• Job Placements

April 24, 2019

Mo Alloush: Assistant Professor at Hamilton College

Mo Alloush is joining the Department of Economics at Hamilton College as an assistant professor in fall of 2019. He is expected to earn his Ph.D. in June 2019. At Hamilton, Mo will continue his research program on poverty and psychology and will teach classes on poverty and inequality, urban economics, and econometrics. In his dissertation, Poverty Dynamics and Mental Health, Mo unpacks the relationship between poverty and psychological well-being; Using a unique nationally representative panel dataset from South Africa, he estimates the bi-directional relationship between income and psychological well-being. To do so, he first extends dynamic panel methods and derives the conditions necessary to estimate a system of simultaneous dynamic equations. Mo then uses these results to show that the endogeneity of psychological well-being can increase vulnerability to long-term poverty by amplifying the overall impact of shocks. Finally, he estimates resilience among individuals in a South African survey sample and shows that psychological well-being is a strong predictor of their ability to quickly bounce back from economic shocks. Mo's dissertation chair is ARE Professor Michael Carter. Dissertation committee members include ARE Professor Travis Lybbert, ARE Assistant Professor Dalia Ghanem, and ARE Assistant Professor Ashish Shenoy.

Sam Bird: Assistant Professor at Luther College

Sam Bird is joining the Department of Economics, Accounting, and Management at Luther College as an assistant professor in August 2019. He is expected to earn his UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ARE) Ph.D. in June 2019. At Luther, Sam’s research and teaching will focus on development economics and econometrics. In his dissertation, Technology Adoption, Market Participation, and Smallholder Endowments in Western Kenya, Sam studies how new seed varieties to produce a staple food crop affect smallholder farmers. Using a randomized control trial, he finds the varieties significantly increase food production by farmers. Rates of adopting the varieties do not differ substantially between farmers producing surplus food and farmers producing insufficient food for their own needs. The common practice of promoting new production technologies to households producing surplus food excludes many households willing to adopt new production technologies. Sam’s dissertation chair is ARE Professor Michael Carter. Dissertation committee members include ARE Professor Travis Lybbert and ARE Assistant Professor Kevin Novan.

Alexandra Hill: Assistant Professor at Colorado State University

Alexandra Hill is joining the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at Colorado State University (CSU) as an assistant professor in August 2019. She is expected to earn her UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ARE) Ph.D. in June 2019. At CSU, Alexandra will be specializing in agricultural economics and agricultural business management. In her dissertation, U.S. Agricultural Workers: Productivity, Labor Supply, and Welfare Participation, Alexandra answers policy-relevant questions related to crop workers in the United States. Using high-frequency data of strawberry pickers on three large farms in California, she examines how minimum wage increases and the ability of peers affect worker productivity. Using nationally representative survey data on U.S. crop workers, she shows that the differential treatment of immigrants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has positive effects on the labor supply and earnings of program participants. Alexandra's dissertation chair is ARE Professor Timothy Beatty. Dissertation committee members include ARE Distinguished Professor Richard J. Sexton and Economics Professor Giovanni Peri.

Amanda Lindsay: Assistant Professor at Luther College

Amanda Lindsay is joining the Department of Economics, Accounting, and Management at Luther College as an assistant professor in August 2019. She is expected to earn her UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ARE) Ph.D. in June 2019. In her dissertation, Local Economic and Environmental Impacts of Marine Policies in Rural Coastal Economies, Amanda studies the local general equilibrium impacts of marine fisheries management policies in Indonesia. She evaluates the potential of popular marine-based (blue growth) sustainable development policies using bioeconomic local general equilibrium structural models, which she parameterizes and calibrates using unique household and business survey data. In her job market paper, she finds that marine fisheries blue growth policies will lead to worse environmental outcomes than an agricultural policy, but pairing blue and green growth policies will outperform solely blue policies. Amanda’s dissertation chair is Environmental Science & Policy Professor James Sanchirico. Dissertation committee members include ARE Professor Emeritus James Wilen and ARE Professor J. Edward Taylor.

Jonathan Malacarne: Assistant Professor at the University of Maine

Jonathan Malacarne is joining the School of Economics at the University of Maine (UMaine) as an assistant professor in September 2019. He is expected to earn his UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ARE) Ph.D. in June 2019. At UMaine, Jonathan will be specializing in agricultural economics and helping to build an undergraduate concentration in development economics. In his dissertation, A Theoretical and Empirical Study of Locus of Control and Investment in Risky Environments, Jonathan adapts and applies the psychological construct of locus of control to economic investment problems. In particular, Jonathan studies the implications of locus of control on the adoption of technologies that enhance the resilience of vulnerable populations. Using primary data from maize producers in Mozambique and Tanzania, Jonathan shows that an external locus of control—the belief that forces outside of one's control are the dominant force in determining outcomes—is associated with large declines in the probability of adopting improved maize seed varieties. If vulnerable populations are especially likely to develop such beliefs, simply making new technologies available may not be sufficient to induce adoption and foster resilience to economic and environmental shocks. Jonathan's dissertation committee is co-charied by ARE Professors Stephen Boucher and Michael Carter and completed by ARE Professor Travis Lybbert.

Laura Paul: Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Delaware

Laura Paul is joining the University of Delaware Center for Experimental and Applied Economics as a postdoctoral researcher in September 2019. She is expected to earn her UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ARE) Ph.D. in August 2019. At the University of Delaware, Laura will be applying experimental and behavioral economics to agri-environmental issues and coastal water issues, such as the reduction of non-point source pollution, environmental and food risks, and conducting randomized controlled trials on voluntary conservation programs. This position and related research is supported from funds from the National Science Foundation and the United States Department of Agriculture. In her dissertation, Drought Tolerant Maize in East Africa: Crop Resilience and Farmer Adoption, Laura investigates the response of Drought-Tolerant (DT) maize to dry spells and how farmers' perceptions of drought risk drive adoption decisions. Using high resolution climate data mapped to maize yield trials across East Africa and maize producers in Mozambique and Tanzania, Laura shows that while DT maize is more resilient to drought pressure, farmer beliefs about drought risk might lead to low adoption of improved seed. Laura's dissertation committee includes co-chair ARE Professor Michael Carter, co-chair ARE Professor Travis Lybbert, and ARE Professor Aaron Smith.

More News

• 
  ARE Professor Michael Carter Authors New Piece in “The Conversation” Highlighting Research on Risk Management
• 
  Research by Boucher, Carter, Lybbert and Malacarne Highlighted for Protecting Small Farms in Mozambique from Drought
• 
  Maxime Depalle: Economist at Veolia