At the University of Minnesota, Kehoe said he believes the United States is a long way from the kind of trade war that destroyed the world economy in the 1930s. But the country now has “been stalemated in the initial battle of a trade war” with its allies. “If it escalates,” he said, “it is going to be very painful for Minnesota.”

Adway De, a graduate student in the Department of Economics, is switching up the way he teaches undergraduate economics students. He is bringing his involvement with UMN Energy Club into the classroom and seeing that the benefits certainly outweigh the costs.

Science reveals that doing nothing about fossil fuel emissions is leading to shattering changes in the earth’s climate. But how do we measure the cost of doing nothing today? A novel economic model puts a price on inaction, revealing that billions quickly turn into trillions in foregone consumption tied to climate change. It’s a mathematical argument for moving quickly to adopting a carbon tax in order to avert the unimaginable costs of delay.

Tom Holmes was named Scholar of the College by the College of Liberal Arts, recognizing his accomplishments and contributions in the areas of scholarly research, teaching, and service.

"Minnesota should double down on early education now," says Art Rolnick. "When directed at low-income kids at as early an age as possible, this could help close achievement gaps and give a huge return on investment. Both economic and neuroscience research show that there may be no better return-on-investment for taxpayers than quality early education programs."

Joaquin Garcia-Cabo came to the US with a prestigious master’s degree and an interest in macro and labor economics. As he completes his PhD program, his job market paper introduces a new model to understand the effects of firing costs on human capital accumulation, job cyclicality, and the persistence of job loss for Spanish workers. His research can be used to analyze the costs and benefits of future policies.

Government spending and monetary policy have consequences not only for the pace of economic growth, but for who shares in prosperity. Recent research by Anmol Bhandari aims to refine the relationship between cause and effect. It’s a problem not only of mathematics, but of revising the way economists think about policy choices.

“Think about early childhood investments as economic investments,” Art Rolnick urged business leaders in attendance at a recent event hosted by the Chamber of Commerce in Washington, where he presented his research showing that investing in early care and learning yields a 16 to 1 return on investment for taxpayers.

“Over the next couple of years, I think there will be a one-time jump in the level of G.D.P. because the profits that Apple, Google, Facebook and others attributed to an offshore tax haven affiliate will now appear in their U.S. accounts,” said Fatih Guvenen.