While many people spent their break reveling in Mardi Gras festivities, a small group of researchers spent the weekend presenting their work at the 11th annual Advances in Econometrics Conference, hosted at the Lod and Carole Cook Conference Center.
Professors and researchers alike traveled from as far as Norway to present research based on the work of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Jerry Hausman, most well-known for the creation of the Hausman Specification Test.
“The Hausman Specification Test determines if an econometric equation is correctly specified,” Hausman said in an e-mail to The Daily Reveille. “The test compares two different estimates of the equation to see if the estimated coefficients are similar.”
The conference was closed to the public and covered a wide range of topics. It featured an open-to-the-public poster session in which researchers showcased their work to those interested.
Michael Morris from Oklahoma State University presented research centered on race and gender differences in debt burdens. Morris said the work was especially relevant because of America’s current economic state.
“People’s economic decisions have put them in situations where they see debt piling up before them,” Morris said. “In my research, I saw bigger shifts in debt than expected. It is also interesting to note that minorities have few assets in relation to their debt.”
Gregory Leonard, a senior vice president in Nera Economic Consulting’s Antitrust and Intellectual Property Practices, presented research comparing name-brand peanut butter sales with generic-brand sales until 2007.
“Results show that consumers are more apt to buy a generic brand than a more expensive name brand, especially in this economic climate,” Leonard said.
But Hausman was the most prominent figure at the conference. Conference co-founder and University professor of economics Carter Hill speculated Hausman could potentially earn a Nobel Prize nomination for his work in the field of economics.
“Although the talk is nice, it is just talk,” Hausman said. “Only time will tell who wins.”
The event will continue, according to Hill, because it allows researchers to receive immediate feedback relating to their results. Everyone at the conference is familiar with Hausman’s theories, so they can provide constructive criticism about each piece of research, Hill said.
Hild-Marte Bjørnsen, a researcher from the Norwegian Agricultural Economics Institute, also believes the conference is vital to research relating to economics.
“[The conference] prevents researchers from working on the same things because they share it every year,” Bjørnsen said. “The last thing we want is a bunch of people working on the same thing. It would just be a waste of time.”
Essays and research presented at the conference will be published in a book named for the conference, “Advances in Econometrics Conference: Essays in Honor of Jerry Hausman.” The book will be published by Emerald Press.
 
—-
Contact Joshua Bergeron at [email protected]