Marta Vicarelli, assistant professor of economics and public policy, recently presented research on Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco-DRR) during a global webinar hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Over the last three years, UNEP, in partnership with the Partners for Resilience, has developed and demonstrated Eco-DRR models in Ethiopia, Uganda, Haiti, India and Indonesia. Vicarelli joined representatives from the U.N., the Red Cross and Wetlands International for the webinar – held on International DRR Day, Oct. 13 – to share results, scalable features and knowledge gained from Eco-DRR models implemented in these countries and present cost-benefit analyses of the field projects Read more...
Jayati Ghosh has received the 2023 Galbraith Award from the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA). Following in the spirit of John Kenneth Galbraith, the AAEA choses economists for this award according to these criteria: Galbraith’s capacity to integrate scholarship with statesmanship, and his unparalleled record of achievements in research, education and public service, embody the spirit and aspiration of agricultural economists. Galbraith’s outstanding achievements demonstrate that agricultural and applied economics are effective launching pads for research and for policy careers that address all ranges of social issues, and have impacts on societal thinking and global policy. AAEAs aim with this award is to recognize scholars and leaders who, like J.K. Galbraith, possess a record of intellectual leadership with service to the nation and the world. 
Interests behind fossil-fuel extraction for fossil fuel phaseout. Fossil fuel interests are often identified with a few powerful companies and oil-rich countries; therefore, policies aimed at reducing fossil fuels on the supply side tend to be focused on this small group of actors with vested interests. However, most companies are owned by shareholders (often via funds), to earn profits. As a result a much larger group of person have vested financial interests in the continuation of fossil fuel extraction. 
Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took control in 2014, hate crimes against minorities in India have skyrocketed by 300 percent, according to a 2019 study by Deepankar Basu, an economics professor who studies South Asian politics at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
Nemat “Minouche” Shafik, a leading economist whose career has focused on public policy and academia, will become the 20th president of Columbia University on July 1, 2023. Her election concludes a wide-ranging and intensive search launched after Lee C. Bollinger announced that he would step down as Columbia’s president at the end of the 2022-2023 academic year. Beyond her tenure as the president of the London School of Economics (where she was also the first female president), Shafik has served as the vice president of the World Bank, becoming the youngest person to hold the title, and the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. 
UMass recently lost two faculty members who definitively shaped the character of the Department of Economics over decades through their path-breaking research and teaching: James (Jim) Crotty and Herbert (Herb) Gintis. Through the years, Jim and Herb had an indelible positive impact on the lives of many at UMass and around the world – students, colleagues, and the UMass Economics family. Their ideas, vision, and enthusiasm will live on and continue to influence future generations of thinkers who recognize the need to challenge the status quo. Read more here about 
Isabella Weber, has been named to the Bloomberg 50 “Ones to Watch” list for 2022 by the editors of Bloomberg Businessweek. The list will be published in the December 26 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek. Bloomberg Businessweek’s Bloomberg 50 is an annual list of innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders who have changed the global business landscape over the past year. An unranked list, the Bloomberg 50 represents the most influential thought leaders in business, finance, politics, entertainment, science and technology whose 2022 accomplishments were particularly noteworthy. 
