Welcome to the Department of Economics at Tufts University!

Please explore our website and learn more about our department's people, programs (undergraduate and graduate), and activities.

Enrico Spolaore
Chair, Department of Economics

NEUDC Conference at Tufts:

On November 7 and 8 the Economics Department at Tufts will host the 2009 Northeast Universities Development Consortium (NEUDC) Conference, a major forum in development economics rotating among the organizing institutions (BU, Brown, Cornell, Harvard, Tufts, Williams, and Yale).
Click here for more information.

New Faculty:

We are delighted to welcome three new faculty members in 2009-2010: Randall Akee, Emilia Simeonova, and Heiwai Tang, who are joining our department as Assistant Professors of Economics.

Randy Akee holds his Ph.D. from Harvard (2006), and is joining us from IZA (Institute for the Study of Labor in Bonn, Germany), where he is a Research Associate and member of the Migration Program. He is also a Research Fellow at the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development. His fields are development and labor economics. In particular, he has been working on the economics of migration and on the relation between parents' income and children's outcome on American Indian reservations. Click here to learn more about Randy's research.

Emilia Simeonova holds her Ph.D. from Columbia University (2008). She is joining us from IIES (Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University, Sweden), where she is an Assistant Professor of Economics. Her fields are applied microeconomics, health economics, and the economics of aging and retirement. In particular, she has been working on the causes of the racial mortality gap and on the effects of marriage on survival of the chronically ill. Click here to learn more about Emilia's research.

Heiwai Tang holds his Ph.D. from M.I.T. (2008). He is joining us from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, where he is an Assistant Professor of Economics. His fields are international trade, international finance, and the study of the Chinese economy. In particular, he has been working on labor markets institutions and trade patterns; spillovers from foreign direct investment; and the impact of mass migration on Hong Kong's labor market. Click here to learn more about Heiwai's research.

Department Highlights:

Linda Datcher Loury has been promoted to Full Professor of Economics. Professor Loury has done path-breaking work in the fields of labor economics and the economics of networks and social interactions. In particular, her research has focused on group differences in earnings, inter-generational mobility, and the relationship between education and earnings. She is currently teaching a new course on “Blacks and Labor Markets”, and working on a book by the same title.

Yannis Ioannides was a recipient of this year's Tufts Distinguished Scholar Award, which is given for distinguished excellence in research and scholarship. Yannis Ioannides is the Max and Herta Neubauer Professor in Economics at Tufts, and a leading scholar in the fields of social economics, economic growth and inequality, social interactions and networks, and the economics of housing markets. Click here to learn more about Yannis' research.

In The Media:

Thomas Downes' and Jeffrey Zabel’s research report on education reform titled "Incomplete Grade: Massachusetts Education Reform at 15" has recently been cited in the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, the Patriot Ledger, Metro West Daily News, as well as several other news outlets.

Gilbert Metcalf interviewed by Technology Review. Read the article.

Emily Morgan '10 and Anna Hardman's Summer Scholars Project on the effects of subprime mortgages featured in the Tufts Journal.

Marcelo Bianconi cited in Tufts Observer article, Tufts Speaks Out on the Financial Meltdown.

Margaret McMillan cited in Tufts Observer article, Exporting the Dream: The Omidyar-Tufts Microfinance Adventure.

Gilbert Metcalf's research on energy taxes was cited in the New York Times. Read the article.

Maggie McMillan featured in Tufts Profile about the global food crisis. Read the article.

Ed Kutsoati interviewed by Peace Reporter (Italian version) about Africa's current economic situation. Read the article (in Italian).

Gilbert Metcalf quoted in CNBC article "Climate Consensus Obscures Obama, McCain Differences". Read the article.

© 2009 Department of Economics, Tufts University. All rights reserved.
Site designed and maintained by ITS.