Hamilton’s Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center will host the upstate competition of the College Fed Challenge on Friday, Nov. 9.  The Challenge is a team competition for undergraduate college students inspired by the working of the Federal Open Market Committee. Hamilton will be represented by students in Professor of Economics Ann Owen’s Monetary Policy class. The students presenting are seniors Eric Boole, Danny Kaufman, Aislinn Shea and Amanda Thorman.  The entire class participates, with some doing the presenting and others helping them to prepare.

With total payroll exceeding $23.1 billion for 373,800 direct, indirect and induced jobs, New York’s independent colleges and universities are major source of jobs in New York State, according to a Center for Governmental Research (CGR) analysis released today by the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU). The announcement came during an Independent Higher Education Forum on Oct. 16 in Utica.

Using examples from today’s political landscape, Professor of Government P. Gary Wyckoff examined elements of critical thinking in an essay titled “What Exactly Is Critical Thinking,” published by InsideHigherEd in its Oct. 11 edition. “As I prepared for the start of classes this fall, I tried to pinpoint the critical thinking skills I really want my students to learn,” wrote Wyckoff.  “And as I listened to public debates on everything from tax policy to Obamacare, five essential thinking skills seemed to be missing, again and again.”

Professor of Economics Stephen Wu was selected to be a co-editor for the International Journal of Wellbeing (IJW). Wu previously served on the editorial board.

“More Information Isn’t Always Better: The Case of Voluntary Provision of Environmental Quality,” a paper by Professors of Economics Ann Owen, Julio Videras and Stephen Wu, was published in the July issue of the journal Economic Inquiry.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Professor Michael Greenstone will deliver a lecture titled “Will Adaptation Save us From Climate Change?” on Tuesday, Oct. 2, at 7:30 p.m. in the Chapel. The lecture, which begins the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center’s Sustainability series, is free and open to the public.

An article co-authored by Derek Jones, the Irma M. and Robert D. Morris Professor of Economics, was published as a chapter in Volume 13 of Advances in the Economic Analysis of Participatory and Labor-Managed Firms. “Insider Ownership and Firm Performance: Evidence from Bulgaria” was written with Mark Klinedinst, emeritus professor of economics at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Ann Owen, the Henry Platt Bristol Professor of Economics, spoke with The Christian Science Monitor for an article titled “Time to refinance your mortgage? Rates hit historic lows” published on Sept. 27. She discussed the current inflation rate as it relates to fixed-rate loan rates and how increased housing and mortgage demand might change borrowing rates. She also addressed the possible effect of Federal Reserve actions.

Students participating in the fall 2012 New York City Program were fortunate to receive a private tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Sept. 5 as their first outing of the semester.  The excursion was guided by Richard Turnbell, chair of the Department of Art History at FIT.  The current program, led by Professor of Economics Christophre Georges, has 15 participants.