76th Annual Meeting

This year’s annual meeting was held outside Ohio for the first time. Northern Kentucky University hosted this event on September 23 and 24. Representatives from five states and 18 different universities gathered together. Friday night there was a panel on Race and the 2016 election, followed by a reception for colleagues old and new to mingle in a social setting. Saturday morning scholars presented their research in 13 different panels on a variety of topics from shame to immigration to trade to employment to local development. Overall the conference was a huge success, garnered many happy faculty and students as well as positive press coverage. Below you will find some highlights from our conference!

Friday Night Panel

On Friday night, Drs. Steven Weiss, NKU Communications, Michael Washington, NKU Black Studies, Omotoya Banjo, University of Cincinnati Communications and Dey Diaz, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce presented a panel to a large audience (including members of the community, students as well as OAEPS attendees) on the importance of race in the 2016 election. This discussion dissected the rhetoric and issues surrounding the debate and even evaluated the concept of race as a whole. The high level of discourse was noted amongst the attendees. Members of the audience engaged with the panel during the presentation, asking questions about the effect of race on down ballot elections and on civic engagement during this election cycle. Afterwards, panelists engaged one-on-one with members of the audience to answer specific questions and provide insight into issues surrounding the election.

Lecture at Lunch: Strongly Complementary

During the luncheon, Dr. Daniel Carroll, Research Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, presented a talk titled, “Inequality in Modern Macroeconomics.” The presentation was timely as widening income inequality is increasingly reported, and politicians seek to exploit this provocative issue to garner voter support. Indeed, the Thomas Piketty 2013 publication of “Capital in the 21st Century” has fueled intense debate regarding the causes and implications of income and wealth inequality. A summary of Dr. Carroll’s talk follows below.

For context, Dr. Carroll presented data confirming that that income and wealth inequality have increased since 1970, and he identified popular explanations for the increase in inequality; such as, advances in skill-based technology, globalization, corporate governance, and individual preferences before addressing the argument presented in Piketty’s influential book.

Dr. Carroll summarized Dr. Piketty’s argument with acuity and clarity often lacking when summarizing academic research. He noted that Piketty relates inequality to long run growth, which is modeled to depend upon population growth and technological growth. Piketty assumes that the return to capital remains constant as the economy grows, which necessarily imposes accumulation of income and wealth upon the owners of capital, if the rate of return on capital exceeds the population growth rate. Under these assumptions, the increase in income and wealth inequality are explained, and the prescriptive tax on wealth proposed by Piketty is warranted.

Along with other researchers, Dr. Carroll challenges the assumption that the rate of return to capital is constant. Economists contend that the rate return to capital will decline as capital is accumulated. Moreover, the effect on inequality depends on the relationship between capital and labor. Piketty contends that the two integral resources are highly substitutable, such that capital replaces labor; however, empirical evidence tends to support the alternative position that capital and labor are complementary. As such, the return to labor is expected to increase as the return to capital decreases. Although challenging the work of Piketty, Dr. Carroll demonstrated that inequality is a topic taken seriously by researchers, which is likely good news as we seek understanding of the effects of this remarkable observed phenomenon.

Monaco Joins Seasoned Vets as Officers are Elected Unanimously

During the Annual Meeting the 2017 slate of Executive Officers were elected unanimously by the membership in attendance.

The 2016-2017 Executive Committee Officers are:

President -- Shauna Reilly, Northern Kentucky University

Vice President – Diane Monaco, Heidelberg University

Secretary – Bob Rogers, Ashland University

Treasurer– Katherine Kontak, Bowling Green State University

First Vice President, Membership – Colin Swearingen, John Carrol University

Second Vice President, Communication – Andrew Lucker, Case Western Reserve University

New Executive Committee Members Welcomed During Annual Meeting

Four new members of the Executive Committee were elected by unanimous vote during the 2016 Annual Meeting. Joining the Executive committee are: Gregory Arburn, Findlay University; Suzanne Marilley, Capital University; Jonathan McKenizie, Northern Kentucky University, and Diane Monaco, Heidelberg University.

The Executive Committee meets annually during the Annual Meeting and Conference as well as periodically during the year to address the business of the association.

Please welcome our newest members!

Paper Competitions Spotlight Graduate and Undergraduate Students Research

The Ohio Association of Economists and Political Scientists sponsors four paper competitions each year. Graduate and undergraduate papers in Economics and Political Science are reviewed by volunteer judges. All faculty are encouraged to promote the paper competitions at their institutions.

During the Annual Meeting the following students were recognized for their research:

Graduate Economics – Monetary reward underwritten by the College of Business Administration, Bowling Green State University

First Place: Turner Anderson, University of Akron

Graduate Political Science – Sponsored by the Center for Policy Studies, Case Western Reserve University

First Place: Gregory Saxon, University of Kentucky

Second Place: Gabriela Rangel, University of Kentucky

Undergraduate Economics -- Monetary reward underwritten by the College of Business Administration, Bowling Green State University

First Place: Paul Fisher, Case Western Reserve University

Undergraduate Political Science – Monetary reward underwritten by The Arneson Institute for Practical Politics and Public Affairs, Ohio Wesleyan University

First Place: Samantha Davis, Northern Kentucky University

Second Place: Devin Mason, Northern Kentucky University

Congratulations to all the students recognized during the conference, and THANK YOU to the underwriters who make it possible to reward these exceptional achievements.

Additionally – David McClough was recognized for his service to the organization with a plaque commemorating his role in the organization. Thank you so much for your service David, no words can express our gratitude for all you have done to keep this organization running.