Economics: Much More than Money

Presented by Kasey Buckles, Ph.D.

The popular perception of what economists do often centers on money, banking, or the stock market. While economics certainly includes those topics, it is much more than that! At its heart, economics is the study of how people make decisions, and the tools of economics can help students make sense of the world around them. In this course, participants will see examples of economics in action in everyday life that can make a dry economics unit or class more engaging for students and teachers alike. Much of the discussion will center on the economics of the family (dating, fertility, parenting), drawing from Prof. Buckles' research on these topics. Prof. Buckles will also highlight the importance of K-12 economics education in attracting talented students from diverse backgrounds to the field.

About Kasey Buckles, Ph.D.

Kasey Buckles is a Professor of Economics at the University of Notre Dame. She is also a research associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a research fellow at the IZA Institute for Labor Economics. She is currently serving the profession as Associate Chair and Director of Mentoring for the American Economic Association’s Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession. She is also President of the Midwest Economics Association and recently completed a term as a co-editor for the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. Buckles earned her B.A. from the University of Kentucky in 2000, and her Ph.D. from Boston University in 2005.

Professor Buckles’ research interests include the economics of the family, economic demography, child health and well-being, and economic history. Her recent work has focused on the relationship between the business cycle and fertility, and on understanding the decline in fertility over the last decade. She is also collaborating with a team at the Record Linking Lab at Brigham Young University to construct new methods for digitizing and linking historical records for use in empirical work. Her scholarship has appeared in leading journals such as the Economic Journal, the Review of Economics and Statistics, the Journal of Human Resources, the Journal of Health Economics, Health Economics, the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, and Demography. She has received funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Russell Sage Foundation.

In the classroom, Buckles teaches classes in econometrics, policy evaluation, labor economics, and the economics of the family. She is a recipient of multiple teaching awards, including the University of Notre Dame’s award for excellence in undergraduate teaching.