Current News

•  Hyunju Lee, an assistant professor in the Economics Department, wins the KAEA Young Scholar Award from the Korea-America Economic Association.  The award will be presented at the KAEA meeting on January 4, 2026 in Philadelphia, PA during the AEA Annual Meeting.  The award recognizes Professor Lee as “an emerging leader in macroeconomics, international economics, and financial economics” whose papers “collectively offer important new insights into bank versus nonbank financing, risk sharing under constraints, and the policy tradeoffs during crises.”  

•  The Economics Department welcomes three new assistant professors.  The Department of Economics in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences added three new tenure-track assistant professors to its faculty starting Fall 2025: Andrea Bernini, Cristian Espinosa Diaz and Sergio Montero. Professor Bernini earned his PhD at University of Oxford and conducts research in applied microeconomics and political economy.  Professor Espinosa earned his PhD at University College London and conducts research in international economics and empirical macroeconomics. Professor Montero earned his PhD at California Institute of Technology and conducts research in political economy, development and industrial organization. 

•  The Economics Department transitions to a new Chair in Fall 2025: Aimee Chin takes lead after Dietz Vollrath’s two terms of service as chair.  More…

Past News

• The Economics Department is excited to host several renowned visitors from around the world during the 2024-2025 academic year. Visitors’ stays will vary from one week to an entire semester. Visitors for Fall 2024: Claus Portner (Seattle), Tin Cheuk Leung (Wake Forest), Manuel Amador (Minnesota), Yichen Su (SMU), Douglas Gollin (Tufts), Krisztina Kis-Katos (Gottingen). Visitors for Spring 2025: Hanna Schwank (Bonn), Emilio Espino (Torcuato di Tella), Arvind Magesan (Calgary), Dirk Krueger (UPenn), Carol Caetano (Georgia), Gregorio Caetano (Georgia), Hugo Hopenhayn (UCLA), Yun Xiao (Gothenburg), Giovanni Mastrobuoni (Turin and Essex), and Jean Guillaume Forand (Waterloo).
• Discover Applied Economics: Master’s Degree Information Session 
  Wednesday, February 5, 2025, 10:00 am - 11:30 am
  Learn how you can fast-track your career in data analytics with our intensive one-year master’s degree in applied economics.
• The Economics Department is proud to host the 2023 Midwest International Economic Development Conference on March 31 and April 1. This is the 20th edition of the conference and the first time it is held in Houston. Please click here for more information. https://mwiedc2023uh.github.io/ 
• The University of Houston (UH) Masters of Arts (M.A.) in Applied Economics ranked 6 ^th among other applied economics master’s degree programs by The Financial Engineer’s 2015 Master of Economics Rankings and 34 ^th overall for master’s degrees in economics in the nation. More...
• Christopher Clarke, Instructional Assistant Professor of Economics, wins a 2021 Media and Moving Images (MMI) award for innovative use of media-related teaching adaptations during UH’s shift to remote online teaching during 2020 and 2021. More…
• Kei-Mu Yi, M.D. Anderson Professor of Economics, wins the 2020 Maekyung-KAEA Economist Award from the Korea-America Economic Association. More….
• The Economics Department virtually hosted the 5th Annual Conference on International Economics co-organized by the Federal Reserve of Dallas, the University of Houston and Banco de Mexico, October 23-23, 2020.
• Former UH economics graduate student Michael Clark (Ph.D. 2012) and his company’s mortgage indices are now being posted in the FRED database at the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank as the Optimal Blue Mortgage Market Indices (OBMMI).  More… 
• Chinhui Juhn, Henry Graham Professor of Economics wins the prestigious CLASS Distinguished Faculty Award in May 2020. More..
• Assistant Professor Nathan Canen publishes landmark study on political polarization in one of the discipline’s most prestigious journals, Econometrica. More..
• Dietz Vollrath, Professor of Economics and Department chair published a new book, Fully Grown: Why a stagnant economy is a sign of success by the University of Chicago Press in January 2020. More from Dr. Vollrath’s website and blog.
• Vegard Nygaard’s research on the macroeconomic effects of ageing and healthcare policy is highlighted in a chapter of a new book posted on VoxEU.
• Elaine Liu's research on the gender gap in risk attitudes is highlighted by the media More…
• Janet Kohlhase, professor of economics receives the RSAI Fellow Award. More..
• Elaine Liu’s research on China’s rural property rights and agricultural productivity is highlighted on VoxChina and VoxDev
• Gergely Ujhelyi and Andrea Szabo’s research on voter turnout in India is highlighted by the International Growth Center (IGC).
• The Economics Department transitions to a new Chair in Fall 2019: Dietz Vollrath replaces 15-year veteran David Papell. More…
• The Economics Department is pleased to announce the appointment of Vegard Mokleiv Nygaard as a new assistant professor starting fall 2019. More…
• Marion Foley, longtime economics department academic advisor retires. More..
• The Economics Department is pleased to announce the appointment of Nathan J. Canen as a new assistant professor starting fall 2018. More...
• The Economics Department is pleased to announce the appointment of Christopher Clarke as new instructional assistant professor starting fall 2018. More...
• Undergraduate economics major Jackson Crawford is writing a senior honors thesis on the merits of consumption taxation vs. income taxation. Read more about his experiences doing research in CLASS’s online newsletter. More...
• UH President Renu Khator declares that economics professor Dr. Polly Hardee exhibits “the spirit and character of the University of Houston" for her efforts during Hurricane Harvey. More…
• Three economics PhD students  were selected to present their research at the 3rd Annual Graduate Research and Scholarship Projects (GRaSP) Day held November 10, 2017 at the UH University Center. The three presenters were Tung Nguyen, Saumya Rana and Max Thuy Vu.
• Undergraduate economics major Aldo Charles spent Summer 2017 on Capitol Hill working for Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-TX, 20) from San Antonio, TX. Read about his experiences in CLASS’s online newsletter and the Provost’s Office newsletter. More...
• The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and the University of Houston are jointly hosting a conference in international economics on Friday, October 20th and Saturday, October 21st, 2017.  The conference will be held at the Houston Branch of the Dallas Fed on Friday and on the UH campus in 140 Melcher Hall on Saturday morning.  All are welcome. Please let Dr. Kei-Mu Yi know by October 16 if you would like to attend.
• The Economics and the Political Science departments are co-hosting   a conference on political economy  February 10-11, 2017 on the   UH  campus.  The conference features leading economists and political scientists from across the country.
• The Economics Department is pleased to announce the appointment of Radek Paluszynski as a new assistant professor starting fall 2016.   More...
• Economics Ph.D. student   Chon-Kit Ao  was selected in May 2016 as a winner of the 2015 IPUMS-USA Research Award in the Graduate Student Category for his paper "The Effect of Municipal Water Filtration on Children's School Enrollment and Employment in American Cities, 1880-1920".   More…
• Dr. Kei-Mu Yi, M.D. Anderson Professor of Economics at   UH, has been appointed as of May 1, 2016 to be a Research Associate at the   National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).   More...
• The Economics Department is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Kei-Mu Yi as the M. D. Anderson Chair in Economics as of January 2016. More…
• The Economics Department is pleased to announce the appointment of Fan Wang as a new assistant professor starting fall 2015. He is currently completing his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania.
• Senior economics major and Honors College student Cassie Gianni will soon explore new global and academic frontiers as UH's first Rangel Graduate Fellow. Congratulations Cassie!
• Professor Chinhui Juhn wins a prestigious Russell Sage Foundation Visiting Scholar Award for 2015-2016. She will conduct research in New York City on her research project (with Elizabeth Gregory) “Who Needs Kids? Fertility, Workforce and the Future.”
• Professor Steven Craig named Interim Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences February 1, 2015.
• Six economics PhD candidates presented posters at the 1st Annual Graduate Research and Scholarship Projects (GRaSP) Day held on October 31, 2014 at the University Center.  The six presenters were Chon Kit Ao, Mike Hsu, Wen Long, Ryan Ruddy, Edson Silveira Sobrinho and Jacob Smith.
• Undergrad Taylor Thorns was one of 21 students selected to attend the American Economic Association Summer 2014 Training Program at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. His six-week experience in training for economics grad school is featured in the November CLASS newsletter and the Honors College scholar profiles web page. Congratulations Taylor!
• We welcome new faculty member Assistant Pro fessor Willa Helterline Friedman and Assistant Professor Liliana Varela to our department.
• Summer visitor Dr. Daniel Arribas-Bel (University of Birmingham, UK) offers a mini-course on spatial analysis and spatial econometrics.
• Professor Steven G. Craig  recently appointed Associate Dean of Faculty Research for the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.
• Job market seeking masters of applied economics
• Professor Janet Kohlhase was awarded the  David E. Boyce Award by North American Regional Science Council (NARSC)
• Professor Steve Craig, graduate student Elisabetta Gentile win teaching awards
• Professor Aimee Chin collaborates on research featured on VoxEU
• Professor David Papell questions Bernanke at 2010 American Economic Association meeting

UH Library Research Guide for Economists

The University of Houston Libraries manages a web page which features popular resources for researchers studying economics. The Economics Virtual Library includes access to World Development Indicators, a comprehensive database of development data; Hoovers, a database of comprehensive reports from publicly traded companies; International Financial Statistics, a publication and database maintained by the International Monetary Fund; The Social Science Research Network, which includes access to articles in varying disciplines; as well as thousands of books and journals encompassing many different subjects.

Upcoming Seminars

Read more about upcoming seminars.