1. Economics Research at North Carolina State University and Centre College
Ashley El Rady, Centre College
Economics Research at North Carolina State
University
In June, I was a research assistant for Dr. Traum. I created a time
series of the distribution of U.S. debt across various maturities. I
used the U.S. Treasury’s Monthly Statement of the Public Debt to
calculate the total debt for each quarter/year for bills, notes, bonds,
and TIPS (Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities) from 1993 to
2012. Then, I used Excel to calculate the weighted debt and the
average maturity for each type of security. This data collection and
analysis will help Dr. Traum create a theoretical model to understand
how issuing various maturities of debt affects a government’s ability
to repay its debt.
Abstract
Conferences:
For my enrichment project this summer, I worked as a research assistant
at North Carolina State University and Centre College. At NC State, I
helped Dr. Traum, a macroeconomics professor at NC State and a
Centre College alum, with data collection for her research project about
the term structure of government debt. At Centre, I helped Dr. Johnson
and Dr. Petkus with data collection for their research projects involving
collegiate athletic department spending, the determination of a college
football coach’s salary, and the impact of beauty on a college
administrator’s salary. Finally, I attended the International Journal of
Arts and Sciences Multidisciplinary Conference in Boston,
Massachusetts, and the Western Economic Association International
Conference in Seattle, Washington. This summer enrichment project
was my first opportunity to participate in economics research and the
conferences offered many examples of research topics that economists
are investigating.
1.International Journal of Arts and Sciences Multidisciplinary
Conference, Boston, Massachusetts:
Presentations at the IJAS Conference included papers in the Social
Sciences and Humanities, Business and Economics, Teaching and
Education, and Science and Technology. I watched academics from
Australia, Austria, Canada, Croatia, Finland, France, Ghana, India,
Malaysia, Poland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom,
and the United States present their work in the Business and
Economics and Social Sciences and Humanities presentation and
poster sessions. Each presentation lasted 15-20 minutes and was
followed by a 5 minute question and answer session. A few of the
presentations I saw included “Ocular Health Interventions: Alleviating
Poverty and Promoting Gender Balance”, “A Contextual Applied
Research Analysis of Negative Organizational Stigmas,” and “Social
Media-Related Competencies and Assets.”
2.Western Economic Association International Conference, Seattle,
Washington:
Presentations at the WEAI Conference included papers in
economics. Sessions lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes and included 34 paper presentations. Each presentation lasted 20-25 minutes and
was followed by a 5 minute discussion by another presenter. A few
of the presentations I saw were “Determinants of Total
Compensation for NCAA Football Coaches in the Football Bowl
Subdivision”, “Experimental Study on Preferences for Redistribution:
Equality of Opportunity Matters”, and “The Effect of Cognitive Load
on Economic Decision Making.”
Monthly Statement of the Public Debt January 1996
Economics Research at Centre College
Debt Outstanding: Bonds
In June and July, I was a research assistant for Dr. Petkus and Dr.
Johnson. I emailed letters to athletic directors at 225 public colleges
and universities requesting their athletic department’s revenue and
expenditure data under their state’s Freedom of Information Act.
The athletic department data will be used for future research
projects. Additionally, I used USA Today’s college football coaches
database to find information (e.g. salary, number of Bowl
Championship Series titles, tenure, race) about college football
coaches at 98 Division I universities in 2012. This data will be added
to data from 2006-2011 that was previously collected and used in a
paper that looked at the determinants of a coach’s salary. Finally, I
found pictures of 705 college presidents and administrators and
used an online tool to determine their facial symmetry score. This
data will be used in a research project looking at the relationship
between beauty, which is objectively measured by the facial
symmetry score, and the salaries of college administrators.