MARRINER S. ECCLES INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMICS AND QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS ANNUAL REPORT 2023-24
LETTER FROM LEADERSHIP
Welcome to the 2023-24 annual report for the Marriner S. Eccles Institute. Our selected theme --- National Economic Reach --- highlights our successful efforts to place the Institute at the center of the national discussion of economic issues.
Professor Elena Patel took the Institute to new heights of impact this year. Patel, a nationally renowned tax-policy scholar, took leave from the University of Utah to work as Senior Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisors. With a portfolio that included tax policy and housing, Patel brought an apolitical, economics-policy lens to crucial issues, including the looming expiration of the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act and the growing concern over housing affordability as a driver of inflation.
The Institute also expanded its efforts to bring nationally prominent economic thinkers to Utah. In November, we hosted the University of Maryland's Melissa Kearney, who spoke on the importance of two-parent families in children's development. MIT's Amy Finkelstein, a MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, visited in February to discuss new ideas on the future of U.S. healthcare. And David Eccles School PhD alumnus Yung-Yu Ma, now Chief Investment Officer at BMO, joined us in January to share his outlook on the U.S. economy.
This was a year of investment for the future as well. With support from the Institute, the David Eccles School of Business hired leading healthcare economist Paul Eliason as a tenured associate professor. Eliason's research, which focuses on consolidation and regulation in healthcare markets, has been published in leading economics journals including the Quarterly Journal of Economics and the American Economic Review. This strategic hire broadens our policy portfolio, and positions the Eccles School and Marriner S. Eccles Institute to become major players in national debates over healthcare policy.
These successes, and the many others listed on the pages to follow, reflect the collective efforts of many individuals, and the wise investments made by our donors and by University of Utah leadership. We hope you will celebrate with us the many achievements of the Marriner S. Eccles Institute!
ADAM LOONEY
Executive Director, Marriner S. Eccles Institite
SCOTT SCHAEFER Chair, Division of Quantitative Analysis of Markets and Organizations
ELENA PATEL JOINS CEA ON TAX POLICY
ON LEAVE FROM THE DAVID ECCLES SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, QAMO
PROFESSOR ELENA PATEL SPENT 2023-24 AS SENIOR ECONOMIST AT THE WHITE HOUSE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISORS
Patel, a leading tax-policy scholar, spent the year focused on three main issues.
1. Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) Expiration
“With the expiration next year of the Trump tax cuts in the TCJA, everybody's posturing for what tax policy will look like for the next ten years. And because of the massive COVID response, our federal debt is much larger than when we passed the TCJA in 2017. So if we need to raise revenue, where are we going to get it? My role was to analyze behavioral distortions and efficiency trade-offs with tax policy. How do we tax in a way that minimizes harmful impacts on the economy?”
2. OECD Global Corporate Tax Deal
“There has been a global race to the bottom in tax policy, because it is very easy now for businesses to locate assets in places that are tax preferred. This problem is so bad that 134 governments came together to agree to a minimum
DAVID ECCLES SCHOOL OF BUSINESS | 2023-24 ANNUAL REPORT
Some ideas are good politics but bad economics. The role of the Council of Economic Advisors is to bring an apolitical, econ-policy lens to proposals that might be politically motivated. So a big part of my job was identifying bad ideas and working to stop them.
effective rate of 15% on corporations. But now Congress has to pass legislation to implement this deal, which raises hard economic tradeoffs. For example, we don’t want a corporation’s tax rate to be zero because it parked money in the Cayman Islands. But there are good reasons a company’s effective tax rate would be zero; for example, we do want companies to continue to invest in R&D.”
3. Federal Housing Policy
“Housing continues to be a primary driver of inflation, and everyone in Washington is trying to understand housing markets. I wrote Chapter 4 of the 2024 Economic Report of the President, which frames the economic context for the housing supply shortage, and asks what federal policy can do to alleviate it.
This is a tough nut to crack because restrictive zoning is the key driver of housing supply shortfalls, and this is state and local policy with not a lot of jurisdiction on the Federal side. So the Federal response is mostly about carrots and sticks, which often comes back to my area of tax policy.”
PAUL ELIASON JOINS DAVID ECCLES SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
MARRINER S. ECCLES INSTITUTE ATTRACTS LEADING HEALTH
ECONOMIST TO THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH FACULTY AS TENURED
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Eliason’s research focuses on healthcare markets and the interplay between these markets and regulation. He has focused on two emerging trends in healthcare markets. The first is the increasing consolidation within healthcare, which has been happening along both horizontal and vertical dimensions. The second is increasing innovation in healthcare regulation. In an attempt to effectively reign in healthcare costs, many insurers (including public insurers such as Medicare) have adopted new ways of paying for healthcare services that attempt to align providers’ financial incentives with the goals of the insurer.
Eliason’s work examines how consolidation and regulation reform are related to healthcare outcome measures, including efficiency, access to care, equality, affordability, and quality of care.
I am thrilled to join the David Eccles School and the Marriner S. Eccles Institute. From a growing research footprint to great student outcomes, all the elements to become a Top-10 public university are here. I’m excited to build something great!
ELIASON CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
2018 PhD Duke University / Assistant Professor of Economics at BYU
2019 National Science Foundation Research Grant
2021 Best Paper Award from Association for Competition Economists
2021 Named Associate Editor / Journal of Industrial Economics
2022 National Bureau of Economic Research / Faculty Fellow
2024 Joins QAMO Division in David Eccles School of Business
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ADAM LOONEY ON STUDENT DEBT, TAX POLICY AND INFLATION
ADAM LOONEY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE MARRINER S. ECCLES INSTITUTE, ADVANCED THE INSTITUTE’S MISSION IN 2023-24 BY PRESENTING NEW RESEARCH AND INVESTING IN POLICY OUTREACH.
LOONEY ON INFLATION:
"In contrast to 2022, price inflation exhibited less regional variation by population density in 2023. Inflation rates in major metropolitan areas converged with those in smaller and mid-sized cities. The Mountain Region's inflation rate was higher than the national average."
With David Stringfellow, Looney co-authored “Price Inflation and the Cost of Living", Chapter 9 in the 2024 Economic Report to Governor Cox
ON NON-COMPETES:
"Instead of non-competes, there are better, more targeted legal tools and employment practices that businesses can utilize to achieve their legitimate business objectives. In Utah, for example, robust laws independently protect and
The increase in aggregate student debt can be traced to policies intended to broaden access to federal student aid. This led to rising enrollment of relatively disadvantaged students, but primarily at poor-performing institutions where students systematically failed to complete a degree.
enforce intellectual property and trade secrets through non-disclosure agreements. Likewise, non-solicitation agreements can prevent employees or partners from poaching client lists."
Looney testified before the Utah’s Legislature’s Business and Labor Interim Committee on the effects of non-compete clause on labor markets
ON CHILD POVERTY:
"The decline in fertility in the United States has led to a significant decrease in the youth dependency ratio, which represents the ratio of the population under 20 to the working-age population. This decline resulted in an increase in income resources available per child within families and throughout the economy. While concerns often arise regarding the cost of financing retiree consumption due to the falling ratio of workers to retirees, the declining youth dependency ratio has had a larger and opposite effect."
Looney presented "Declining Fertility and the Material Wellbeing of Children" at the National Bureau of Economic Research conference on fertility
UNCOVERING THE GENDER WAGE GAP
SETTING
Undergraduate students at a French university compete for exchange spots at foreign universities. Both genders submit rankings over which exchange university to attend. Do male and female students prioritize different attributes of foreign universities?
FINDINGS
Where men are focused on credentials and career prep, high-achieving women consider both academic and non-academic factors. Surveys show that women highly value the experience of living abroad, and willingly trade off academic ranking for this non-academic benefit.
Economists have long known that women make different career choices; we show they make different educational choices as well. Womens’ distinct choices can cause them to have different skills and qualifications - and can offer a contributing explanation for persistent gender wage gaps.
JENNIFER BROWN, H. Brent Beesley Professor of Entrepreneurship
While men and women with low grades behave similarly, sharp differences emerge when comparing men and women with strong grades. Men with strong grades aim higher, on average, than their female peers.
Education
grades
Anne Boring and Jennifer Brown (2024), “Gender and Choices in Higher Education,” Economics of
Review.
HOW COMMON IS LOSS AVERSION ?
SETTING
You are offered a one-half chance to win $10, but with it comes a one-half chance to lose $12. Do you accept this gamble?
Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky’s Prospect Theory --- a foundational concept in behavioral economics --- suggests that people may behave in a loss-averse manner. Because this gamble offers the possibility of a substantial loss relative to the no-gamble reference point of no-gain-or-loss, a loss averse decision-maker will reject this gamble.
Economists have repeatedly found loss aversion to be common; in studies involving college students, only 10 to 30 percent have accepted similar gambles. But are the preferences of students representative of the population as a whole?
FINDINGS
In a large, nationally representative study, around half of U.S. consumers behave in a loss tolerant manner, meaning they embrace gambles with negative expected values. Loss tolerance is more common in individuals with low cognitive ability, and is correlated with risky financial behavior, such as gambling or holding a high proportion of assets in equities.
Loss aversion has been suggested to offer a form of inoculation against financial products that seek to profit from consumer overoptimism. We show that loss aversion is far less common in the US population than previously thought, and which could indicate a high susceptibility among US consumers to risky financial behavior.
-ERIK SNOWBERG, Marriner S. Eccles Presidential Chair
A representative sample of the U.S. population vs a sample of U.S. college students, and the share who accept the up-10-or-down-12 gamble. (On right) The representative U.S. sample is subdivided based on cognitive ability. Loss tolerance is common in the U.S., and is correlated with cognitive ability.
General Population vs Student Sample Subgroups of General Population
a Representative
Jonathan Chapman, Erik Snowberg, Stephanie Wang, and Colin Camerer (2024), “Looming Large or Seeming Small? Attitudes Toward Losses in
Sample,” Review of Economic Studies (forthcoming).
HOW DO HIGH-PRESSURE SALES TACTICS AFFECT CONSUMERS?
SETTING
Auto manufacturers typically motivate dealers to sell new cars by offering large bonuses tied to monthly sales targets, and the industry suffers from a reputation for high-pressure sales tactics as a result. But are these bonus incentive contracts associated with adverse outcomes for auto buyers?
FINDINGS
Twenty-four-month default rates on new subprime auto loans originated at month-end are 10 percentage points higher than similar loans originated during the rest of the month. This pattern does not hold for subprime used auto loans. At month end, there is a surge in new car sales driven by incentives, as indicated by the proportion of new car loans originated during that period.
Consumers in the highest quartile of payment-to-income ratio bear the brunt of these efforts, with default rates increasing from 13.6 to 19.7 percent on loans originated at month end.
Our analysis suggests that powerful end-of-month sales incentives encourage dealers to push consumers toward new cars. This stretches car-buyers’ budgets, exposes them to rapid depreciation,
Top graph shows fraction of financed cars that are new in a sample of 3,500 dealerships by day of month. At month’s end, the mix of financed cars shifts toward new.
Bottom shows default rates on loans by day of month for new and used. New cars sold at month end have higher default rates; no such pattern for used.
Days Relative to End of Month
Jonathan Chapman, Erik Snowberg, Stephanie Wang, and Colin Camerer (2024), “Looming Large or Seeming Small? Attitudes Toward Losses in a Representative Sample,” Review of Economic Studies (forthcoming).
Mark Jansen, Lamar Pierce, Jason Snyder and Hieu Nguyen (2024), “Product Sales Incentive Spillovers to the Lending Market: Evidence from Subprime Auto Defaults,” Management Science.
FACULTY
Professor Rebekah Shrader the QAMO honors program, and oversaw the completion of four undergraduate honors theses. Shrader’s students included Jack Larson, who wrote on the causal effects of state-level family leave policy on fertility, Sophie McKay (race in the American criminal justice system), Sven Soderholm (state-level renewable energy portfolio standards), and Jonas Torgerson (causal effects of state-level gun policy).
Professor Allison Witman
July 2023 as a full-time career-line associate professor. A Utah native, Witman returns home from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington where she was an award-winning teacher and mentor in the Department of Economics. This year, she developed a new course for QAMO undergraduates that combines probability, statistics and python programming.
Professor Scott Schaefer launched a new elective course for QAMO undergraduates focusing on the economics and strategy of growing businesses. In addition to serving as Chair of the QAMO Division, Schaefer continued to advise University of Utah President Taylor Randall on strategy and economics issues, including the economics of on-campus parking.
Professor Ravi Sethi published a new paper “Recognition Probability in Legislative Bargaining” (joint with Natalie Lee) in the Journal of Experimental Political Science.
Professor Elena Patel’s paper, “The Long-Run Effects of California’s Paid Family Leave Act on Women’s Careers and Childbearing: New Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design and U.S. Tax Data” (joint with Martha Bailey, Tanya Byker and Shanthi Ramnath), is now forthcoming in American Economic Journal: Economic Policy She also won the Eccles School's Research Impact Award, which recognizes scholarly work that reaches beyond the halls of the academy.
Professor Troup Howard is now a visiting scholar with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. His new working paper, “How Do Labor Shortages Affect Residential Construction and Housing Affordability?” (joint with Mengqi Wang and Dayin Zhang), was presented at the Fall 2023 Innovations in Housing Affordability conference at the David Eccles School of Business.
Professor Jennifer Brown won best teacher awards from Eccles School’s Executive MBA and Full-Time MBA programs. A jack-of-all-teaching trades, Brown taught the economics core course to the Full-Time MBA students and core strategy for the EMBA.
STUDENT RESEARCH
research and data analysis to participate in faculty-led research projects. Founded by Institute Executive Director Adam Looney and QAMO Professor Allison Witman, this program is designed to give young scholars hands-on experience with policy-related economic analysis.
Students produced research briefs combining novel quantitative analyses and discussion of key economic issues. This research provides thought leadership on relevant topics and targets an audience of stakeholders, policy-makers and academics. A selection of scholars and their projects is listed below:
In “Utah’s Degree Decision: Major Choices, Major Futures,” QAMO senior Sven Soderborg used U.S. Department of Education data to analyze the relation between college major and median illustrates that graduates in quantitative majors in engineering and business tend to have the highest median annual earnings. Differences across majors are substantial, and dwarf the across-institution differences in median annual earnings for graduates.
STUDENT RESEARCH
In “Utah’s Teen Triumph: The State’s Enduring High Teen Labor Force Participation Rate,” QAMO sophomore Makayla Fischer used the Census Department’s Current Population Survey to analyze state-level variation in the fraction of teenagers who hold or are looking for jobs. Her Figure 1 (shown) illustrates that while Utah’s Teen Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) has fallen since the 1990s, it remains far higher than the national average. This may be good economic news for the Beehive State, since locations with high Teen LFPR tend to have high economic mobility (Chetty et al, 2014).
LFPR in Utah vs. USA (16−19)
STUDENT RESEARCH
Economics and Decision Making to analyze the characteristics of workers covered by non-compete agreements. Their Figure 1 (shown) illustrates that while more than half of workers covered by a non-compete earn more than $100,000 per year, a sizable fraction earn far less. Nearly 40% of workers covered by a non-compete do not have a college degree.
QAMO UNDERGRADUATE MAJOR UPDATE
DOUBLE MAJORS
Political Science, Math, Computer Science, Data Science, International Relations 24%
27% WOMEN
3.68 AVERAGE U OF U GPA 98%|$71,134 CLASS OF 2023 PLACEMENT STATS
Percentage of QAMO students who identify as female
Finance, Information Systems, Math, Physics, Japanese, Games 45%
LOCATIONS OF ALUMNI
While 2024 marked just the sixth QAMO graduating class, our alumni network already spans the nation. Our young graduates contribute meaningfully in consulting, strategy, finance, data science, and public policy, while continuing to develop their skills and prepare for future leadership roles.
Southwest Airlines, CRE, Bain, Goldman Sachs, Oliver Wyman
Stanford GSB, LEK Consulting, Morgan Stanley
McKinsey, Fed Board, Cato Institute, Cadwalader
Boston Consulting Group, EY, NY Fed
Harvard Business School, HarbourVest Partners
Bain, Huron Consulting, Northwestern Kellogg School of Management
Goldman Sachs, Zions, Bancorporation, EY, SoFi, Clicklease, OC Tanner Nike
Disney, FIS Global Deloitte, Okland Construction
STUDENT CLUBS
BUSINESS ECONOMICS SOCIETY
The Business Economics Society hosted speakers from a broad spectrum of organizations and disciplines. With the ever-increasing number of QAMO graduates entering the workforce, we were able to draw on the experience and knowledge of QAMO alumni at several meetings.
The Business Economics Society sponsored a trip to Washington, DC in October 2023 where eight students had the opportunity to meet professionals working in government, at think tanks and at international development organizations. For the students, the highlight of the trip was visiting The International Monetary Fund and the Congressional Budget Office. The decision of some student attendees to change their career path to apply to work in government was testament to the success of the trip.
The trip to Chicago in May 2024 was focused on the consulting and asset management space. Twelve students met with professionals at Bain, BCG and Google, explored the Windy City by foot and elevated train, and networked with Eccles School alumni at a dinner in the city's River North district.
MANAGEMENT CONSULTING CLUB
The Management Consulting Club hosted speakers from Slalom, Strategy&, Weave, and Accenture, amongst others. The club continues to attract students from across campus from freshmen to PhD candidates. The steady stream of QAMO graduates entering the competitive world of consulting is due to the case preparation and networking platform provided by the club.
CONNECTING WITH ALUMNI
Clad in red, and with spouses and young children in tow, QAMO alumni returned to the Marriner S. Eccles Institute for a pre-football brunch on Saturday, September 16.
Alumni reminisced about favorite classes and professors, introduced new family members, and told stories that seem to only get better as the years pass. Connections with classmates were renewed, professional networks were expanded, and many breakfast burritos were eaten.
Ninety minutes before kickoff, QAMO Division Chair Scott Schaefer led a group discussion about the University of Utah's recent decision to join the Big-12 Conference, explaining how game theory --- a cornerstone of the QAMO curriculum --- can explain the choices of TV networks and rival schools, and eventually the demise of the old Pac-12 Conference.
Alumni discussed how econometrics, another QAMO building block, could help predict viewership (and hence dollars) of prospective conference configurations.
After the brunch, alumni headed to the football game, where the University of Utah faced Weber State. The U won the game with a score of 31-7, making it a great day for both academic and sports enthusiasts.
MCKAY
Sophie grew up in Boise, Idaho, the youngest of three children. She was a National Merit Scholar, president of her high school speech and debate team, and co-president of the mock trial team. As a member of the mayor’s council, she was part of the Development Impact Fee Advisory Committee that allocates funding for public buildings. In addition, she was a Rotary Scholar and in the top 100 of all graduates in the Boise area.
After her junior year in college, Sophie earned a coveted internship with Boston Consulting Group's New York office. She then shared her knowledge and passion for consulting with other students, serving as president of the QAMO Division's Management Consulting Club and leading numerous case practice exercises. After graduating with honors in May 2024, Sophie accepted a full-time offer with BCG.
Sophie enjoys learning about different cultures through her travels and interest in cooking. She is an avid reader and outdoor enthusiast and recently rekindled her childhood love of horseback riding.
KELSON FLYNN STUDENT PROFILES
As a high school student in Austin, Texas, Kelson was a two time USA Swimming Scholastic All-American student, which requires a minimum GPA of 3.5 and a junior national qualifying time. Additionally, Kelson helped create a business that developed a product that combats opioid addiction from prescription medicine.
As a student athlete at the University of Utah, Kelson has to juggle a demanding training schedule with his academic workload. As part of the swim and dive team, Kelson contributed to wins against LSU and USC and represented the University of Utah at the Pac-12 Championship in Washington state.
Upon graduating in May 2027, Kelson would like to work towards an MBA or a law degree.
CARSON DERU
Carson graduated first in his high school class of 604 students, taking nine advanced placement (AP) classes and on his way to become a National AP Scholar. He is a skilled cellist and received “superior” ratings as a soloist at regional competitions. As captain of his high school golf team, he led his team past the final cut at the state championship.
Carson has earned a 4.0 GPA at the David Eccles School of Business while pursuing the QAMO major and advanced financial analysis minor. He is working on a data analysis project for the University of Utah Hospital under the direction of Professor Scott Schaefer. The project looks at how former medical residency students fill roles in health provider shortages in Utah.
Through a highly competitive process, Carson was selected to intern at the Cynosure Group with their outsourced chief investment officer business that services foundations and endowments. He performs analysis in various areas to produce internal reports as part of portfolio management.
ZOE BROWN STUDENT PROFILES
Zoe, a native Utahn, was the valedictorian of her graduating class, captain of her high school mountain biking team, and service club president. As service club president, Zoe organized and led service projects for club members, including service with Utah Food Pantry, Utah Refugee Connection, and more.
While at the University of Utah, Zoe has been active in the Out for Business Club and has taken on the role of budget and logistics chair for the 2024 U Pride Week. In 2022, Zoe traveled to Vietnam with the Honors College to meet classmates from Fulbright Vietnam and to experience the legacies of the American/Vietnam War in modern-day Vietnam.
She is currently conducting research relating to the Vietnam War. Zoe would like to join the Peace Corps when she graduates in May 2025 and eventually work at the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C., possibly while making a detour to pursue her PhD.
JAZMIN MIRAMONTES
Jazmin Miramontes is a proud first-generation student of Mexican descent who has always been focused on furthering her education while remaining involved in her community. In high school, she was her school's Sterling Scholar for Instrumental Music in 2020 and competed with the Chamber Orchestra at the regional and state levels throughout the years. Additionally, she worked to represent and advocate for the student body by serving as president and vice president of student government during her junior and senior years.
At the David Eccles School of Business, Jazmin was accepted into the Opportunity Scholars Program, where she has connected with mentors and likewise became a mentor to fellow students in the cohort. She has also expanded her global perspective as a Global Business Scholar by enrolling in courses with Eccles Global, traveling to Dubai in 2020 and Australia and New Zealand in 2024 as part of the program.
After graduation, Jazmin plans to either pursue a full-time fintech career in Silicon Valley or further her education with a master's degree. Ultimately, she aspires to build a career in public policy and higher education, advocating for her communities. In her free time, Jazmin enjoys weightlifting, dancing, and cooking.
KYLIE PITZAK STUDENT PROFILES
Kylie grew up in San Clemente, California, where she was valedictorian of San Clemente High School. She played several sports as a child but grew to enjoy volleyball the most and played for the USA volleyball high performance program for two years.
During the summer between her sophomore and junior high school years, she tried beach volleyball and absolutely loved it, as it combined two of her favorite things, the beach and volleyball, and has been playing it ever since. At one point in 2020, Kylie was ranked number one nationally. She played club volleyball for Tamarack Beach Volleyball Club, finishing in first place at the T-Street 2017 Volleyball Festival Championships A2 (under fifteens) and third place in 2018 at the Junior Nationals under sixteens. Kylie continued her beach volleyball career at the University of Utah, where she has won 30 matches so far and was on the Pac-12 Spring Academic Honor Roll.
While at the David Eccles School of Business, she was awarded first place and $1,000 in the Business Scholars New Venture competition for making a concept idea about a sea food restaurant in Park City.
When Kylie graduates in May 2025, she would like to work in venture capital. She is also in the process of applying for the 2+2 MBA program.
ALUMNI PROFILES
JONATHAN DALL
Jonathan graduated in May 2023 with a double major in quantitative analysis of markets and organizations and mathematics. Since graduation, he has worked as a research assistant at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C. In his current role, he supports economists in research and policy analysis and contributes to the creation of many input reports that are used to make important monetary policy decisions. Jonathan’s research is mainly focused on the areas of financial economics, financial stability, and short-term funding markets.
In his free time Jonathan enjoys snowboarding, hiking, and running.
MACINTYRE WILSON
Since joining Bain & Company after graduating in May 2021, MacIntryre has worked on a host of projects including setting a 10 year strategy plan for an industrial real estate company and helping a non-profit scale its services nation-wide as well as performing private equity due diligence on e-commerce, health care, tech and pet related acquisitions. He was recently promoted to senior associate consultant.
MacIntyre founded the Management Consulting Club at the David Eccles School of Business in 2018, which now has over 70 members, and he has also been instrumental in mentoring students and cementing Bain’s presence on campus.
As a Chicago transplant, MacIntyre is a big fan of the Chicago Blackhawks. In his spare time, he enjoys playing Dungeons & Dragons, exploring new wines, cooking new recipes, and travelling abroad.
ALUMNI PROFILES
INSTITUTE ACTIVITIES
MELISSA KEARNEY ON THE TWO-PARENT PRIVILEGE
Melissa Kearney, the Neil Moskowitz Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland, visited the Marriner S. Eccles Institute in November to discuss her new book "The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind.” Joined on stage by Institute Director Adam Looney, Kearney offered a data-driven case for the benefits to children of two-parent households.
She began by highlighting a “dramatic shift” in family structure over the past four decades. The percentage of children growing up in two-parent households has declined from 77% in 1980 to 63% in 2020. Notably, this decline is more evident among households where women are less educated, contributing to what Kearney terms the “family gap.”
Drawing from mounds of data, Kearney demonstrated the wealth of resources two parents bring. Financial support, time, and emotional bandwidth collectively contribute to better outcomes for children. Kearney emphasized that this isn’t about blaming or devaluing single parents, recognizing the inherent challenges of raising children alone.
Kearney was clear that while economics plays a role, true change requires a broader shift in societal norms and attitudes toward marriage. It’s not just about government checks; it’s about recognizing the unique contributions that a second parent can bring to a household.
In a world where the dynamics of family structures are evolving, Melissa Kearney’s exploration of the two-parent advantage serves as a catalyst for meaningful conversations. The event was not just an economic analysis but a call to promote and expand marriage as an institution that can positively shape the lives of individuals and, ultimately, society. As Kearney aptly put it, it’s about unlocking the two-parent advantage for the flourishing of future generations.
AMY FINKELSTEIN AND WE’VE GOT YOU COVERED
Amy Finkelstein, the John & Jennie S. MacDonald Professor of Economics at MIT, visited the Marriner S. Eccles Institute in February to discuss her new book, "We’ve Got You Covered: Rebooting American Healthcare." In this work, Finkelstein and Stanford economist Liran Einav pose this question: “What would an ideal health insurance system in the United States look like, freed from any attention to potential political constraints, but obviously subject to economic constraints?”
Finkelstein began her discussion by highlighting two key problems with the U.S. healthcare system.
First, health insurance is itself insecure. “About one in four Americans spend time without insurance coverage within a given two-year period,” Finkelstein noted. “Perversely, health insurance, whose very purpose is to provide some amount of security and stability in an insecure and unstable world, is itself highly uncertain.”
Second, even the insured are exposed to catastrophic out of pocket medical expenditures. Of the $140 billion in pre-pandemic medical debt held by U.S. collection agencies, about three-fifths was incurred by people who were insured at the time they incurred the expense. Finkelstein argued that health insurance, whose most basic economic function is to spread risk of adverse events, is failing that task.
Finkelstein then advocated for a system of free universal basic coverage. By free and universal, Finkelstein means no premiums, no copays, and no signing up. By basic, she said “we are talking about a shack, not a chateau.”
But what about the costs of such a system?
Finkelstein noted that the U.S. is already “spending as much on taxpayer-financed health care as a share of our economy as other high income countries. We have just chosen to spend on a Medicare system that is much more generous in many dimensions than basic coverage would be. So you could reallocate those dollars to get to universal basic coverage, which would look pretty much like Medicare for all.”
YUNG YU MA DISCUSSES
THE US ECONOMY AT ECON WEEK 2024
Dr. Yung-Yu Ma, a PhD graduate of the David Eccles School of Business and currently the Chief Investment Officer for BMO Wealth Management in the U.S., returned to campus as part of Econ Week, participating in an Eccles Alumni Forum and small group meetings with QAMO students.
During the Alumni Forum, Ma noted that the economic effects of the COVID pandemic --- particularly inflation and supply chain problems --- have affected Americans from coast to coast and from Wall Street to Main Street. Ma believes the Federal Reserve, under the leadership of Jay Powell, has done a solid job responding the nation’s recent economic challenges. Ma is ultimately optimistic about the short- and long-term future of the U.S. economy, arguing that its resiliency will help create a “soft landing” from the current situation. Ma does not see a recession in America’s near future and believes we can expect lower interest rates by the end of the year.
I think that the structure, the institutions that are in place are by and large the main drivers.
In meeting with QAMO students, Ma stressed that when analyzing the markets, it is important to take a “nimble approach” because “what is important changes.” He noted that analysts pay more attention to surveys and other measures of consumer sentiment today than they once did. With a presidential election looming, Ma stressed the importance of markets and institutions as drivers of long-term economic growth, rather than the party that occupies the White House. “On average, more credit or discredit is given to the president about the workings of the economy than is warranted,” Ma said. “I think that the structure, the institutions that are in place are by and large the main drivers.”
ECONOMY
INSTITUTIONS
DEAN’S LETTER
One of the unique things about the David Eccles School of Business – and one of the things that drew me to joining the school as dean – is the impressive experiential learning opportunities that complement the coursework. The curriculum, clubs and other programming offered at the Marriner S. Eccles Institute are an example of the high impact educational experiences we offer to foster student success. Through these experiences, the Institute helps students develop sophisticated analytical and quantitative skills that are important in today’s business world. It is essential that we continue to infuse these skills into the education of our students, and the Marriner S. Eccles Institute is leading the way.
The theme of Reach is an apt one for the growth and success the Institute has enjoyed this year. It is also an excellent description of what we are working towards as a wider Eccles School community. I believe that the Eccles School is positioned to be the premier university in the Mountain West, and a destination that draws students from throughout the nation and the world. We are reaching towards recognition of the great things that already exist at the University of Utah. And we will be reaching to create even more world-class educational experiences and do world-class research.
Our students come from a wide variety of backgrounds and circumstances, many of them specifically drawn here by high impact opportunities they can’t find anywhere else. I am grateful to the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation and the Marriner S. Eccles Foundation for helping us build the Marriner S. Eccles Institute and for helping our students reach for more.
I look forward with great optimism to the even higher heights we will reach in the coming years.
KURT DIRK
FINANCIALS 2023-24
GIFTS
George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................$1,218,750
TOTAL $1,218,750
EXPENSES SPENT
Marriner S. Eccles Presidential Endowed Chair in Economics and Quantitative Analysis ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................$375,000
Salary and Benefits for Tenure Track Faculty ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................$506,250
Institute Activities
Causal Inference Symposium August 2023 .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................$15,600
Innovations in Housing Affordability Conference October 2023 ............................................................................................................................................................................$20,125
Melissa Kearney Two-Parent Privilege Event November 2023 .................................................................................................................................................................................$3,099
Econ Week January 2024 .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................$2,273
Amy Finkelstein We've Got You Covered Event February 2024.................................................................................................................................................................................$1,847
Utah Winter Business Economics Conference March 2024 ....................................................................................................................................................................................$22,337
Organizations/Political Economy Conference March 2024 .......................................................................................................................................................................................$25,105
UU/BYU Applied Economics Conference May 2024..............................................................................................................................................................................................................$907
Student Trip to Washington DC October 2023...................................................................................................................................................................................................................$21,865
Student Trip to Chicago May 2024..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................$14,832
QAMO Program Support Including Marriner S. Eccles Scholars Program........................................................................................................................................................$15,116
CoreLogic Real Estate Database Purchase..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................$67,500
Research Colloquia...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................$2,942
Research Funding.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................$123,952
TOTAL $1,218,750