Lewis S. Davis

Associate Professor of Economics

Lippman Hall 118, 807 Union Street, Schenectady, NY 12308

518-388-8395, davisl@union.edu

Office hours Tues. 2-5 and by appointment

Ph.D. in Economics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1999.

BA in Mathematics, Davidson College, 1988.

Curriculum Vitae

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Teaching

Teaching Interests: My teaching interests include the economics of growth and development, microeconomics, and mathematical economics. Most recently, I have developed a course in the economics of sin that address the economics of ethically complex markets. The course includes sections on the markets for transplantable organs, cigarettes and the economics of addiction, illegal drugs, and the market for sex. The development of this course was supported by a grant from the Rapaport Everyday Ethics Across the Curriculum Program at Union College.

Course Syllabi: Introduction to Economics, Intermediate Microeconomics, Economics of Sin, Seminar in Economic Growth and Development, Senior Thesis . Additional course materials are available to enrolled students through blackboard. Other professors are welcome to use this material in course development, but please let me know if you do.

Jack Mara’s Senior Thesis, “Societal Value of the Human and Social Capital College Trade-Off,” 2010, analyzed data from a survey of Union alumni. The thesis estimates the market return to collegiate social activities. Our thanks to all who participated in the survey. Alumni interested in the results may download the document by clicking on the hyperlink above.

Research

Introduction

Alphabetical List of Entries

Topical List of Entries

Directory of Contributors

Research Interests: My research interest involves the role of political, legal and cultural factors in economic growth. I’ve written papers discussing the role in economic growth of the division of labor, income inequality, the evolution of economic institutions, the evolution of firm and market structures, and intellectual property rights. More recently I have become interested in culture and economic development, including the role of ethics, and expect this to be a central part of my research agenda going forward.

Current Research:

· “The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth: An Empirical Investigation,” with Matthew Knauss ’11, April 24, 2011. This version, July 20, 2011.

· “Individualism and Economic Development: Evidence from Rainfall Data,” January 23, 2011. This version, Feb. 7, 2012.

· “Do Good Borders Protect You from Bad Neighbors?” with Alex Cline, May 2010.

· “Private Patent Enforcement in the Theory of Schumpeterian Growth,” with M. Fuat Sener, Aug. 2010. This version, June 2011.

· “An Extension of the Kashima and Kashima (1998) Linguistic Dataset,” May 15, 2012. Download data here.

· “Social Comparisons and Life Satisfaction across Racial and Ethnic Groups: The Effects of Status, Information and Solidarity,” with Stephen Wu. April 3, 2012.

· “Own-Sector and Inter-Sector Tunnel Effects: Implications for the Effects of Growth and Inequality on Happiness,” April 29, 2012.

Book: Associate Editor, Princeton Encyclopedia of the World Economy, 2 volumes, edited with R. S. Rajan, K. A. Reinert, and A. Glass, Princeton University Press, February 2009.

Refereed Journal Articles:

· “National Policies, State Response and Community College Outcomes: A Test of an Augmented Bennett Hypothesis,” with Steven Schmidt and Allison Frederick, Economics of Education Review, forthcoming.

· “Intellectual Property Rights, Institutional Quality and Economic Growth” (with M. Fuat Sener) Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy 3(1), 2012, 1240005. (Invited Article)

· “Legal Origin and the Evolution of Environmental Quality,” (with Emily LaCroix) Economics Bulletin 31(4), Oct. 2011, 2968-2974.

· “Institutional Foundations of Inequality and Growth,” (with Mark Hopkins) Journal of Development Studies 47(7), July 2011, 977–997.

· “Institutional Flexibility and Economic Growth,” Journal of Comparative Economics 38 (3), September 2010, 306–320.

· “Do All Countries Follow the Same Growth Process?” (with Ann Owen and Julio Videras) Journal of Economic Growth 14(4), December 2009, 265-286. (Lead article)

· “Teaching the Economics of Sin” Teaching Ethics 9(2), Spring 2009, 51-58. (Invited article. Special Issue: Everyday Ethics at Union College.)

· “Scale Effects in Growth Theory: A Role for Institutions,” Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 66(2), May 2008, 403-419.

· “Explaining the Evidence on Inequality and Growth: Informality and Redistribution,” The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics 7(1), (Contributions), Article 7, 2007.

• “Market Transaction Costs in Industrialization and Demographic Transition,” Pacific Economic Review 12(1), Special Section on the Economics of Endogenous Specialization, February 2007, 79-99. (Invited article)

• “Growing Apart: The Division of Labor and the Breakdown of Informal Institutions,” Journal of Comparative Economics 34(1), March 2006, 75-91.

· “Trade, Growth and Uneven Development: A Critical Survey,” (with William Darity, Jr.) Cambridge Journal of Economics 29(1), January 2005, 141-170. (Invited article)

· “Toward a Unified Transaction Cost Theory of Economic Organization,” Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 159(3), September 2003, 571-93.

· “Does the Market Recognize IT-Enabled Competitive Advantage?” (with Bruce Dehning and Theophanis Stratopoulos), Information and Management 40(7), August 2003, 705‑716.

· “The Division of Labor and the Growth of Government,” Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 27(7), May 2003, 1217-1235.

Contributions to Edited Volumes:

· “Development” In: Reinert and Rajan (Eds.) Princeton Encyclopedia of the World Economy, 2 volumes, Princeton University Press, 2009.

· “Technological Progress, Economic Growth.” In: Darity, William A. (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Farmington Hills, MI: Macmillan Reference USA. 2008.

· “Development Economics” In: Darity, William A. (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Farmington Hills, MI: Macmillan Reference USA. 2008.