ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT BULLETIN
Spring 1999/2000
ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT BULLETIN Spring 1999/2000 |
A WORD FROM THE CHAIR
The Economics Department has experienced a thorough review this year.
By preparing a "self-study," we have reviewed ourselves. We have also
been reviewed by a highly qualified external committee of economists
from Princeton, M.I.T., Harvard, and Yale. The next step should be a
response from Stanford's administration and we await this. But
regardless of the administration's reactions, I believe this has been a
very healthy and helpful experience. Normally, the Department proceeds with its many activities without
stepping back and taking a broad view of these ventures. Particular
aspects of the program are assessed, but the whole enterprise tends to
proceed without serious examination. I believe the review of the
Department has provided an opportunity to undertake this examination.
Although our larger teaching and research mission has been affirmed,
the self-study and the external review committee agree that we are sorely
stretched in terms of our needed resources. We have a large undergraduate program that functions well and has
aspects that are truly innovative, the Introductory Economics Center
most notably. However, undergraduate classes are too large with too
few Economics majors doing quality research in small seminar settings.
This can be addressed in one of two ways. One way involves the
Department being granted more faculty billets and more Teaching
Assistant resources to permit a reduction in class sizes and to provide
undergraduates with more opportunities for research. This is the
Department's preferred option and it was endorsed by the Visiting
Committee. A second way is to tailor the Economics courses and major
to make them less accessible and more demanding to undergraduates.
This will reduce class sizes and cut the number of Economics majors.
Economics would move closer in design and spirit to some of the
Engineering majors and move away from those in the other Social
Sciences. If the School of Humanities and Sciences chooses not to grant
us sufficient additional billets and greater financial resources, we need to
consider seriously implementing this second way. By several different yardsticks, we have one of the best graduate
programs in Economics. The indications are that we shall remain one of
the best. However, it is going to be a challenge to maintain this. Some
other Universities appear to have infused their Economics Departments
with greater resources which are manifested in more generous
fellowships and aggressive faculty recruiting. The additional resources
mentioned in the previous paragraph apply to the graduate program, too.
In addition, there are a number of issues to take up regarding the
operation of the graduate program. For instance, the external review
committee urged us to find a mechanism to cap first-year Ph.D. classes,
something that I heartily endorse. The sources for and level of financial
support for Economics graduate students are also pressing issues. In this review of the Department, mention should be made of the
administrative staff who really impressed the Visiting Committee. The
Committee wrote, "The Department's administrative staff appeared to us
to be highly competent and, in general, the Department is run as a very
tight ship. Indeed, for a Department of its size, the administrative,
computation and secretarial support is unusually lean." It is heartening
to see such explicit recognition for the wonderful job done by our
administrative staff. In general, there is a long and daunting string of issues facing the
Department. If we receive the support from the School that we seek,
then attending to this task could be fun. If we do not receive this
support, I believe we should recognize that the resource constraints
imply we cannot go on as before. We would have to modify our
activities. Difficult decisions will need to be reached that require
surmounting the sort of collective choice problems with which we, with
this Department's intellectual history, should be well acquainted. Let us
work together constructively to bring about a better, higher quality,
program and environment. The future could be exciting. John Pencavel FACULTY NEWS INCOMING GRADUATE STUDENTS 2000-2001 TENTH ANNUAL ARROW LECTURES GRADUATE STUDENT NEWS The recipients of the Autumn Quarter TA
Awards are: The recipients of the Winter Quarter TA Awards are: STORK NEWS Frank and Carrie McIntyre are the proud parents of Samuel
Penn McIntyre, born October 23, 1999. He was 8 lbs 2 oz at
birth. WEDDING NEWS CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS Comprehensive Exam Dates:
Paul David is being honored on the occasion of his 65th birthday
by two conferences organized by some of his former students and
colleagues. The first conference will be held in Turin, Italy on
May 19-21. W. Edward Steinmueller, former Deputy Director of
CEPR, now Professiorial Fellow at the Science Policy Research
Unit of the University of Sussex, England is organizing the event.
He can be contacted for more information by email at
w.e.steinmueller@sussex.ac.uk
The second conference will be held at SIEPR on June 2 and 3, and
will be titled "History Matters: Economic Growth, Technology and
Population". This conference is being organized by Professors
William Sundstrom (University of Santa Clara), Timothy
Guinnane (Yale) and Warren Whatley (University of Michigan).
Gavin Wright has been advising the committee. Department
members are welcome to attend all conference sessions. More
information on program details will be available shortly.
Avner Greif has been elected as Fellow of the Econometrics
Society for 1999-00. He was the Keynote speaker at the European
Historical Economic Society in Lisbon in October. Also, he gave
the 1999 Distinguished Lecture in the Annual Meeting of the
International Society for New Institutional Economics in
Washington, DC in September.
Chad Jones has been named a John M. Olin Foundation Faculty
Fellow for 2000-2001.
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Bob Hall will present the Ely lecture at the annual meetings of the
American Economic Association in January 2001 in New Orleans.
Larry Lau reports that a former graduate student of his, Dr. Jia-Dong Shea, has recently been designated the new Minister of
Finance of the Republic of China on Taiwan, effective May 20,
2000. He currently serves as the Deputy Governor of the Central
Bank of China.
Mark McClellan received the inaugural Griliches Award for one
of his papers, "Are Medical Prices Declining? Evidence from Heart
Attack Treatments" (QJE, 113(4): 991-1024, Nov. 1998, with
David Cutler, Joseph Newhouse, and Dahlia Remler). This
Award is given for the best empirical paper in the tradition of Zvi
Griliches' work published in the previous two years in either the
Quarterly Journal of Economics or the Journal of Political
Economy.
Paul Milgrom hs been invited to serve as the Taussig Research
Professor of Economics at Harvard University for the academic
year 2000-2001.
David Orden has had a book published that was completed while
on sabbatical: "Policy Reform in American Agriculture: Analysis
and Prognosis: (co-authored by Robert Paarlberg and Terry
Roe), University of Chicago Press, October 1999.
Neva Kerbeshian Econ 51
Joanna Meyer Econ 51
Kelly Russell Econ 1
Slavi Slavov Econ 165
John Toth Econ 101
Asaf Zussman Econ 165
Frank McIntyre Econ 101
Slavi Slavov Econ 111
John Toth Econ 51
Chiaki Moriguchi (advisor Avner Greif) has received the
following prizes from the Economic History Association in its
annual meeting, September 1999:
•1999 Winner, for her dissertation "The Evolution of Employment
Systems in the United States and Japan, 1900-1960: A
Comparative Historical and Institutional Analysis", completed at
Stanford University.
•Alexander Gerschenkron Prize for the Best Dissertation in non-US
or Canadian Economic History.
Valter Sorana reports that he will be leaving the Palo Alto office
of Charles River Associates, Inc. to take an Assistant Professor
position at Tilburg University's CentER starting September 1,
2000.
Mu Yang and Alan L. Li were engaged in April, 2000. The
wedding date is still to be decided.
Tracy Falba and Pat Bayer are engaged and plan to be married
in the summer of 2001 somewhere in New England.
202 Sequence June 2
210 Sequence June 9
Field Presentations to First Year Class
These will be held in mid to late May. The dates and speakers
have not yet been determined. Students will be notified by email.
Spring Quarter Graduate Student Meeting:
Room 140, 5:30 PM May 31
End of Year Barbeque June 9
Athletic Grove, 4:30 PM
Commencement Reception June 11
Hoover Lawn, 12:00 PM
Summer Quarter Begins June 19
SITE Conference June 26-Aug 10
Dept. of Economics
contact Priscilla Williams for more information
723-2218