Department of Economics
FACULTY NEWS Helen Popper, continued: Finally, Professor Popper showed another side last year. A California native herself, she has been giving talks about using native plants in the garden. Her talks – at Huntington, Pacific Grove Natural History Museum, and elsewhere to master gardeners and plant societies – were based on the book she published with the University of California Press: California Native Gardening – A Month by Month Guide. You can see the beautiful and useful book here.
Teny Shapiro Assistant Professor Professor Shapiro has just completed her second year at SCU and has been keeping busy with research, teaching, and exploring San Francisco. She has been continuing her research on maternal and infant health-- her research on the consequences of elective birth timing changes on infant health was published in The Journal of Health Economics, while her latest project explores the determinants of early childhood vaccination in the U.S. Professor Shapiro’s research on school start times continues to be cited as important evidence as to why high schools should start their day later. She is working on a follow-up study to determine the optimal organization of the school day. Inside the classroom, Professor Shapiro has enjoyed getting to know the students at SCU and exploring new ways of teaching economics. She emphasizes the everyday applications of economics, discussing topics such as Uber, iPhone releases, and airline mergers. Professor Shapiro has also been using storytelling to enhance student learning by using podcasts as both a teaching and learning tool. Students in her fall labor economics course wrote and produced podcasts about current issues in the labor market.
Dongsoo Shin Associate Professor During the 2014-2015 academic year, two of professor Shin’s papers were accepted for publication. The first paper, entitled “Incentives and Management styles,” has been accepted and published in the International Journal of Industrial Organization. If anyone wonders why his/her boss is doing all easy tasks himself/herself, and why all hard tasks are delegated, this paper provides an economic rationale. The second paper, “Price Discrimination with Demarketing,” accepted for publication in the Journal of Industrial Economics, explains why some sellers make it harder for consumers to purchase the products/services. Have you wondered why some really popular restaurants are so small and in very inconvenient locations? Why some fast-food restaurants have “hidden menus” that are only available to those who make an effort to find those menus? This research provides an economics answer to it!
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The SCU Economist
economics@scu.edu