The BA and BS degrees in Economics are now classified as STEM degrees. As such, it allows our international students to apply for a 2-year OPT extension in addition to the 12 months of F1 students visas for all other degrees.
News
James D. Rodgers, Professor of Economics and Head of the Department of Economics from 1985 to 1994 died on February 15. Jim was a great colleague and as Department Head led the transformation of the Department of Economics to where it is today.
Kai-Jie Wu received his PhD in economics from the University of Rochester. His research focuses on macroeconomics, economic growth, and labor economics. Kai-Jie has studied the role of specialized firms as a driver of increased industry concentration over the last 40 years. Specialized firms, which produce higher quality goods, have replaced diversified firms over time and this can explain the entire increase in industry concentration over the period. Earlier this year, this research was discussed in. the Economist. We welcome Kai-Jie to Penn State.
Maria Jose Carreras-Valle received her PhD from the University of Minnesota. Maria’s research interests are in international economics, international trade, and macroeconomics. Her research focuses on the role of inventories in international trade. She has studied the impact of global supply chains in explaining the increase in US manufacturing inventories since 2005. In particular, rising trade with China increased delivery times and induced US firms to hold larger inventories. We welcome Maria to Penn State.
Department Remembers Jonathan Eaton
Jonathan Eaton, our friend and colleague, and Distinguished Professor of Economics, died at his home in Manhattan on Friday, February 9, 2024 at the age of 73. He is survived by his wife of 40 years, Carolyn and his two daughters, Tamara and Hannah and their spouses Alfonso Kimche and Joseph Crivello and his grandson, Theodore Kimche. Born in Los Angeles, CA on May 27, 1950, Jonathan was the brother of the late Ellen Hawley.
After graduating summa cum laude from Harvard University, Jonathan received his Ph.D. from Yale in 1976. Throughout his esteemed career, Jonathan taught at Princeton, Yale, University of Virginia, Boston University, New York University and Brown University. Jonathan first joined our Department in 2009-13. After a hiatus at Brown University, Jonathan returned to Penn State in 2015, and was named a Distinguished Professor of Economics at Penn State University in 2016, which he remained until February 9, 2024. He was also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Fellow of the Econometric Society, a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an Editor of the Journal of International Economics. Together with his decades long research partner, Samuel Kortum of Yale University, he was awarded The Frisch Medal in 2004 and The Onassis Prize in International Trade in 2018. Jonathan’s research examined a wide range of international economics subjects and was published in dozens of economics journals and books. His greatest joy was interacting with students and junior faculty. He was thoroughly devoted to his work and leaves a legacy of numerous graduate students who have gone on to lead the field of economics at prestigious university economics programs and research institutions around the world.
We are planning an event to celebrate Jonathan’s memory are our Fresh Faces in International Economics Conference in early May. We will post updated information as soon as available.
Congratulations to Leah Hunt and Jiaqi Ren for receiving the Wallace prize for best Third Year Paper
Congratulations to Jiaqi Ren on being awarded the Rosenberg Liberal Arts Centennial Scholarship for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Daniel Xu, ’07 Economics, received The Robert E. Lucas Jr. Prize awarded biannually for the most interesting paper in the area of Dynamic Economics published in the Journal of Political Economy in the preceding two years. The prize was established in 2016 on the occasion of the celebration of Lucas’s seminal contributions to economics and his Phoenix Prize award.
Papers published between July 2022 and June 2024 were considered for the fifth prize, which has been awarded to Chris Edmond, Virgiliu Midrigan, and Daniel Xu for “How Costly are Markups?” (Journal of Political Economy 131 [7]: 1619–1675). (https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/journals/jpe/lucas-prize)