Intellectual Merit. The Tulane Research Experience for Undergraduates in Applied Microeconomics and Program Evaluation (TREU-AMPE) identifies undergraduate students from Southeast Louisiana universities majoring in Economics with an interest in applied microeconomics and program evaluation, and provides research opportunities designed to support them through their current major, encourage them to attend graduate school and, eventually, a research career in applied microeconomics and program evaluation. The TREU-AMPE provides not only a curricular research opportunity but also the long-term support necessary for a career in research. This support is particularly important for student groups such as women and underrepresented minorities that have been, and continue to be, underrepresented in these disciplines at the graduate level. The TREU-AMPE is an intensive year-round program for economics majors from Tulane University, the University of New Orleans, Xavier University, Loyola University, Dillard University, and Southern University at New Orleans. Promising students from these schools are matched with a faculty member of the Tulane Economics department. Students choose an independent project or collaborate on an existing project of an advisor. Projects last between six months and two years and result in senior theses and potentially publications authored by the student, faculty adviser, or both.
Broader Impacts. The objective of the TREU-AMPE is to engage a diverse set of talented undergraduates in the economic analysis of public policies that affect the New Orleans and Gulf Coast areas and have broader implications for all regions. By participating in the scientific evaluation of the effects of local public policies, the program fosters their interest in economics and program evaluation and build broader research skills to support their graduate studies. The TREU-AMPE program has a number of potential benefits. First, it provides an unusually intensive research program for a select group of undergraduates. Second, it involves student groups that are underrepresented in the economics profession. By focusing the research program on the economic analysis of their own city and region, the PI-Team hopes to draw these students into research careers in this field. Third, this research examines critical economic questions that have global relevance. For example, New Orleans is currently an exceptional laboratory to answer questions about the economics of local school governance, healthcare, urban agglomeration, and environmental policy; this makes the REU Site a unique project at a very special period of time.
identified undergraduate students from colleges and universities with an interest in applied microeconomics and program evaluation, and provided research opportunities designed to support them through their current major, encourage them to attend graduate school and, eventually, a research career in applied microeconomics and program evaluation. TREU-AMPE provided not only a curricular research opportunity but also the long-term support necessary for a career in research. This support is particularly important for student groups such as women and underrepresented minorities that have been, and continue to be, underrepresented in these disciplines at the graduate level. TREU-AMPE has had a number of potential benefits. First, it provided an unusually intensive research program for a select group of undergraduates. Promising students were matched with a faculty member of the Tulane Economics department. Students chose an independent project or collaborated on an existing project of an advisor. Projects lasted between six months and two years and result in senior theses and many publications authored by the student, faculty adviser, or both. TREU-AMPE engaged a diverse set of talented undergraduates in the economic analysis of public policies that affect the New Orleans and Gulf Coast areas and have broader implications for all regions. By participating in the scientific evaluation of the effects of local public policies, we fostered their interest in economics and program evaluation and built broader research skills to support their graduate studies. To develop these skills quickly, each student participated in a one-week intensive training program on research methods employed by applied economists. Second, it involved student groups that are underrepresented in the economics profession. By focusing our research program on the economic analysis of our city and region, we hope to draw these students into research careers in this field. We successfully recruited students from groups underrepresented in the economics profession. Out of 41 total student participants, 24 were women and five were African-American. TREU-AMPE was a relatively short program. Consequently, we do not know the final career path of a majority of students. Seven participants have been admitted to high quality US PhD program in Economics. Six students are participating in pre-doctoral economics research positions. One student is pursuing a research track in law, another has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to Japan before starting his PhD program, another has finished a Masters in Public Health, and another is completing a Masters program in Mathematics before pursing further graduate training in economics. Third, the research examined critical economic questions that have global relevance. Seven TREU-AMPE collaborations resulted in scientific articles co-authored between faculty mentors and student participants. Professor Jonathan Pritchett conducted research on the economics of slavery with students Mallorie Smith, Jessica Hayes, and Cameron LaPoint that has resulted in three scholarly articles. One has been published in the leading research journal in economic history, and two more are currently under submission. Professor James Alm and student Jonathan Estuart examined the optimal size of government. This collaboration results in a scholarly article that is currently under submission. Professor Leandro Magnusson and student Zachary Flynn co-authored a paper on structural break tests in econometrics. This resulted in a scholarly article for which a revision has been requested from a journal. Professor Marco Castaneda co-authored a paper with student Eastin Rossell on how organizational form in health care affects the adoption of new medical technologies. A number of these co-authoring students presented the results of these research projects at national conferences including the American Economic Association meetings. Students also contributed to other faculty projects. These collaborations examined topics such as the role of weather shocks in economic change, the polluting behavior of firms and the enforcement of anti-pollution legislation, the role of folk justice in understanding the fairness of the tax system, the response of juvenile to changes in the severity of criminal sanctions, and the effect of quality ratings on the healthcare decisions of the elderly. These projects have resulted in at least fourteen additional scholarly articles. At least four of the articles have already been published in high quality economics journals.
