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Population: 307,212,123 (July 2009 est.)

Government: constitution-based federal republic; Head of Government: President Barack H. Obama (since Jan. 20, 2009)

Economic Overview

Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business

Kenneth M. Lehn

Samuel A. McCullough Professor of Finance,
Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business
office: 412-648-2034
cell: 412-779-2127
lehn@katz.pitt.edu
Faculty Bio

For assistance in reaching the faculty member, contact
Amanda Leff
office: 412-624-4238
cell: 412-337-3350
aleff@pitt.edu

Areas of Expertise

Managerial economics, international business; corporate finance, including mergers and acquisitions; corporate governance; and capital structure

Background

Lehn has published in leading academic journals, including the Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Finance, Journal of Political Economy, American Economic Review, and Journal of Law and Economics. He also has published several op-ed pieces in The Wall Street Journal.

Lehn has served as a consultant for numerous firms and government agencies, including J.P. Morgan Chase, Lehman Brothers, The Walt Disney Company, Marriott, Procter & Gamble, AT&T Wireless, the National Hockey League, the Department of Justice, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Prior to joining the Pitt faculty in 1991, Lehn served for four years as chief economist of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Department of Economics

David DeJong
Professor and chair, Department of Economics,
School of Arts and Sciences
office: 412-648-2242
dejong@pitt.edu
Faculty Bio

For assistance in reaching this faculty member, contact
Sharon Blake
office: 412-624-4364
cell: 412-277-6926
blake@pitt.edu

Areas of expertise

macroeconomics, econometrics, transition economics

Background
DeJong’s main area of expertise is macroeconomics, specifically focused on the formal statistical implementation of theoretical models for the purpose of forecasting aggregate economic activity. He has authored a textbook on this topic, Structural Macroeconometrics (Princeton University Press, 2007), has published 40 articles in refereed journals, and has won financial support from the National Science Foundation for his research activities.

DeJong helps to maintain the University of Pittsburgh U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Forecasting Model, which has proven useful for identifying post-war economic cycles and business-cycle turning points identified by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The model predicts an end to the current recession before the end of this year.

Harris

Steven Husted

Professor,
Department of Economics,
School of Arts and Sciences
office: 412-648-1757
cell: 412-334-9570
husted1+@pitt.edu
Faculty Bio

For assistance in reaching this faculty member, contact
Sharon Blake
office: 412-624-4364
cell: 412-277-6926
blake@pitt.edu

Areas of Expertise

Exchange rates, U.S. trade policy, and international economics

Background

Husted’s primary teaching assignments have been in the area of international economics, at all levels. His current research interests focus on empirical modeling of exchange rate behavior.

Early in his career at Pitt, Husted served for one year as a senior staff economist on the President's Council of Economic Advisers, specializing in trade policy issues. From 1999 to 2005, was the associate dean for graduate studies and research in Pitt's School of Arts and Sciences. Most recently, he has taken the position of Managing Director of Condit, a comprehensive online index of journal articles, books, book reviews, collected volume articles, working papers, and dissertations compiled by the American Economic Association. He has published three books and more than 20 articles and other publications, including Capital, Technology, and Labor in the New Global Economy (American Enterprise Institute 1988) and "Real Exchange Rates during the Gold Standard," The Journal of Political Economy (December 1991).

Jean-François Richard
Distinguished University Professor of Economics,
Department of Economics,
School of Arts and Sciences

office: 412-648-1750
fantin@pitt.edu
Faculty Bio

For assistance in reaching this faculty member, contact
Sharon Blake
office: 412-624-4364
cell: 412-277-6926
blake@pitt.edu

Areas of Expertise

Econometrics, decision sciences, Monte Carlo simulation techniques, time-series modeling and forecasting, empirical game theory

Background
Richard’s main focus is econometrics or the blending of statistics and economics. Prior to his position at the University of Pittsburgh, Richard taught at the London School of Economics, Duke University, and the Catholic University of Louvain, where he was research director of the world-renowned research institution C.O.R.E.

Richard is an elected fellow of the Econometric Society, a fellow of the Econometric Journal, and a Knight of the Order of Leopold in Belgium. He has published two books and more than 70 articles in leading journals. Richard helped build the University of Pittsburgh U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) forecast model, which is exceptionally accurate at identifying economic cycles and National Bureau of Economic Research recessions in the post-war period. It predicts an end to the current recession before the end of this year.

Department of the History of Art and Architecture

Franklin Toker

Professor,
Department of the History of Art and Architecture,
School of Arts and Sciences
office: 412-648-2419
ftoker@pitt.edu
Faculty Bio
Web site

For assistance in reaching this faculty member, contact
Sharon Blake
office: 412-624-4364
cell: 412-277-6926
blake@pitt.edu

Area of Expertise

History of art and architecture, architectural styles within Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods

Background

Toker is a professor of history of art and architecture at Pitt. He is the author of Pittsburgh: A New Portrait (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009); Buildings of Pittsburgh (Center for American Places, 2007); and Fallingwater Rising (Knopf, 2003).

Toker also is an expert on architectural styles within Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods. He is well acquainted with two of America’s more famous buildings: H.H. Richardson’s Allegheny Courthouse in Downtown Pittsburgh and Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece, Fallingwater, located about 90 minutes from Downtown Pittsburgh. Toker has held appointments as a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, as a Guggenheim Fellow, and as a fellow at Bernhard Berenson’s fabled Villa I Tatti outside of Florence. He is a past president of the Society of Architectural Historians and frequently lectures in China, India, and Japan on architectural and urban topics.

graduate school of public and international affairs

John T.S. Keeler

Professor and dean, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs
office: 412-648-7600
keeler@pitt.edu
Faculty Bio

For assistance in reaching this faculty member, contact
Amanda Leff
office: 412-624-4238
cell: 412-337-3350
aleff@pitt.edu

Areas of Expertise

Comparative public policy, transatlantic relations, American foreign policy, Seattle's WTO protest

Background
A widely recognized scholar of European politics, John T. S. Keeler is dean of Pitt’s Graduate School for Public and International Affairs. He previously served as chair of the University of Washington at Seattle’s European Union Studies Association at the Center for West European Studies and European Union Center of Excellence and was a professor of political science. He has published articles in numerous professional journals, including Comparative Politics and Comparative Political Studies.

Keeler is currently at work on a book that examines terrorism and transatlantic relations. Keeler was witness to the “Battle of Seattle” in 1999, when the World Trade Organization Summit generated violent confrontations between protesters and police.

School of Social Work

Ralph L. Bangs

Associate Director of the Center for Race and Social Problems,
School of Social Work
Office:412-624-7379
Cell: 412-400-9860
rbangs@pitt.edu
Faculty Bio

For assistance in reaching this faculty member, contact
Sharon Blake
office: 412-624-4364
cell: 412-277-6926
blake@pitt.edu

Areas of Expertise

Public policy research and policy analysis; race and gender disparities in social, economic, and health conditions in United States; urban areas; regional economic development; racial gaps in high school achievement; evidence-based and research-based programs; and government contracting with minority- and women-owned firms

Background

Bangs is a research associate in Pitt's University Center for Social and Urban Research as well as an adjunct faculty member in the University's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, where he teaches public policy analysis.

Bangs is currently working on the following projects: The State of Black Youth book for the Urban League of Pittsburgh and a report on how to increase contracting with minority- and women-owned firms. The latter report is part of a three-year One Economy project to study ways to improve the economic conditions of African Americans and women in the Pittsburgh region.

Larry E. Davis

Dean,
School of Social Work, and founding director of the school's
Center on Race and Social Problems
office: 412-624-6304
ledavis@pitt.edu
Faculty Bio

For assistance in reaching this faculty member, contact
Sharon Blake
office: 412-624-4364
cell: 412-277-6926
blake@pitt.edu

Areas of Expertise

Race, diversity, and gender and class issues; interracial group dynamics; the impact of race gender and class on interpersonal interactions; African American family formation

Background

The inaugural holder of Pitt's Donald M. Henderson Professorship, Davis is director and founder of Pitt's Center on Race and Social Problems, the first research center on race at any school of social work in the nation. The center and its programs look at how race affects economic and education gaps, relations between groups of people, mental health, criminal justice, youth and families, and the elderly. As dean of Pitt's School of Social Work, Davis has recruited to the University faculty who conduct research on race, and he has encouraged other Pitt schools and departments to do the same. He has added several new courses on race issues to the social work curriculum and has created a new Journal on Race and Social Problems, expected to be published this year.

Davis is the coauthor of Race, Gender and Class: Guidelines for Practice With Individuals, Families and Groups (Prentice Hall, 1989) and the author of Working With African American Males: A Guide to Practice (Sage Publications, 1999) and Black and Single: Finding and Choosing a Partner Who is Right for You (Agate, 3rd edition, 2004). Most recently, he has served as coeditor of the 20th edition of the Encyclopedia of Social Work (NASW Press and Oxford University Press).