faculty – School of Economics

SOE Undergraduate Student Ruth Griffith presents research at the Maine Sustainability and Water Conference

lausier — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 19:07:15 +0000

SOE Undergraduate Student Ruth Griffith recently presented research at the 2024 Maine Sustainability and Water Conference. Griffith presented research done in collaboration with students and faculty from the 91��, Bowdoin College, and University of Southern Maine. The poster, Fostering community resilience: Learning from Maine’s municipal governments, summarized research Griffith has done as an undergraduate research assistant working with Drs. Kathleen Bell and Jessica Leahy from the 91��. Congratulations Ruth Griffith!

SOE Faculty Sharon Klein and Caroline Noblet chair Community-Driven Resilience Sessions at Maine Sustainability and Water Conference

lausier — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 15:39:16 +0000

SOE Faculty Sharon Klein and Caroline Noblet chaired a full-day Community-Driven Resilience Session at the 2024 Maine Sustainability and Water Conference. Under their leadership, the morning and afternoon Community-Driven Resilience sessions addressed critical challenges and opportunities facing Maine communities. The well-attended sessions called attention to the ongoing work and successes of local municipal officials, tribal leaders, citizen volunteers, community-based non-government organizations, regional organizations, state agencies, and private businesses. Drs. Klein and Noblet’s work on community-driven resilience is associated with their US EPA funded research project, The role of state networks in advancing community-initiated and -engaged sustainable energy action in underserved communities. Klein and Noblet’s innovative research team of undergraduate and graduate students bolstered the success of these sessions. Research team-members include Faizan Saif, Jasmine Lamb, Janine Borges, Sonia Leone, Catherine Mardosa, and Louise Chaplin. In addition, several students from Dr. Klein’s ECO 405 course volunteered to help with the sessions as well. Thank you all for organizing and executing these fabulous sessions.

SOE Faculty and Students Shine at the 2024 Maine Sustainability & Water Conference

lausier — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 13:17:10 +0000

SOE students and faculty shared research, chaired sessions, and volunteered at the 2024 Maine Sustainability and Water Conference. Drs. Sharon Klein, Caroline Noblet, and Kathleen Bell along with more than 20 SOE-affiliated graduate and undergraduate students participated in this annual event held in Augusta at the Civic Center on March 28, 2024. Research and sessions focused on a range of sustainability themes, including community resilience, energy initiatives, climate adaptation, and enhancing access to Maine’s coast. Congratulations to all conference participants, and thank you for representing SOE well!

Bell shares research at the Annual Meeting of the Rural Sociological Society

lausier — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 14:27:54 +0000

SOE Professor Kathleen Bell recently shared her research at the Annual Meeting of the Rural Sociological Society. Bell and colleagues Dr. Vanessa Levesque (University of Southern Maine) and Dr. Eileen Johnson (Bowdoin College) presented their work on rural community resilience. EES/SOE Alumna Dr. Vanessa Levesque presented their paper, Advancing understanding of rural resilience with real-time measures. Levesque, Johnson, and Bell documented patterns in community resilience actions by both community population size and form of municipal government. The 2023 Annual Meeting was held in Burlington Vermont from August 2 to August 6 and attracted rural scholars from throughout the U.S.

To learn more about Dr. Kathleen Bell, click here.

To learn more about the 2023 Annual Meeting of the Rural Sociological Society, click .

Malacarne shares research at the 2023 AAEA Economics Conference

lausier — Tue, 25 Jul 2023 23:14:54 +0000

SOE Assistant Professor Jonathan Malacarne recently shared his research at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA). Dr. Malacarne and colleagues Berber Kramer and Carol Waweru from IFPRI presented two papers: (1) Control Over Future Payouts and Willingness-to-Pay for Insurance: Experimental Evidence from Kenyan Farmers and (2) Summing the Parts: How Does “bundling” Affect Willingness-to-Pay for Seeds and Insurance in a Sample of Kenyan Farmers?. The 2023 AAEA Annual Meeting was held in Washington, DC from July 23 to July 25 and attracted economists from throughout the world. Great job presenting your work to an international audience Jonathan !

To learn more about Dr. Jonathan Malacarne, click here.

To learn more about the 2023 AAEA Annual Meeting, click .

WMTW interviews Hobbs about the Portland rent control rollback

lausier — Wed, 14 Jun 2023 18:40:23 +0000

WMTW News interviewed Dr. Kelsi Hobbs, an Assistant Professor in 91��’s School of Economics and housing expert, about the Portland rent control rollback referendum on Monday, June 12th. When asked about the impacts of rent control policies, she said “Renters that are living in rent-controlled units, we’ve definitely seen in the literature that they are benefiting from that lower rent, but on the flip side, landlords are less inclined to want to rent at that level.” Dr. Hobbs shared several key economics and policy insights about the potential impacts of the Portland rent control rollback, including noting that the rollback would likely result in higher rents and incentivize some landlords to add units to the rental market. On Tuesday, Portland voters rejected the rent control rollback proposal; 67% of voters opposed the rent control rollback which would have removed Portland’s 2020 policy that limits rent increases on a unit to 5% after a tenant leaves the unit voluntarily.

To access the online article and video interview with Hobbs, click

To learn more about Dr. Kelsi Hobbs, click here.

Noblet presents PFAS research at the 2023 AERE Summer Conference

lausier — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 14:10:06 +0000

SOE Associate Professor Caroline Noblet recently presented her research at the 2023 Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (AERE) Summer Conference. Her talk, Information Priming and Willingness to Pay for PFAS Mitigation in Maine, summarized recent findings from research done in collaboration with SOE Graduate Student Charity Zimmerman, Dr. Keith Evans, and SOE Undergraduate Student Molly Shea. The 2023 AERE Summer Conference was held in Portland, Maine from May 31 to June 2nd and attracted environmental and natural resource economists from throughout the world. Great job presenting your work to an international audience Caroline !

To learn more about Dr. Caroline Noblet, click here.

To learn more about the 2023 AERE Summer Conference, click .

Noblet leads plenary session at national economics conference

lausier — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 19:52:25 +0000

SOE Associate Professor Caroline Noblet recently led the plenary session at the 2023 Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (AERE) Summer Conference. Building on her recent policy and economics research, Dr. Noblet organized and moderated a panel of experts around the theme of PFAS. The Forever Chemicals: A Pressing Justice and Policy Issue session drew a large crowd and helped kick off the annual meeting of environmental and natural resource economists. The 2023 AERE Summer Conference was held in Portland Maine from May 31st to June 2nd and attracted economists and policy analysts from throughout the world.

To learn more about Dr. Caroline Noblet, click here.

To learn more about the 2023 AERE Summer Conference, click .