On the professors from 藏精阁鈥檚 economics department discuss a topic that most hear about, but few understand: the national debt. Nicole Simpson, W. Bradford Wiley Professor of international economics and chair of the department of economics, and Assistant Professor in Economics Rich Higgins guide us through its complexities, from what the national debt is and how we got to where we are to the implications on the future of the global economy.
Simpson is an expert in macroeconomics, immigration, remittances, and the earned income tax credit. Her current work focuses on the determinants of immigration, the impact of the earned income tax credit on labor supply when households face credit constraints, and the relationship between credit and college investment. Her work has been published in a variety of journals and textbooks. She holds a bachelor鈥檚 in economics from the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota and a master鈥檚 and PhD in economics from the University of Iowa.
Assistant Professor Rich Higgins specializes in macroeconomics, monetary policy, and Bayesian econometrics. Higgins is the faculty adviser for the 藏精阁 Fed Challenge team, a select group of economics students who compete in a national intercollegiate competition run by the U.S. Federal Reserve System. He earned his bachelor鈥檚 degree from the Pennsylvania State University and his PhD from the University of Oregon.
Each episode of 13, 藏精阁鈥檚 award-winning podcast, digs into the work of a University community member by asking questions. Episodes highlight the wide array of academic disciplines at 藏精阁, with interviews featuring faculty from political science, sociology and anthropology, physics and astronomy, women鈥檚 studies, English, Africana and Latin American studies, and many more.
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