UCA Students Participate in Reading Group Summit

By Elise Ormonde, ACRE Research & Program Coordinator

UCA students participating in the ACRE Fall 2023 Economics Reading group had the exciting opportunity to travel to Dallas, Texas for a weekend summit hosted by the Southern Methodist University (SMU). This event was a collaboration between UCA, SMU, and Western Michigan University, featuring student reading discussions and a presentation by Dr. Bart J. Wilson on his upcoming book, Meaningful Economics.

The reading group program has provided students with the chance to investigate economics beyond the classroom and how it relates to this session’s theme: Humanomics: Economic Freedom & the Not-So-Dismal Science. Humanomics aims to incorporate human conduct into traditional economic theory and to answer questions such as: What are markets and do free markets promote the development of moral behavior? Are economists’ simplifying assumptions about human behavior and decision-making causing them to miss key components of the world? Students were already familiar with some of Dr. Wilson’s past work surrounding humanomics due to the inclusion of his and Vernon L. Smith’s book, Humanomics: Moral Sentiments and the Wealth of Nations for the Twenty-First Century, in this fall’s curriculum. Consequently, Wilson’s presentation on “Meaningful Economics” sparked relevant student conversation and many insightful questions.

The ACRE Economics Reading group will continue in the spring and focus on morality in markets.

 

Proposed Tax Cuts for Arkansas in 2024 Special Session

Arkansas’s state government is once again facing a large budget surplus, and once again the legislature is planning to use this surplus as a down payment on further reductions in income and other taxes. A special legislative session begins this week, and several proposed bills will reduce personal income taxes by 0.5 percentage points, corporate […]

Student Excellence Marks Conclusion of Spring Semester

In the Spring 2024 semester, ACRE was able to sponsor several students to travel to conferences on economics and related issues. Two of the major ones were the Women in Economics Symposium in St. Louis and the Society of Business, Industry and Economics conference in Florida. Here are some of the highlights of those two conferences […]

Wrapping Up a Remarkable Semester

By ACRE Director Jeremy Horpedahl From reading groups and guest speakers, to professional development for educators and media mentions by the White House, ACRE has had another successful semester of economics, education, and policy research. We hope you’ve been able to come to one of our events on campus, or read some of our many […]

New Faces at ACRE: Meet Heidi Saliba and Elise Ormonde

By Aahna Combs The Arkansas Center for Research in Economics (ACRE) welcomes Heidi Saliba and Elise Ormonde as two new, dynamic team members. These gifted people offer a multitude of expertise, a variety of skill sets, and a common enthusiasm for improving not only Arkansas’s economic climate but the lives of all individuals who reside […]

2023 Colloquium Fosters Conversations on Racial Classification

By Terra Aquia, Educational Programs Manager The ACRE Colloquium brings together students and faculty from universities across the state of Arkansas. Attendees spend a weekend reading and discussing economic topics from collections of primary & secondary sources. The 2023 Colloquium program was organized by Dr. Wendy Lucas, History Chair and Professor at the University of […]

Fall Speaker Series Welcomed Emily Hamilton

By Elise Ormonde, ACRE Research & Program Coordinator The Arkansas Center for Research in Economics continued its Fall 2023 Distinguished Speaker Series with a presentation from Dr. Emily Hamilton on October 26. Dr. Hamilton is a Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Urbanity Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Her research […]

UCA Students Participate in Reading Group Summit

By Elise Ormonde, ACRE Research & Program Coordinator UCA students participating in the ACRE Fall 2023 Economics Reading group had the exciting opportunity to travel to Dallas, Texas for a weekend summit hosted by the Southern Methodist University (SMU). This event was a collaboration between UCA, SMU, and Western Michigan University, featuring student reading discussions […]

Professor David E. Bernstein Kicks-off Fall Speaker Series

By Elise Ormonde, ACRE Research & Program Coordinator The  Arkansas Center for Research in Economics kicked off its Fall 2023 Distinguished Speaker Series with a lecture from Professor David E. Bernstein. Professor Bernstein holds a University Professorship chair at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. During his public lecture, he shared work and […]

New ACRE and Tax Foundation Book: Next Steps for Tax Reform in Arkansas

By Jeremy Horpedahl, ACRE Director and UCA Associate Professor of Economics Arkansans have seen multiple reductions to their taxes, especially income taxes, in recent years. Starting from a top income tax rate of 7 percent a decade ago, income tax rates have gradually been reduced. The top individual income tax rate has already been lowered […]

Arkansas’s 2023 Special Session Is Over

As I mentioned in the newsletter we sent out at the beginning of this week, the Extraordinary Session of the Arkansas General Assembly would likely happen very quickly. It did move quickly, though it lasted about one day longer than most legislators expected. And that’s where it got interesting. The newsletter from Monday also talked […]