College of Business and Economics News
John Williamson — Involving COBE Students in Helping Entrepreneurs Find Money
John Williamson, executive in residence for the College of Business and Economics, was featured in an article in the Idaho Business Review. Williamson is also the director of Idaho operations with VentureCapital.org, a Salt Lake City-based nonprofit venture accelerator. The dual role gives him a base in Boise where he can identify and train promising Idaho entrepreneurs.
The focus of the article is funding for entrepreneurs, however, a big part of what Williamson does for COBE is involving our students in an internship program as liaisons between the program mentors and the entrepreneurs. The internship program has grown steadily — last year there were seven interns; this year there are a dozen and 15 to 20 are expected next year. Learn more about the COBE Funding Accelerator here.
The IBR article, “Idaho startups come back from Salt Lake City with funding” can be read here with a subscription.
See COBE Funding Accelerator interns at work at the next Deal Forum(live pitch event) April 23, hosted by Boise State in the Imagination Lab (room 2302 above Skaggs Hall) in the Micron Business and Economics Building. Get Deal Forum tickets here. COBE Students may attend for free, use code RESUMES and must bring your resume to the event to get in for free.
Economics Students Ready for Research Competition in the Bahamas
Paloma Chumacero
Three Boise State economics students have been selected to participate in the Undergraduate Poster Competition at the Association of Private Enterprise Education (APEE) annual conference. Trung Pham, Kelsey Cooper and Paloma Chumacero will represent Boise State in Nassau, Bahamas, competing with 43 other students from universities such as Florida State, Utah State, Wesleyan, Baylor and Texas A&M. The competition will take place on April 6 at the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort, the site of this year’s conference.
Paloma Chumacero’s paper is “The Great Recession: Have We Learned Our Lesson?”
“We were all affected by the Great Recession of 2008 or know someone who was,” said Chumacero. “We are still recovering from the economic crash that was caused by many factors such as rating agencies, the political and regulatory process, the Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. We might think we learned from this tragedy and that it will never happen again, but did we really learn our lesson or is the next big recession closer than we think?”
Kelsey Cooper
“My research is titled, Water Utilization and Water Quality in Endogenous Economic Growth: A Replication of Khanji and Hudson. Water quantity and quality are explored in this case to explain their combined influence on endogenous economic growth, as well as to examine their separate impact on GDP per capita, ” said Kelsey Cooper. “This study finds that water quality has a greater impact on growth than water resource abundance. The model can be applied to countries as well as state or county data to provide meaningful insight to officials conducting water policy analysis.”
Trung Pham
Trung Pham’s paper is titled “Is the Lack of Labor Force Participation Offset by Alternative Income?”
Evidence from observation of 1995 to 2017 suggest firms’ decision to purchase labor is complementary to the existing stock of capital, but overproduction in the previous period and higher levels of productivity of the existing labor force deters firms from purchasing more labor,” explains Pham. “On the household side, observation of 2002 to 2016 reveal increases to non-wage incomes (e.g., self-employment and capital gains) discourages households from selling labor.”
Well Wishes to David James
Our good friend, David James, a custodian at the Micron Business and Economics Building for several years, was recently reassigned. COBE faculty and staff signed a card and it was delivered to David by Dean Mark Bannister.
David works for Boise State University through the Witco, a non-profit offering resources and vocational training to disabled persons all across the Treasure Valley.
We wish David well in his new position.
COBE Economics Graduate Lauren Butler Co-authored “Idaho at Risk” Report
A newly published report, Idaho at Risk, was co-authored by COBE graduate Lauren Butler. Lauren graduated with a bachelor of arts in economics with a quantitative emphasis in spring 2018. She was hired by ECONorthwest, the largest economic consulting company in the Pacific Northwest, as a research analyst in summer 2018. In fall 2017, Lauren was honored as a COBE Signature Student by the Department of Economics.
The J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation issued Idaho at Risk report to Idaho’s legislative leaders and education stakeholders. The report lays out the reality of Idaho’s education system and economic future and provides six considerations to help create a clear, statewide education strategy and accountability framework.
View Idaho at Risk here.
Eddy Li Present Paper at Southern Finance Association Annual Meeting
Eddy Li, assistant professor in the Department of Finance, presented a paper at the Southern Finance Association Annual Meeting titled “Bringing Order to Chaos: Capturing Relevant Information with Hedge Fund Factor Models.”
Eric Gooden Completes CFE Credentials
Eric Gooden, assistant professor in the Department of Accountancy, completed the Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) credential requirements, passing all four sections of the CFE Exam, and earned the CFE designation in January 2019.
The CFE credential denotes proven expertise in fraud prevention, detection and deterrence. CFEs are trained to identify the warning signs and red flags that indicate evidence of fraud and fraud risk. CFEs around the world help protect the global economy by uncovering fraud and implementing processes to prevent fraud from occurring in the first place.