A tradition of innovative research and teaching

Housed in the oldest building on campus, Jonas Clark Hall, the Department of Economics has continued in the tradition of exacting research and empirical economic enquiry that was established by the first president of Clark College, Carroll Wright. At the same time, the faculty maintains its commitment to providing high quality teaching to students in both its undergraduate and Ph.D. programs.

Wright earned his reputation for his extensive—and innovative—social surveys of the economic condition of working people at the turn of the 19th century. Today, the ten members of the Department of Economics are applying new methods and data to answer a host of important questions. To name a few:

Wayne Gray is investigating the key issue of how much government regulation influences productivity. His study of the impact of Environmental Protection Agency regulations on the productivity of the United States paper industry is based on a comprehensive data set he developed of firm-level data. His research has been published in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, the Journal of Industrial Economics and in his 2003 monograph The Economic Costs and Consequences of Environmental Regulation.

Jacqueline Geoghegan is grappling with the economic forces behind land use change, whether urban sprawl in the Chesapeake basin or deforestation in the Yucatan. She is a leader in the application of spatially-specific data (GIS) from satellite imagery and other sources to understanding these issues. Her research has been published in venues such as Agricultural Economics, the International Regional Science Review and Land Use Policy as well as research monographs.

Daniel Bernhofen and John Brown are using an innovative application of counterfactual analysis and high-quality historical data to examine key propositions of international trade theory in the context of Japan's opening up to international trade from autarky in the mid-19th century. This research has been published in the Journal of Political Economy and the American Economic Review.

Links to the other faculty web sites provide an overview of the other research of the Department.

Providing an education: from the first-semester student to the polished Ph.D.

The faculty of the Department also shares in a century-long commitment to excellence in undergraduate learning. The major provides students with a strong background in economic analysis and a wide range of applied courses, including areas such as international and development economics; environmental, population, and urban; public finance; health; and sport. Research opportunities are emphasized in capstone courses. Students with a particularly strong record are eligible for a number of department and university awards and to participate in the honors program. Internships available in the Worcester area, Boston, Washington, D.C., and London, England offer majors the opportunity to get acquainted with potential careers first-hand. Economics majors go on to successful careers in a number of fields, including finance, business, service for the government or NGOS, and law.

The Ph.D. in economics is offered in several fields, with particular strengths in international, environmental, development and spatial economics. It emphasizes developing strong applied economics research skills. University strengths in the areas of development, environmental, and international offer students particular opportunities to gain expertise from other disciplines.

Currently, there are 40 students from three continents in the program. Clark Ph.D.s have recently secured positions in teaching, consulting, the private sector, and research with the United States government.