Econ Alumni Newsletter December 2011

ECON

ALUMNI NEWSLETTER

December 2011

Department of Economics | College of Business Administration | Bowling Green State University | Bowling Green, OH

Message from the Chair

As you probably know by now, Dr. Hoag retired in May and I became Chair of the department. Thanks to Kelly and to the faculty, I have survived so far!

And, Dr. Hoag is now right down the hall as the Associate Dean of the College of Business, so I have many to help me when I need it. I enjoy the many new aspects of my job, especially advising. Who knew you could get paid to tell others what to do.

Dr. Mary Ellen Benedict

The department is doing well. Kyoo Kim was recently on faculty leave in South Korea (check out the article in this newsletter), Pete VanderHart has been navigating us through changes to the Masters program, Tim Fuerst has been busy at the Fed and still working his magic in the classroom, Mike Carroll was recently recognized for obtaining a large grant from the federal government, and Zheng Zeng and Kevin Quinn have been working on interesting research on macro/banking (Zheng) and on teaching economics and on the history of economic thought (Kevin). Further, we have a great group of instructors this year, all of whom have added some new majors.

So, I have been lucky to have inherited a hardworking group of faculty as the University undergoes changes with a new President and the planned transformation of the undergraduate curriculum.

Regarding the general education changes, the current version has been dubbed Connecting the Undergraduate Experience (CUE) and will start freshmen in classes that require active learning. As students matriculate in their programs, classes will involve integration of disciplines and/or analytical methods. The hope of such coursework is that the BGSU graduate will have critical thinking and problem-solving skills that they can use in any work environment. There are currently some courses available this year for freshmen (under the umbrella titles of University Seminar and Quantitative Literacy). Our department has one University

In This Issue Dr. John Hoag Retires Kyoo Kim on Sabbatical Catherine Stange: Ten Years Forward An Economic Analysis of Northwest Ohio BGSU Welcomes Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellow

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Seminar course focused on the Great Depression.

Thanks to Katie Kontak, the course to-date has been successful in getting students to think about economic history and issues surrounding poverty.

The department hopes to include the principles levels courses in the next level, called Inquiry Courses.

These courses are required to have either more than one discipline or method to analyze problems. We hope to have more information about the general education changes as the coursework takes more structure.

Two final thoughts: First, I know that some of you are probably struggling during this economic downturn and I hesitate to ask for anything right now. However, if you are thinking of helping BGSU this year, I ask that you consider donating to one of the scholarship funds from the Economics Department. One or two have been “underwater” for a couple of years due to the huge drop in returns in 2008. And, Dr. Hoag started a new scholarship and we would appreciate anyone who can add to his initial donation in order to provide one more scholarships to our economics majors. Second, Dr. Hoag is conducting a survey and requests that you answer the few questions he asks. More information and the link to the survey are provided on the inside pages of this newsletter.

Well, that is the news from this end. Please let us know how you are doing, too. Contact me via e-mail mbenedi@bgsu.edu, call 419.372.8221, or click on the alumni link in the newsletter. We would love to hear to from you!

Report from the Economics Club Alumni Update The Economic Department’s 2010–11 Stars Colloquium Series for 2011 Alumni Survey

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Italian meal was followed by presentations from department and college faculty and a video comprised of short messages by our alumni and a few faculty members. A big thanks goes to Jackie Carson for helping Kelly with the onerous task of putting the clips into a very cool “movie.”

Dr. John Hoag Retires

Much to our surprise, John Hoag announced his retirement from the Department of Economics after serving the University for 39 years.

We sadly watched as John packed up his office. We sadly said “goodbye” on his last day in May. But…it really wasn’t goodbye, but only “au revoir” since John decided to return in early August as the Associate Dean of the College of Business Administration. I think John suffered a bit from BGSUwithdrawal without coming to the campus on a regular basis.

For those of you who don’t know much about John Hoag, you should know that he has been the leader of the department for 18 years. During his time with BGSU, John has won several awards for his teaching and service to the College and to the University. He has had a variety of research interests, but in recent years, has had success in the area of teaching economics. His passion for teaching the discipline also resulted in the department being a campus

Dr. John Hoag

leader in terms of teaching (the department has three Distinguished Teaching Professors and two Master Teachers!). Without John’s direction, I am sure some of us would have been floundering while trying to figure out how to make the “dismal science” exciting.

The department also hosted a grand retirement party for John, mainly due to the extraordinary efforts of Kelly Dove. The party was held at Cucina Di Betto, where a wonderful

As stated, John now serves as the Associate Dean for the College of Business Administration. He is highly involved in many aspects of learning in the CBA. His passion for teaching has been transferred as he works with those who perform curriculum development. His passion for economics remains, and now he gets to apply the marginal benefit-marginal cost analysis on a regular basis.

As noted in the Chair’s letter, John and his wife, Arleen, donated a sizable amount to start an additional scholarship fund for economics majors. I believe that John will always hold the department dear to his heart, and we all feel the same about him.

Dr. Mary Ellen Benedict, Dr. John Hoag, Kelly Dove, with former chairs, J. David Reed, Leo Navin, Don Sternitzke, and Bevars Mabry.

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Kyoo Kim on Sabbatical

By Timothy Fuerst The BGSU Economics Department seemed somewhat lonely over the past academic year. Our friend and colleague Dr. Kyoo H. Kim was on sabbatical for the year. But we are now glad to have him back at BGSU. Kyoo spent the 2010-2011 academic year at Seoul National University (SNU) in Seoul, South Korea. SNU is a bit larger than BGSU with about 30,000 students. The University is quite prestigious, with a world ranking of 42nd according to QS World University Rankings.

SNU is considered one of the top universities in all of Asia. It is truly an honor that Kyoo was chosen to spend his sabbatical there.

While at SNU, Kyoo was part of the Finance Group in the College of Business. During the academic year Kyoo taught graduate classes to both MBA students and PhD students in finance. Both of these courses are taught at a high level. Kyoo taught managerial economics to the MBA students. The PhD course was designed as an introduction to contract theory, a subset of game theory. The focus is on the design of mechanisms, ie., contracts, that will induce socially efficient behavior in an environment where economic agents have private information.

This is harder than it sounds as economic actors often have an incentive to hide or misrepresent information that is relevant to external actors.

Dr. Kyoo H. Kim

A natural outgrowth of this class was an academic working paper coauthored by Kyoo and his SNU colleague, Dr. Young-Jin Kim. The paper is titled “Moral Hazard and Banking Competition.” The paper examines a situation with two layers of informational asymmetries: borrowers may misrepresent their behavior to banks, and banks may misbehave relative to depositors. The paper demonstrates how this double moral hazard can lead to excessive risk-taking and insufficient monitoring. It is quite obvious that research of this type may help to inform future regulatory practice in financial markets.

Because of his location on the other side of the world, Kyoo spent his Christmas holiday in New Zealand with his wife, Dr. Younghee Kim (BGSU professor of dietetics). A look at a globe will help you appreciate this experience. Kyoo left Korea in December during the shortest day of the year, and arrived in New Zealand during the longest day of the year! He and Younghee had a wonderful holiday in New Zealand enjoying the beautiful scenery and a warm Christmas season.

The purpose of a sabbatical is to give an academic time to recharge his batteries by teaching and doing research in a new setting. The previous suggests that Kyoo’s year abroad had just this intended effect. Welcome back Kyoo!

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Catherine Stange: Ten Years Forward

By Mary Ellen Benedict In the years between 1999 and 2001, I had the delight and satisfaction of working with a group of students who had developed an excellent rapport with one another, making class challenging and rewarding and working with me as I refined my teaching style. The group also participated in the Economics Club, oftentimes as leaders, and our trips to New York City in the dead of winter and Chicago the following year were fun and exciting, even though I had been to both cities many times before.

Catherine Stange was one of this group.

Catherine graduated in 2001 with a BSBA in economics, marketing, and international business before entering the procurement management training program at GlaxoSmithKline. Not only did she manage to complete three specializations, Catherine held two offices with the Economics Club, including the President role during the Chicago trip, and she was President of ODE as well. Her efforts helped her to win various awards within the University, the ODE Golden Key award, and placed her in an excellent position for her first “real” job. After completing her training program, Catherine worked at GSK as a buyer.

When asked which experiences at BGSU helped her, Catherine responded: “All of my Econ classes did a lot to prepare me for my career. Critical thinking, understanding market dynamics, and negotiations are all key skills I use every day that were developed at BGSU in classes like Econometrics, Micro/Macro and Labor Economics. Taking cost out of the bottom line for my company is more

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challenging today than it has ever been.

Having the ability to look at the big picture, look at the total cost, and think of ways to “shift the curve” are the skills that are going to let me help my company be more efficient.”

Catherine also noted that Career Services helped her to find a 7-month co-op in project management that exposed her to all aspects of the business. It was in the co-op and working with buyers that led to her interest in procurement. In addition, the 7 months of work experience proved invaluable in the job search and in preparation for her GSK job from the first day onward.

A few years after working with GSK, Catherine entered the part-time MBA program at the Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business. She graduated in 2009 with specializations in Operations, Marketing, and Strategy. Catherine decided to return to school because she wanted to strengthen her knowledge of business fundamentals. She thought working first then attending a graduate program would help her to understand better how to apply concepts learned in the classroom. She was also able to take advantage of GSK’s tuition reimbursement program. Taking courses at night on top of a full-time job, especially in a rigorous program, was difficult but rewarding. She

found that her economics courses, especially econometrics, gave her a good knowledge base going into Tepper’s MBA program.

Today, Catherine works as a Procurement Manager at American Eagle Outfitters. She lives in Pittsburgh where the firm is headquartered. Her life is filled between work and traveling (she has visited many countries in Europe and Central America, Japan, New Zealand and the Middle East).

She also enjoys living in the city of Pittsburgh and thinks it is cool that the coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins went to BGSU, as did the kicker for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

When asked, “Looking back on your time at BGSU, what were the most important events/aspects that made a difference in your life?” Catherine responded: “Doing the summer study in Nantes, France was an incredible experience. It was my first trip to Europe and a great way to explore the continent and learn about the developing economy from the local professors. When I was there the European Union was in its early stages.

It is incredible to see how far it has come a decade later, including some of the current challenges.

The other aspect of BGSU that has impacted my life was my involvement in the Economics Club. The club

was a fantastic opportunity to take a leadership role, develop great friendships and explore economics concepts further in a structure set up by the students.”

Finally, when asked about what advice to give to current economics majors, she replied: “Take every opportunity to work on your presentation skills. Being able to clearly and confidently communicate is a must if you want anyone to pay attention to what you are talking about. The more you speak in front of crowds, whether it is doing a formal presentation or volunteering an answer in class, the better you will become in this critical area.

Get some work experience before you graduate. Don’t be afraid to extend your graduation date for a co-op. Six months of work experience is going to be a minimum to be considered for most jobs.

When interviewing for a job, sell your ability to think critically and the challenging classes that you took. These skills will be attractive for jobs in a range of areas in business. I ended up getting a job in the supply chain field even though that wasn’t my specialization.”

Catherine was not the most talkative person in the room when I first met her in her sophomore year, but that changed during her time at BGSU. I also see Catherine regularly since her move to Pittsburgh. I can report that today she is one of the best conversationalists I know, and if you go to Pittsburgh, she can tell you how to find the best restaurants and music in town. As with all our students, seeing Catherine and her success is one of the best rewards to the department and we wish her well on the next ten years!

An Economic Analysis of Northwest Ohio

By John Hoag One of the ongoing research efforts that we make is to forecast employment and sales in the 27 counties that comprise Northwest Ohio. From public data sources, we have monthly data on employment and sales tax revenues by county, from 1990 to the present. Using the information, we develop county-level time series regressions and then use the results to forecast the series. While I generally oversee the project, the students in our MA program mainly perform the work.

Technical support is provided by Dr. Zeng.

We find that the information can be of interest to those in regional economic development. For example, if the local economy is growing, it could help to attract new firms to the area. Or, if unemployment is relatively high, firms might consider relocation because there is a skilled workforce eager to work.

You might ask what we have found to-date. First, if you were looking for good news that the recession is over, we cannot help much. The most common outcome by county is that the growth of employment is positive, but modest.

Second, two counties show forecasts of employment decline. Finally, there do not seem to be counties that have escaped the slow growth of the national economy. You can find the results of our employment analysis on the department website: http://www.business.bgsu.edu/econ/documents/NWOhioempapril2011.pdf We have not completed sales forecasts (based on goods for which sales taxes are collected) for the most recent period.

In an earlier effort, we found that employment in Lucas County could be used to predict employment in surrounding counties, but that the converse was not true. Thus, there is some evidence that as Lucas goes, so goes Northwest Ohio.

This is a result we would like to replicate to see if it is still true.

This project has been rather below the radar, and we are hoping that we can gain some greater visibility for it. Not only does it possibly provide some information about directions for the economy in Northwest Ohio, but it also provides a good opportunity for students to practice their skills on real, messy data.

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Bowling Green Sate University Welcomes Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellow Bowling Green State University will host a new international scholar on campus as part of the U.S. Department of State’s Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program. Joining the Bowling Green State University community is Eva Bochorishvili from Georgia.

Established by the US. Congress in 1992 to encourage economic and democratic growth in Eurasia, the Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program is a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the U.S. Department of State, and administered by the IREX. By selecting emerging leaders from 12 countries of the former Soviet Union, the Muskie program aims to promote mutual understanding, build democracy and foster the transition to market economies in Eurasia through intensive academic study and professional training. In addition to their academic programs, Muskie fellows gain exposure to American values through a community service experience and develop professional skills through a full-time internship in their field of study.

The Muskie program is highly competitive, averaging nearly 4,000 applicants per year with a 4% rate of acceptance. For more information, visit http://www.irex.org/ programs/muskie.

The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the U.S. Department of State fosters mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries to promote friendly, sympathetic, and peaceful relations, as mandated by the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchanges Act of 1961.

ECA accomplishes its mission through a range of programs based on the benefits of mutual understanding, international educational and cultural exchange, and leadership development. For more information about ECA exchanges, visit http:// exchanges.state.gov.

Report from the Economics Club

By Greg Cornish The Economics Club concluded another successful and interesting year during the Fall 2010-Spring 2011 academic terms. During the fall semester, club activities included an informational session on graduate and Ph.D. programs in economics and law school, a meeting with a professional financial advisor, and a panel discussion on cap and trade environmental policies. During the spring semester, activities included an informational session on career and internship opportunities in economics, presentations on Monetary Policy and Deflation and on Economic Game Theory, a group viewing of the movie Freakonomics, and the annual Spring Trip to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to focus on urban economic development.

While the activities of the club were diverse in nature, they all served the general purpose of promoting commitment to an ongoing discovery of economics and how students can become engaged in economics outside the classroom. The club looks forward to another exciting year, beginning in Fall 2011.

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Alumni Update Several of our readers responded to our questionnaire in our last newsletter. Here is what some of our alumni have been doing.

2010 Lee Norman - Pursuing a Master’s degree in Financial Economics at The Ohio State University.

2009 Rajeevee Panditharatna Washington D.C. Works as a Business Analyst in the Consulting Division of IHS Global Insight.

2009 Xue Wu - Pursuing a Ph.D. in Economics at The Ohio State University.

2009 Kevin Black - Washington D.C., Senior Asset/Liability Analyst, Navy Federal Credit Union.

2009 Eric Butler - Working in the computer field with Abercrombie & Fitch maintaining their new site search functions.

2009 Tom Albrecht - Dayton OH. Recently graduated with his MBA from the Martin J. Whitman, School of Management, at Syracuse University. He is working as the Administrative Resident at Kettering Heath care Network.

2009 Nasiba Imaralieva - She had a baby boy in November 2010.

2008 Matt Wuescher - Became a Lieutenant in the Marines right after graduation in 2008. He was in charge of a tank platoon for about a year, then he deployed to Afghanistan. He should be heading back to the states very soon.

2007 Zhongting (Vivian) Li - Working at JP Morgan Chase in Columbus, OH. 2007 Magen Massey-McClintock - Got married in June 2010 and had their first child in March, 2011 – a boy. Working at Key Bank in Corporate Treasury Department.

2007 Myron Lewis - Working at the Bank of America. He and his wife just had their first baby in February – a daughter.

2006 Paul Spiller - Working with a venture-backed internet startup in Santa Monica, CA. He is planning on launching his own business after they sell this company.

2006 Brent Meyer - Cleveland, OH. Economic Analyst, Research Department, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

Brent and his wife just had their second child – another girl!

2005 Myron Lewis - Credit Products Analyst at the Bank of America.

2005 Wei Sun - Assistant Professor at Renmin University of China, one of the best universities in the country located in Beijing. Primarily doing research on public economics and social security.

2004 Tim Whittaker and Nadia Kim They are both 2004 graduates of the MA in Econ program, and are both studying at Kansas University. Tim is currently working on a master’s degree in math and Nadia is working on her dissertation in the Ph.D. program in Economics.

2004 Yuguang Xu - Teaching at Liaoning Finance Vocational College, Finance Department, in the city of Shenyang, located in Liaoning Province, China.

2003 Dmitry Bulgakov - Utilities Analyst, working for a bank doing equity research on Russian utilities Stocks. He and his wife had a child in 2010 – a son.

2002 Adam Kanar - Assistant Professor, Department of Organizational Behavior, Human Resources, Entrepreneurship & Ethics, Brock University.

2001 Todd Fulop - Recently graduated from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business with his MBA. He is a

Lead Associate with Booz Allen Hamilton in Washington DC where he works with civil and defense clients to solve their complex organizational, process, and technology challenges.

2001 Scott Bruns - Scott has worked the last 3.5 years as a Human Resource Generalist for Boeing.

2001 Steve Culpepper - Assistant Professor, Statistics Department, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

2000 Sumangali Krishnan - New York City, NY. Sumangali moved to Colorado after graduating from BGSU and volunteered at a correctional facility.

She joined Boston University in 2003 for law school, did her final semester abroad at Oxford University, and then went to NYC to practice law at Fried Frank Harris Shriver and Jacobson. After 2.5 years there, she went back to Boston to clerk at the US District Court in Boston, MA. Currently she is married and staying home with her young daughter.

1999 Daniel Saros - Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Valparaiso University. Dan was granted tenure early in 2011. He hopes to write a book about economic systems and is finishing up two papers that develop heterodox theories of banking and international trade.

1998 Scott Yonker - Assistant Professor in the Finance Department, Kelley School of Business at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. He holds a PhD in business administration with a concentration in finance from The Ohio State University (2010), holds an MA in economics from Duke University (2001) and a BS in mathematics from Bowling Green State University (1998).

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1996 John Stevens - Washington, DC. Assistant Director/Chief of the Industrial Output Section, Division of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

1996 Zsofia Arvai - Hungary.

Economist, International Monetary Fund. She has a daughter in 7th grade and a son in 2nd grade.

1994 Kelly Shaffer-Rudin Bloomington, IL. Communications Analyst for State Farm Insurance. Kelly and her husband welcomed their first child in May, 2010.

The Economic Department’s 2010-11 Stars Congratulations ODE Inductees The Economics Department inducted several new members into Omicron Delta Epsilon, the Economics Honorary Society.

Spring 2011: Aynur Abdurahmanova, Mackenzie Albach, Ashley Bleckner, Logan Buck, Yuting Chen, Kyla Diane Huband, Sebastian Kalmbach, Mentor Mehmedi, Alfonso Mendez, Jacob Wert, Ian Thomas Willinger, and Qiong Xia. Fall 2011: Alex Benson, Facundo, Bouzat, Curtis Doster, Sara Esfahani, Muzi Li, Jay Nabors

1989 Steve Vickner - Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, The Ohio State University.

2011 Spring ODE Inductees, Drs. Benedict & Hoag, and Economics Students

2011 Fall ODE Inductees

Please visit our alumni update site and tell us what you’re doing: http://www.business.bgsu.edu/econ/ econalumni/Alumni.cfm

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Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities Two economics students were inducted into Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities in 2011. These students were selected for this honor based on their academic achievement, service to the community, leadership in co-curricular activities, and potential for continued success. Our 2011 inductees were Greg Cornish and Curtis Doster.

BGSU Student wins Philanthropy Award Clayton Stewart, senior BSBA student with specializations in Economics and Supply Chain Management, was awarded the Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy Award by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, NW Ohio Chapter. At a luncheon on November 15th, Clayton was applauded for his fundraising work for the 2011 Dance Marathon, which raises donations for the Children’s Miracle Network, the BGSU Jerome Library, for which Clayton raised funds for deck renovation and capital reinvestment, and the Medici Circle, which provides arts scholarships.

Anyone who knows Clayton is probably not surprised that this energetic and caring individual did so much community service work in just one year. We applaud Clayton for winning this important award and thank him for his dedication to BGSU and the surrounding community!

Student Achievements and Awards Greg Cornish won the ODE Outstanding Student Leadership Award this year (ODE Gold Key award).

He was one of only two individuals to win this national award (and the other one was from Georgetown University). Greg was nominated by Dr. Benedict because of his outstanding scholarship and his excellent work as President of the Economics Club and tutoring for the department. He was also the designated President of our local ODE chapter and as such was the point person for the CBA’s Dean’s Advisory Council.

In addition, we had several students win department and college awards. The Department scholarship winners: Jay Nabors won the Alumni/ Faculty Economics Scholarship, Kyla Huband won the Navin Scholarship for Public Sector Economics Award, Curtis Doster won the Vimala Krishnan Book Award, and Alex Benson won the Dolores Reynolds Book Award. College Awards: Clayton Stewart was awarded the E.C. Powell Scholarship.

Faculty Awards Peter VanderHart was this year’s recipient of the College of Business Administration’s Marie R. Hodge Advising Award. In addition, we had three Economics Faculty win summer research grants.

They include, Timothy Fuerst, Peter VanderHart, and Zheng Zeng. Dr. Fuerst used his award to work on a paper entitled, “Especially Low for and Extended Period of Time,” Peter VanderHart and Arthur Yeh did co-research on a paper entitled, “The Development and Enhancement of a New Economic Indicator”, and lastly Zheng Zeng used her award to work on a paper entitled, ”A Credit-Uncertainty Cycle in a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium Model.”

Indexation in Risky Loan Contracts. Finally, Mary Ellen Benedict was named Distinguished Teaching Professor for the University.

Econ Faculty at the Spring ODE Induction

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Colloquium Series for 2011

Alumni Survey

We had a very busy colloquium series this year. Dr. Zeng served as colloquium coordinator and invited a wide variety of speakers to BGSU. Below is a list of the colloquia for 2011.

Below is a link to an on-line questionnaire to which we are asking you to respond. The purpose of the questionnaire is to find out a small amount about your employment history since graduation and gather advice for current students.

The idea is to be able to tell prospective students more about what graduates of this department have done for employment. We also want to know if you went on for an advanced degree. So please take a few minutes to complete the questionnaire. All answers and comments will remain anonymous.

February 18, 2011: Dr. Enrique Martinez-Garcia, Senior Research Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, presented “U.S. Business Cycles, Monetary Policy and the External Finance Premium.”

March 15, 2011: Dr. David Surdam, Associate Professor of Economics, Northwestern Iowa University, presented “Why Sports Economics?”

September, 30, 2011: Dr. Steven Vickner, Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, The Ohio State University, presented “Quantifying the Impact of the August 2010 Nationwide Shell Egg Recall: A Hedonic Price Analysis.”

October 7, 2011: Marc Schaffer, Ph.D. Candidate, Economics, Western Michigan University, presented “Traditional vs. Market-Based Financial Intermediaries: Balance Sheet Risk, Idiosyncratic Risk, and Survival Ability.”

November 18, 2011: Yuko Imura, Ph.D. Candidate, Economics, The Ohio State University, presented “Endogenous Trade Participation with Incomplete Exchange Rate Pass-Through.”

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http://survey.bgsu.edu/surveys/economics/exit_survey/ exit_survey.htm