses in International Economics. the University of Pennsylvania for his Ph.D. Roberto is in his We are busy looking forward to the summer and fall first year at Rutgers and still smiles a lot. He has 2001 semesters. Planning for the summer session is already complete and a preliminary fall schedule has returned to the Northeast after spending seven years at the Atlanta Fed, where he enjoyed the Olympics and been submitted to the scheduling office. learned to appreciate the Braves. To be close to their This past fall, we also worked with several of our relatives and to museums, restaurants, and Broadway former students to arrange job interviews for some of shows, Roberto, his wife Robin, and their two children, our top students. Recent graduates have so Amanda (9) and Andres (5), chose a home in impressed their employers that they were asked to Westfield. Roberto's recent research is concerned with help recruit more economics majors from Rutgers. Our the comparison of alternative exchange rate regimes in students frequently tell us that their analytical skills and light of recent advances in the theory of financial knowledge of economics puts them at an advantage on institutions. In particular, he has contributed to the job. (A recently completed survey of economics understanding the role of currency pegs in generating programs in public universities shows that our program the recent sequence of crises in emerging crises. requirements are among the most demanding.) Currently he is investigating how exchange rate Elsewhere in the Newsletter, Neil Sheflin has reported movements may be contractionary by reducing an on a survey of last year’s graduating majors. This economy's net worth, which may happen if assets and information has been especially helpful in our efforts to liabilities are denominated in different currencies. His explain the advantages of majoring in economics to analysis has a number of implications for public policy, both prospective students and first year students. The including the current debate on dollarization in Department also participated in a new experimental developing countries and the European monetary program offered by Rutgers College. The school put union. together two groups of about 30 students each who (ULF)ULHGPDQ arrived at Rutgers have an interest in careers in business. These in 1996, from Duke, where he taught common interest groups meet weekly to hear from decision science. He and his wife people throughout the University. Jeff Rubin spoke to Michelle, live in Princeton with sons both groups in October, describing the major and some David (6) and John (1 ½), and their of the opportunities available to students with a strong very, very big dog, Bacchus. Eric’s background in economics. work is concerned with fostering cooperation on the Finally, the Department’s Curriculum Committee will be Internet, from the design of network server protocols meeting early in 2001 to consider several changes in (e.g., which email or web request gets serviced first) at the program. Among the topics under discussion will one extreme to the use of transaction ratings for ebay be a program to allow students to earn credit for (online auctions) at the other. For the first example, internships, the introduction of a grade requirement for Eric and Scott Shenker have shown that a protocol those minoring in economics, an expanded sequence called fair-queuing has better behavior than the in undergraduate game theory, and a new course on standard first-in-first-out protocol, while for the latter, the Economics of the Internet. he and Paul Resnick have proposed a "once-in-a- lifetime" identifier, which allows for users to maintain good reputations even in anonymous interactions. Eric is also interested in how reputations interact with legal (FRQRPLFV 1HZVOHWWHU systems in many developing countries. Along with presented preliminary versions of this research to Simon Johnson, he has studied how these affect both several audiences this fall, including the Econometrics the financing of firms (in terms of debt-equity ratios) Workshop here at Rutgers and an environmental policy and their stability to outside shocks (such as financial workshop at Princeton. She is visiting at Yale this crises). Eric is currently studying the use of semester. nontraditional models from physics (such as "sandpile models") to understand these issues. Indeed, Eric has a somewhat nontraditional background for an *UDGXDWH$OXPQL economist, with a M.A. and most of a Ph.D. in theoretical Physics from Berkeley, where he became 5HXQLRQ5HFHSWLRQ interested in the Internet and completed his Ph.D in The alumni reunion/reception was held at the AEA Operations Research. His physics training is well meetings in New Orleans on Saturday, January 6th, in used, however, in his tennis. the Hilton Riverside. We thank Ananish Chaudhuri (Ph.D.’97), for chairing the reception. Jacob DeRooy’s (Ph.D.’69) offered Ananish his assistance, and we )LOLSSR 2FFKLQR has arrived in thank him as well. Jacob is at Penn State-Harrisburg. New Brunswick this fall, fresh from the Frank Musgrave (Ph.D.’68) had a long chat with frigid climes of Chicago, where he Marty Perry about Ithaca College. The get-together received his Ph.D from the University of also gave the students in the job market a chance to Chicago. Filippo was born in Como, unwind and relax after trying to keep up with all the Italy and studied economics at interviews they had. It‘s been a good year in the job Universita' Bocconi di Milano before attending the market–so far. We have high expectations. University of Chicago. Filippo is teaching courses in Finance and Macroeconomics. His current research deals with the effects of open market operations in economies where some households do not participate /RRNLQJ$KHDG in financial markets. His favorite sport is, of course, We are planning future newsletters now. If you have soccer. any suggestions, ideas, or wish to provide a centerpiece article on a trip, conference, or research area, please let us know. Some thoughts we’ve had, +LODU\6LJPDQ came to Rutgers in 1999 from the Department of Economics at UCLA. She lives in include: Lawrenceville with husband Howard and 18 month old • Brief looks at how and what some of our former son Merrick. Most of her research has examined U.S. undergraduates are doing. If you are in touch with public policies for the management and cleanup of any, please let us know. industrial wastes. Recently, however, she began • More faculty profiles. If you’d like to be included studying international environmental pollution. She has next, let us know. Staff profiles are likely as well. been looking at the pollution of rivers that are shared between countries. When countries do not control • A series on the history of the department. pollution for the benefit their neighbors, the • A series on the distribution, contributions, and economist's general term for this phenomenon - impacts of our former graduate students. "spillovers" - can be taken literally: pollution from an • upstream country flows with the river into a A series sharing innovative instructional methods. downstream country. Her research uses data from the • A series sharing innovative internet applications. United Nations on pollution at monitoring stations located on rivers around the world. With the help of two of our Ph.D. students, she has developed measures of the extent of the spillover at the U.N. monitoring stations. Using these data, she is analyzing the effects of spillovers on water quality in rivers. Hilary has (FRQRPLFV 1HZVOHWWHU )DFXOW\5HVHDUFK Gender Wage Gap and Discrimination, East Germany 1990-1997” (with Myeong-Su Yun), DIW- Bob Alexander’s book International Maoism in the Vierteljahrshefte (Quarterly Journal of Economic Developing Countries is coming out soon from a Research), 2-01 (forthcoming); "Corruption, Tax division of Greenwood Press, and his Haya De La Evasion and the Laffer Curve" (with Omkar Goswami Torre: Man of the Millenium has recently been and Amal Sanyal), Public Choice 105 (2000) 61-78; released in Peru. He is currently working on a series "Decomposing Revenue Effects of Tax Evasion, Base of books tracing the history of organized labor in Latin Broadening and Tax Rate Reduction" (with Arindam America and the Caribbean. Bob continues to teach Das-Gupta), International Tax and Public Finance, 7 courses for the History Department. With only 2 book (2000) 177-94; "Is Child Like Parent?" Educational forthcoming, only 2 or 3 others underway and teaching Attainment and Ethnic Origin (with Klaus F. just two courses, We’re afraid that Bob is slowing Zimmermann), Journal of Human Resources, 35 down. (2000) 550-569; "Returns to Returning" (with Cathy Y. Monroe Berkowitz is working with John Burton on a Co and Myeong-Su Yun), Journal of Population Economics, 13 (2000) 57-80; "Does Background project funded by the Social Security Administration as Matter? The Transmission of Human Capital Across part of the Disability Research Institute headed by the University of Illinois. Rutgers is designing a large-scale Economic Systems" (with Robert C. Stuart), International Migration Review, 34 (2000) 511-537. In experiment for the Social Security Administration to his free time, Ira presented papers at a number of assist in early and effective interventions for the disabled. On December 18, 1999 President Clinton conferences, including: Conference to Honour Professor K.L. Krishna, Delhi School, New Delhi, India signed the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Act, December 2000; Gender and the Labor Market, IZA, partially developed by Monroe, who was present and received a pen and photo with the President (but no Bonn, Germany, November 2000; Northeast Universities Development Consortium Conference, furniture). Monroe has been conducting his winter Ithaca NY, October 2000; German Socio-Economic research in the Rutgers satellite campus in Naples Florida, but is due back in time for spring. Panel Conference 2000, Berlin, Germany, July 2000 and the Middle East Economics Association, January Jan Dutta gave a seminar at George Washington 2001. University, Washington, D.C., in September on "EU- EURO: Its Impact on the Asia-Pacific." Jan also Joe Hughes presented "Recovering Risky Technologies Using the Almost Ideal Demand System: published: "The Euro Revolution And The European An Application to U.S. Banking," at a banking Union: Monetary And Economic Cooperation In The Asia-Pacific Region" in the Journal of Asian conference in Alicante, Spain. The paper was co- authored with William Lang, Loretta Mester, and Economics, which has been translated and published Choon-Geol Moon, and is being published by the in Japanese in Higashi Ajia Heno Shiten. He has just completed the first year of a three-year tenure as the Journal of Financial Services Research. At the North American Productivity Workshop and again at a External Program Evaluator for School of Business conference in Sydney, Australia, sponsored by the Economics, The City University of Hong Kong. Journal of Banking and Finance. Joe presented the Eric Friedman has two new papers on reputations on paper, "Are Scale Economies in Banking Elusive or the Internet: “Reputation Systems: Facilitating Trust on Illusive? Incorporating Capital Structure and Risk into the Internet”, with K. Kuwabara, P. Resnick, and R. Models of Bank Production," coauthored with Loretta J. Zeckhauser (2000), in Communications of the ACM Mester and Choon-Geol Moon. At the ASSA meetings (forthcoming), and “The Social Costs of Cheap in New Orleans Joe presented "Managerial Incentives Pseudonyms," in Journal of Economics and and the Efficiency of Capital Allocation in U. S. Management Strategy (forthcoming), with P. Resnick Commercial Banking." Ira Gang has published a (large) number of recent Argia Sbordone was a Visiting Professor at Victoria articles, including: “The Political Economy of Russian University, Wellington, New Zealand last June. She City Growth” (with Robert C. Stuart), Economic was also a participant to the Monetary Policy Development and Cultural Change, (forthcoming); “The (FRQRPLFV 1HZVOHWWHU Conference at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. In *UDGXDWH$OXPQL1HZV July, she presented the paper "An Optimizing Model of U.S.Wage and Price Dynamics," at the NBER Summer 'RURWK\ 5LQDOGL Institute, and in October she participated in the Jack Worrall just had a chapter, "Workers st Conference on Monetary Policy Challenges in the 21 Compensation" published in the Handbook of Century, Georgetown University, as a discussant. Employee Benefits. He is working on a study of auto Bob Stuart presented "Transition and Economics: insurance regulation in New Jersey for the Wharton Contemporary Perspectives," in New Orleans at the School and the Brookings Institution, which will be ASSA-AEA meetings, and reviewed many fine presented at Brookings in January. He said he saw restaurants. He also has an article forthcoming in David Appel (Ph.D.’80) at the American Risk and Applied Economics entitled "A Disequilibrium Model of Insurance Association Committee Meetings where he Soviet Housing and Urban Growth," written with Tae chaired the session on workers compensation. David Yong Jung (Ph.D, Rutgers, 1991). Bob’s seventh (and, is extremely busy as a partner at Milliman and he hopes, last) edition of his book on Russia (with Paul Robertson where he is the principle in their insurance Gregory) was published by Addison Wesley in 2001. economics practice. Hiroki Tsurumi published a number of papers since Hoesung Lee (Ph.D. ca ’75) stopped by to say hello our last newsletter, including: "Ratio Tests Of A Unit last Fall on his way to Presiding over a meeting of the Root," (with Teruo Nakatsuma, Elena Gouskova, and International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE). Jinichi Uemura), in Communications In Statistics: Hoesung is President of the Council on Energy and Theory And Methods, Vol 29, No. 11 2547-2571; Environment Korea and, more importantly, is a grand- "Fujifilm-Kodak Duopolistic Competition In Japan And father. The U.S.," (with Y. Tsurumi), Journal of International Huntley George Manhertz (Ph.D.’66) emailed to say Business Studies, 30, 4,pp.813-830; "Global hello. Huntley is President and founder of Data Duopolistic Competition Between Fujifilm And Kodak: Resources Systems International in Jamaica. Corporate Strategy And Business-Government Mark LeClair (Ph.D,’87) emailed that his book Relations," (with Y. Tsurumi), in the Japanese International Commodity Markets and the Role of Business and Economic System, (M. Nakamura Cartels was published by Sharpe, and his article ed.), Palgrave, New York, 245-266, and "Bayesian “Corporate Support for Artistic and Cultural Activities: Statistical Computations Of Nonlinear Financial Time What Determines the Distribution of Corporate Giving,” Series Models: A Survey With Illustrations," Asia- is in the Journal of Cultural Economics. David Dean Pacific Financial Markets, 7, 209-237. (Ph.D.’88) sent a long email. He and Rob Dolan Eugene White presented an invited paper, "The New (Ph.D.’82) have finished some joint papers and will be Deal and Commercial Bank Lending," at the Fuji out presenting them. This is in keeping with the Conference of Business History. It was held at the Fuji University of Richmond’s new focus on research. He Business Center at the foot of (you guessed it), Mt. Fuji promised to send us an excerpt of one of the published where Eugene reports, that "after the clouds lifted, they articles that might be of interest to colleagues for the had a spectacular view of the mountain. At the Newsletter. We’re waiting David. His son, Brian, is conference, he reports being delighted to see two starting to think about colleges, and we are hopeful he former visitors to Rutgers, Tian-Kang Go and Masako has Rutgers on his list. Kurohane. In the context of Japan’s struggle with a James Spalding (M.A.’92) emailed he was named decade long recession, the conference focused on how Deputy Minister for Economic Issues & Integration countries during the depression of the 1930s revived at the Ministry of Finance in Paraguay. He is also their banking systems. At the ASSA-AEA meetings, still involved with the MEROCUSUR and FTAA Eugene chaired two sessions, one on political negotiations. He was recently in Washington with the economy and the other on economic history and, IDB, World Bank and IMF to confirm that the Paraguay commented on three papers. He presided at the Government is still committed to the State Reform (a annual meeting of the Board of Editors of Explorations major issue in Paraguay ). He said the Congress in in Economic History, as editor. (FRQRPLFV 1HZVOHWWHU Paraguay approved the Privatization Law so their At the same conference Peter also met Joe Santos telecommunications company and water company will (Ph.D.’96) who teaches at South Dakota State be privatized next year. University Amarnath Ananthayaranan (Ph.D.’99) was in the Jim Polito (Ph.D.’90) recently changed his place of U.S. on a special project for GE Capital to learn about employment and is now with State of Nevada, setting up insurance companies. He recently returned Attorney General’s Office. Jim seems to be happy to India to help privatize life insurance companies, and at home amid the beautiful mountains and scenery which is something very new to India. out west. In the U.S, Lin Jennifer Chang (M.A.’80) was Pekka Ilmakunnas (Ph.D. ‘82) is on sabbatical interested in knowing others in the electric, gas or devoting time to his research. He presented a paper at telecommunication industry from the Seattle, the Econometric Society World Congress in Seattle Washington area (her email is: and had a chance to visit the Olympic National Park [email protected]). and raved about the view. His whole family also had the opportunity to visit Italy for his son’s soccer Fred Engst (Ph.D.’97) surprised us with an email from tournament. China where he is teaching a combined Intro Micro and Macro course in English and an Econometric Tatjana Curovic (Ph.D.’97) has returned to work at course. For those of you who knew Fred, you will NECA (National Exchange Carrier Association) where remember that he grew up in China. He has returned she shares space with Achintan Dey (Ph.D.’98). to teach and spend some time with his aging parents Tatjana emailed with a job opening and to tell us they who have lived there for many years. just bought a new home in Bernardsville. Congratulations to Achintan who was married on It was great to see Mihir Pandey (Ph.D.'96) and his January 31st in India. Congrats also to Tatjana who family again. They were visiting Rutgers during the is expecting her second child. summer and Mihir taught two courses for the Department in the summer session. Mihir and his wife Mark Lewis (Ph.D.’79) said things are pretty much the are also the directors of the Rutgers Study Abroad same with him and his company, Mark D. Lewis, Inc., program in India and are active with our alumni except that he took up playing squash after 13 years! there. Ira Gang recently visited Mihir as Ira was invited He also on occasion teaches at the College of to present a paper at a conference which they both Insurance for Jim Barrese (Ph.D.’82) where Jim was attended. just promoted to full professor. Congrats Jim! Dennis Shea (Ph.D’90) is visiting Rutgers at the Sean O’Connell (M.A.’95) since returning from the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Ukraine, has stayed on as a consultant for the World Research while on sabbatical from Penn State. We Bank and took a position as a visiting professor at were happy Dennis could join us one day for lunch. Fairfield University, while keeping his eye on the job We went to visit Mike Taussig and had fun reminiscing market. Sean also enjoyed two long overdue reunions about the good old days. both held in New York City. One with Amarnath Anantharayanan (Ph.D.’99), Myeong Su Yun Doug Blair saw Libby Rittenberg (Ph.D.’80) at a (Ph.D.’00), Sean and his wife, Yulia, and another one publisher’s event in New York and she sent regards. with Susan Despins (M.A.’96) and Jim Watkins Libby was a long way from home as she teaches at (M.A.’97). Susan said Sean seems just the same Colorado College. (except now, of course, he can speak fluent Ukranian!). Peter Gray met Hillar Newmann (Ph.D.’86) at a We think it’s great that so many of the alumni stay in conference in South Dakota (the temperature was 15 touch with each other. We have seen some wonderful degrees in October). Hillar is at Northern State friendships forged during those stressful days as a College in Aberdeen, SD. Over the summer, Hillar graduate student. and his family visited New York, and his 16 year old Susan Despins (M.A’96) surprised us with a email son had the thrill of meeting Derek Jeter of the New from Duke University Fuqua School of Business where York Yankees. she is working on her MBA, re-tooling herself for a (FRQRPLFV 1HZVOHWWHU change in careers. Last summer she enjoyed working Shane, is now training other therapy dogs who will visit long and hard for Lehman Brothers in NYC where she Nursing Homes and hospitals. Heather has become a “ learned tons.” She also keeps in touch with Martin coordinator in her area. Anyone who might be Weber (M.A.’95). Martin emailed he is still with the interested in this wonderful volunteer work should European Court of Auditors in Luxembourg. contact Heather ([email protected]). Myeong Su Yun (Ph.D.’00) managed to have a John Tomer (Ph.D.’73) sent word he is Chairperson reunion with Amarnath Anantharayanan (Ph.D.’99) of Department of Economics and Finance at before he left for the University of Western Ontario for Manhattan College since 1996 and has written 2 a post doc. Myeong Su is feeling right at home at books and published over 30 articles. Western Ontario where he met another faculty Christian Jensen (MA. ‘55) wrote he is now Medical member who is an opera expert. He also bought a Director of the Delmarva Foundation for Medical new car. Care, Inc. in Easton, Maryland. It is a peer review Madhu Kalimpalli (M.A.’95) sent us his new email at organization for Maryland and D.C. McGill University. He was going to try and get in touch Lee Inglesby (M.A.’49) indicated on his survey that he with Myeong Su Yun at Western Ontario. has a publication, “A Corporal Once,” due out this Fall. David Saal (Ph.D.’00) emailed “Everything is fine and It is the World War II memoirs of a paratrooper. we (David and Gauri Bijur (M.A.’96) are doing well.” Miguel Ramirez-Perez (Ph.D.’70) wrote on his survey He was leaving for the EARIE Conference in that he has kept a very close relationship with the Switzerland and looking forward to seeing Marty University of Puerto Rico since 1985 where he did part- Perry. David is now at the Aston Business School in time institutional research. Lately he has been doing England and Gauri works for a pharmaceutical his own research “just for the fun of it.” company. Henry Levin (Ph.D.’67) took early retirement from Amiya Sharma (Ph.D.‘94) has been busy, despite the Stanford as the David Jacks Professor (Emeritus) of rainy weather in India, meeting with voluntary Higher Education and Economics. Hank joined the organizations and giving out small loans (part of Micro faculty of Teachers College, Columbia University as Credit) mostly to women and farmers. This is the the William Heard Kilpatrick Professor of work he loves. He is also thinking of changing jobs Economics and Education and the Director of the and going back in the job market National Center for the Study of Privatization in Monroe Berkowitz told us he enjoyed meeting Bill Education. Johnson (Ph.D.’71) recently at a conference at the Ron Durant (M.A.’61) recently retired from Exxon. He University of Arizona where Bill is a professor of wrote: “I have fond memories of my Rutgers days.” economics. It was good to hear from Guy Pascale (M.A.’94) who is Monroe also heard from Ed Murphy (Ph.D.’73). presently Senior Project Manager at Keystone Mercy Monroe had come across Ed’s name in a story in the Health Plan, as well as teaching at Rutgers Camden. New York Times about the petroleum industry. Ed He also bought a house and just returned from visiting passed on the interesting statistic that the number of Ireland. people who comment that they saw him on some TV show compared to those who read about him in print is George Wasilyew (M.A.’93) emailed “Life is good.” 10 to1. Ed works for the American Petroleum Now that is what we like to hear! Institute and is in charge of “downstream” operations More good news. Chetan Sanghvi (Ph.D.’95) was (which refers to the refining, marketing, transportation, married to Suzanne Gleason in Cancun. A wedding retail, etc. connected with the production of oil and reception was also held in New Jersey. Marty Perry, gas). Nathan Weisman (M.A.’92) and Paul O’Leary Heather Cammisa (MA.’00) recently returned to work (Ph.D.’96) were able to be present at this happy with Monroe on a project at the Labor Education occasion. This gave Paul a chance to show off Center. She also wanted to let us know that her dog, (FRQRPLFV 1HZVOHWWHU pictures of his new son. Nathan is still at AT&T and with Hiroki Tsurumi on a research project, part of a Paul is in D.C. with the Social Security Office. grant Suduk received. Marc Leibovic (M.A.’85) is still with GE Card Services David Axelrod (Ph.D.’90) spoke at The Power of the and Fiona Maclachlan (M.A.’85) is going strong at Arts in the Age of Information Conference at Kean Manhattan College as an Associate professor. He University, as well as performing with two of his bands said “the kids are great” and that their son (10) won a there. David also invited us to his (unique) 40th gold medal at a wrestling tournament. Birthday party at the Van Wickle House (an 18th century house by the Raritan Canal) in Somerset. We Fran Goodin (M.A.’97) stopped by to donate some wish him the best. computer manuals and systems. She is working for Trugman Valuation Associates, business appraisers. We were sooooooo disappointed that we didn’t get to see Mary Merva (Ph.D.’89) over the summer as It was a nice surprise to learn that Shigeru Hirota promised. We are still waiting Mary. (M.A’99) was a co-worker in Japan of one of our new graduate students, Rie Ashizawa. Shigeru has been We did track down Adair Burger (M.A.’82). Her busy taking trips on business to Europe and the U.S. husband works for U.S. Customs which explains why for the Economic Planning Agency of the Japanese “we never stay in one place for long.” They first moved Goverment. He also stopped by the department when to Detroit, then San Francisco, Arizona and presently he came to the U.S. to attend Deena Culjan’s wedding live in Rockville, Maryland. Adair said she is thinking in July. While here, he enjoyed the hospitality of Jim about re-entering the job market in the near future. Ryan. We enjoyed seeing the photos Luc Moens (Ph.D.’91) Karin Swenson Szotak (M.A.’88) emailed with the sent of his two daughters and those from Lowell exciting news that she is expecting twins in March! So Johnson (Ph.D.’97) and Ron Moy (Ph.D.’90) who sent for now she has taken a leave from work at NECA. pictures via email and/or their websites of their She promised to let us know when the big day arrives families. and we will all be anxiously waiting to hear. Ananish Chaudhuri (Ph.D.’97) presented a paper with Bernie Eschweiler's (Ph.D.’93) big news was the birth Debajyoti Chakrabarty (Ph.D. expected May ‘01) at of his son, Thomas, who will keep his daughter, SUNY conference on game theory. Hannah, company. It appears from the announcement Ioan Voicu (Ph.D.’00) called to let us know he is that the baby boy will be called Tom. enjoying working at NYU and finds the research most Veenita Mittal (M.A.’96 ) had some good news to interesting. report about the birth of her daughter last December It was great that so many alumni sent emails in (she has a son who is 2 ½ years old). response to the notice about the alumni Ruchika Sah (M.A.’94) is trying to balance life finishing reunion/reception at the AEA meetings in New her doctoral degree while taking care of her baby Orleans, even if they were unable to attend. daughter, Ruhi. Even though it’s tough going, we are Chien Chung (Jeff) Nieh (Ph.D.’96) emailed from pleased she hasn’t given up. Taiwan that he likes to hear all the news about the Ying Lei (M.A.’98) is also trying to finish her Ph.D. but department and the alumni. Jeff is teaching at while working at MDRC (Manpower Demonstration and Tamkang University and had two papers accepted, Research Corporation). We were happy to hear that “Dynamic Relationship Between Stock Prices and she was promoted and is the first author of one MDRC Exchange Rates for G-7 Countries” in Quarterly report that will be published soon by SDRC of Canada. Review of Economics and Finance and “The Dynamic Relationships Between Exchange Rate Volatility and Tae Yong Jung (Ph.D.‘91) now working in Japan is Corporate Earnings of Taiwan’s Exporting Industries” applying for a position at Seoul University. We are in Review of Securities and Future Markets (a well waiting to hear the outcome. known journal in Taiwan). We look forward to seeing Suduk Kim (Ph.D.’93) and Judy Chen (Ph.D. ‘91) Jeff again in the summer when he tours the U.S. with both visited the department over the summer to work a group of college students from Taiwan. (FRQRPLFV 1HZVOHWWHU Will Milberg (Ph.D.’87) emailed that he was off to April they were in Rome where Partha taught a Capetown, South Africa to teach for a week (luckily it’s graduate course at the University of Rome, after which summer there in January). Will said he sees Radhika they enjoyed visiting Tuscany and then on to Padova, Balakrishnan (Ph.D.’90) who is teaching at Venice, Milan. In September, Partha had a Marymount College, as well as Bob Schewior who is conference so off they went to Amsterdam. And for the very close to finishing his doctoral dissertation and for holidays they are visiting family in Singapore and whom Will is the outside member of his committee. Calcutta. Soon they hope to be settling down as both will look for academic positions next December. Paul Holtberg (M.A.’79) wondered if we remembered him or not (of course, we do!). We had not heard from Peter Zangari (Ph.D.’94) sent holiday greetings to Paul in quite a while. He lives in Washington, D.C. Hiroki Tsurumi. Peter has been a Vice President at with his wife and 6 year old son and is still working for Goldman Sachs Asset Management for two years the Gas Research Institute. They annually put out a now and finds the business a very challenging and forecast on energy supply and demand. He has been interesting environment. busy writing and speaking and gave over 20 talks on Despina Silkadou's (M.A.’91) Christmas wishes energy issues last year. Paul sent regards to Patricia included a note telling us she is enjoying her son (20 Davidson (M.A.’81), Charles Ofori Mensa (Ph.D.’82), months old) and is presently working for the Greek Pekka Ilmukannas (Ph.D.’82) and Jim Barrese IRS. (Ph.D.’82). Shu Wu (M.A.’94) sent a greeting to Hiroki Tsurumi Paul’s email prompted a response from Jim who to tell him the good news that he finished his study at teaches at the College of Insurance (and was just Stanford and has taken a job at the University of promoted to full professor). Jim was thinking “it is time Kansas, teaching macroeconomics. to move on,” but instead of changing jobs, he decided to try to change the school, and he did! They are just Brenda Brockman (M.A.’87) sent us a long Christmas about to complete a merger into St. John’s University. letter filled with news about her life at U.S. Customs, several trips, her new house and the big news of her Priya Sarathy (Ph.D.’93) emailed that she and her engagement and up-coming wedding in May to Scott family have settled down in Atlanta and the children Smith whom she met on the Metro line on her way to are developing a Southern drawl. She also just work!! accepted a part time job with Epsilon, an analytical consulting group located in Boston. And David Dean’s (Ph.D.’88) son, Brian, now 16 years old, sent a very humorous letter on the exploits of the We want to thank everyone who sent us cards, letters Dean family in Virginia. Brian probably doesn’t want to or emails for the holidays and/or photographs of their hear this but he is definitely his father’s son, a chip off growing families and for their good wishes. It’s the old block, as they say. heartwarming to see life is treating the alumni well. Hot off the press -- Our newest Ph.D., Padmasini We received a long holiday letter from Ron Moy Sundara Raman (Ph.D.’01) is very excited about (Ph.D.’90) who among other things was celebrating the accepting a job offer from KPMG Consulting in their one year anniversary of their son’s David financial services consulting group. “homecoming” (from Korea). He also sent a photo of David and Hannah and told of their successful family Larry Boyer (M.A.’93) emailed to say that after 5 years trip to a wedding in California… and he sent news that he has left PricewaterhouseCoopers and started a his new book, The Irwin Guide to Stocks, Bonds, new job as a Senior Economist with Freddie Mac. He Futures and Options (with Thomas Liaw) has been will be responsible for developing new pricing and published by McGraw Hill. Unfortunately, it came out costing models for all Freddie Mac multifamily at the same time the new Harry Potter book was transactions. He mentioned he met Padamasini released. Sundara Raman during her job search. He also mentioned that while at PwC, a Rutgers undergrad Partha Deb (Ph.D.'91) and Erika’s Christmas greeting worked for him. He said: “It’s good to see more was packed with news. Partha has returned to Rutgers economists heading to the Washington area. Indianapolis after his sabbatical year at Harvard. In (FRQRPLFV 1HZVOHWWHU And we have quite a few there already-- Bob Arnold titles and companies), Financial services, other than (Ph.D.’88) at Congressional Budget Office, Keith those following, employed more than a third of our Waerher (Ph.D.’92) and Ron Drennan (Ph.D.’98) both students, with the rest scattered through Management at the Department of Justice, Geetha Varghese (15), Accounting (8), Computer(6), Consulting (3), Wearher (Ph.D.’94) at the Pacific Institute for Human Resources(3), Investment Banking (5), Research, Paul O’Leary (Ph.D.’96) at the Social Insurance (5), Sales (2), Stock Brokerage(2), and the Security Agency, Brenda Brockman (M.A.'87) at ever popular Other (8) (note the numbers may not add U.S. Customs, Kay Smith (Ph.D.’81) at the to the total due to missing information for some items). Department of Energy. There are certainly many Employers included: AIG American International more as well. Group Inc, American Express, American International Group Inc, AT&T, Bloomberg L.P.,CNA Insurance, I am going to stop for now or we will never get this out Datek Online, Deloitte & Touche LLP, Deutsche Bank, to press. Hope that the New Year is going well. DLJ Direct, Goldman Sachs, J & J Health Care Systems, J.P. Morgan, KPMG, Macy's East, Mass REMINDER: The email address list for alumni Mutual, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, is located on the Department website at National Starch and Chemical, Paine Webber Inc, economics.rutgers.edu . If you haven’t sent us Price Waterhouse Coopers, Prudential, Salomon Smith your email address, please do so right now, and Barney, Spear Leeds & Kellogg, Staples, TD even if you have, please check to see if your Waterhouse, and WetWalrus.com email address is correct. 27 students reported plans to attend graduate school in programs including: Health Finance & Management, 8QGHUJUDGXDWH6XUYH\ Biology/Biochemistry, Mathematics Education, International Business, Medicine (2), Social Work, 1HLO 6KHIOLQ Teacher Certification, Economics (3), Psychology, Statistics, Communication, Law (5), Business (3), and Dentistry. I believe that some of the students may Our Spring 2000 graduating economics majors have been referring to future graduate school plans. found jobs ranging from “President” to “Waitress”, and Schools mentioned for graduate programs included (in many in between, including Consultant, Mark to Market no particular order): Harvard University, London School Analyst on Derivative positions/Marginal Goals, of Economics, MIT, Dartmouth College, University of Account Management, Defined Contribution Account Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene & Analyst, Computer Programmer, Engineering Public Health, Seton Hall (or Fordham Law School – Assistant, Collateral Analyst, Online Daytrader, apparently accepted at both), Emory University, Personal Lines Underwriter, Manager in training, Audit, Graduate School of Education - Rutgers, Fordham (or ICS Consultant, Account Executive, Administrative Washington & Lee or Boston), Western New England Assistant, Back-Up Clerk (in case the regular clerk falls School of Law, Georgian Court College, Rutgers ill), Trading Assistant, Accounts Payable, Management University, Georgia State University, Tufts or Robert Associate, Financial Analyst, C Programmer, Customer Wood Johnson, Sussex University, Rutgers Newark, Support, Underwriter Technician, Management, and Fordham, the University of Virginia, New York Law Audit & Controls Analyst. School, University of Melbourne, and UMDNJ This information is based on a survey conducted in early April 2000 in which 214 of 300+ graduating economics majors responded. While not a random 2'(²7KH,QWHUQDWLRQDO sample, the response rate was high and the results are informative. Some Highlights: The average salary for (FRQRPLFV+RQRU6RFLHW\ the 72 who had found jobs by early April was $38,000 1HLO 6KHIOLQ with the range from $12,480 to $81,000. (Of course Omicron Delta Epsilon is one of the largest academic these were self-reported.). Looking at employment by honor societies in the world, dating back to 1915. The job function (roughly categorized by me based on job (FRQRPLFV 1HZVOHWWHU Theta chapter at Rutgers University was chartered in it!! 1969 and has 55 current undergraduate members in ...that the stork will be visiting the department in the New Brunswick. ODE has had a number of policy near future? Hilary Sigman and her husband, Howard roundtable discussions this year, in which faculty and Chang, are expecting their second child in May. And students discussed current economic issues, including Susan Weerts and her husband, Art, are expecting one with the other Father/Son team of the Rubin’s their first child the end of June. (professor Jeff and ace (then) Newsweek reporter Richard), discussing the economics of the election, ....that we are proud of Elena Goldman and her way back in the Fall. On February 2nd ODE held its husband Denis who ran in the New York City Marathon annual Voices of Experience evening in which 3 of and finished? Elena’s time was 5 hours and 13 our graduates from last May returned and discussed minutes; her husband’s 4 hours and 18 minutes. their adventures in the real world, and provided their ....that we enjoyed celebrating the "Festival of Lights" observations on their Rutgers experiences. Jessica (similar to Christmas in the U.S.) in October with our Arthars and Meirav Shliechkorn (both RC 2000) are international students from India? Some students wore both Consultants in the Economic Consulting Services their native dress. We also enjoyed the delicious Group of KPMG’s International Tax Practice in Short sweet Indian treat. Hills New Jersey. They work on transfer pricing, valuation of intangible assets, and other tax-related ...that we were delighted to meet Defne Turker’s multinational economic issues. Also speaking was father who is visiting the U.S. for the first time and to Armen S. Jesralyan (RC 2000) now at Credit Suisse discover he performed in the first ballet company in First Boston in Jersey City, working in the mutual fund Turkey and danced with Baryshnikov... operations department. All felt that Rutgers and the ....that Mark Killingsworth attended the infamous Economics Department worked very well for them. Yankee/Mets game in the World Series when Roger Note that membership in ODE is also open to any Clemens threw Mike Piazza's bat? We are wondering interested graduate students, requiring only one how in the world he managed to get tickets... semester of graduate work completed with a B or ...that we will miss Monroe Berkowitz who has moved better average. In addition to recognition, graduate his office to the Labor Education Center on the members can submit papers for the Irving Fisher Douglass Campus to work on a research project with Graduate Article Award. John Burton? ...that Jan Dutta has been busy? First, he and his wife 'LG (FRQRPLFV 1HZVOHWWHU ,Q0HPRULDP 7KDQNV We were most sorry to hear of the death of Mrs. Jean to all who assisted in writing, assembling, editing, Balinky, wife of Alex Balinky, professor emeritus, who nudging, preparing, critiquing (always constructively), taught in the Department of Economics for many years. and producing this newsletter. Among the above are: Alex died in 1998. Mrs. Balinky was a visiting Dorothy Rinaldi, Laura Ford, Debbie Holman. Bob professor of the School of Psychology at Rutgers Stuart, Jeff Rubin, Barry Sopher, Mark Killingsworth, University and in 1991 became director of the and others. Please feel free to email corrections, Psychology Center at Rutgers. Memorial contributions complaints, submissions, and cash to Neil Sheflin at may be made to Rutgers University Library [email protected] (FRQRPLFV 1HZVOHWWHU Department of Economics Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey 428 New Jersey Hall 75 Hamilton Street New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1248 ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED (FRQRPLFV 1HZVOHWWHU (FRQRPLFV 1HZVOHWWHU