Dr. Pascal L. Ghazalian

Dr. Pascal L. Ghazalian

Dr. Pascal L. Ghazalian is the current chair of the Department of Economics at the University of Lethbridge in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. He is also an Affiliated Researcher at the Prentice Institute for Global Population and Economy. Dr. Ghazalian received his Ph.D. from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada in 2006. Dr. Ghazalian served as a post-doctoral research fellow at Université Laval in Quebec City, Canada (2005–2008), before joining the University of Lethbridge as an Associate Professor in July 2008. Dr. Ghazalian has been a visiting scholar at a number of universities, including the University of British Columbia, University of Manitoba, Université Laval, and Nyenrode Business Universiteit in the Netherlands. Dr. Ghazalian is actively involved in teaching a broad range of courses and in supervising graduate students. Dr. Ghazalian has participated in several national and international conferences and workshops, and given many seminars at international universities and institutions. His research covers various topic, primarily international economics, development economics, agricultural/resource economics, and labour economics. 

Why did you become a member of the International Atlantic Economic Society?

I decided to become a member of the International Atlantic Economic Society (IAES) for many reasons. The IAES offers a wide range of publication and communication opportunities to scholars and experts in economics and related disciplines through its prominent peer-reviewed journals and through its regular conferences and workshops. Also, I was attracted to the IAES by its vibrant, diverse, and international society.

What types of projects/research are you currently working on and what inspired/motivated you to pursue these interests?

I am currently interested in studying economic development, trade liberalization/trade agreements, and foreign direct investment. Also, I am currently working on studies related to the female labour force and gender inequality. These topics are particularly relevant in a rapidly changing world that is experiencing various events and challenges (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic, economic and political instability, international conflicts/wars).

What advice would you give to someone who is considering entering your line of work/field of study?

For anyone who considers entering an equivalent field of economic research, I have some advice. First, look for an interesting research question that is academically pertinent and that could have some important policy implications. Second, thoroughly review the theoretical and empirical literature, and highlight the contribution of your research. Third, implement a rigorous theoretical and empirical analysis, and build original and suitable theoretical and empirical models. Fourth, based on the results, provide concluding remarks and policy recommendations that reply to the main research question and that pave the way for future research.

Going forward, what other projects/research are you planning to or hoping to pursue?

Going forward, I am interested in pursuing projects/research on gender inequality, and on female labour markets, particular in some developing countries where female labour force participation rates are relatively low. Also, I am planning to study international trade patterns, international trade in agricultural and food products, economic implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, and inflows of foreign direct investment to developing countries and their effects on economic growth rates. 

What’s your favorite hobby?

My favourite hobbies are hiking, travelling, reading, and listening to music. Also, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends.

Dr. James J. Jozefowicz

Dr. James Jozefowicz

Dr. James J. Jozefowicz is a Professor of Economics in the Department of Finance and Economics at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). He received his Ph.D. in 1999 from the State University of New York at Albany. He holds a B.S. in Biology and a B.A. in Economics from Marist College. Dr. Jozefowicz has been a member of the faculty at IUP since 1999. He received the IUP University Senate Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching in 2005 and the IUP Award of Excellence in Volunteer Leadership for Advancement Support in 2020. In 2012, Dr. Jozefowicz was one of 14 economics professors selected for inclusion in the Princeton Review’s Best 300 Professors, a guide recognizing top professors in the nation. Dr. Jozefowicz is a member of the editorial board of the Pennsylvania Economic Review, two-time past president of the Pennsylvania Economic Association, and a member of the board for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter at IUP. His areas of expertise are econometrics, industrial organization, managerial economics, and monetary economics.

Dr. Jozefowicz teaches Introduction to Econometrics and Advanced Econometrics as part of the Honors Concentration in Economics at IUP, and he has supervised 80 honors theses in economics to date. Several of these students have won awards for their papers and presentations, including the Research Award at the Pennsylvania Sports Business Conferences and the Best Undergraduate Student Paper at the Pennsylvania Economic Association Conferences. Dr. Jozefowicz has published approximately 20 articles on a wide range of topics including the economics of crime, income inequality, economic education, cancer incidence, economics of religion, and movie economics.

Why did you become a member of the International Atlantic Economic Society?

I count myself blessed to have been friends with the late C. Alexander Garvin and his wife, Alice, who were longtime supporters of the IAES. Alex served for many years on the Distinguished Speaker Advisory Board and the Program Committee for the IAES, and he and Alice often shared stories about special times with John Virgo and their experiences attending IAES conferences around the world. Alex and Alice were benefactors of the Endowment Fund and Friends of the Society. It was Alex who encouraged me to join the IAES because of how professionally beneficial his involvement had been.

What types of projects/research are you currently working on and what inspired/motivated you to pursue these interests?

Much of my research derives from research papers written by the students in my Introduction to Econometrics and Advanced Econometrics classes at IUP. Oftentimes, these undergraduates conceive of compelling topics that spark my interest, and I collaborate closely with them to further develop the analysis. My current project is a perfect example of that teacher-scholar model in action. One of the students who completed the econometrics sequence last year conducted an analysis of white-collar crime, and his paper intrigued me. Currently, I am working with that student on a further examination of white-collar crime rates in a state-level panel data sample. Relative to other property crimes, white-collar offenses are studied to a lesser extent, and we are interested in understanding whether white-collar crime rates conform to the short-run criminal opportunity and long-run criminal motivation effects hypothesized by Cantor and Land (1985) in their investigation of the unemployment-crime relationship.

What advice would you give to someone who is considering entering your line of work/field of study?

I am a firm believer in specialization based on comparative advantage, and I encourage my students to apply that principle as they collaborate on research projects. I also advise my students to become proficient in Excel and to learn at least one econometric software package. When advising undergraduate students, given the growing emphasis on data analytic skill sets, I encourage them to take more math and statistics courses and to stack credentials with a minor in applied statistics and/or math.

Going forward, what other projects/research are you planning to or hoping to pursue?

I have developed a particular interest in the economics of crime, and I am especially curious about the robustness of the unemployment-crime relationship hypotheses across different crimes and different geographic samples. I also would like to examine criminal inertia more extensively using dynamic panel data models.

What’s your favorite hobby?

I happen to blend both my professional and personal lives by being married to a fellow Ph.D. economist, whom I met at IUP after we were separately hired into tenure-track lines. We have spent considerable time together through the years attending IUP fine arts, athletic, academic, and donor engagement events. We get tremendous utility from eating at good restaurants with our daughter, whether that be near our home or while traveling. (I am a huge fan of barbecue, seafood, Mexican food, and Chinese food.) We always look forward to catching up with IUP alumni either on campus or in locations scattered across the United States. We also enjoy laughing at the antics of our Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier.

Dr. Bernard C. Beaudreau

Dr. Bernard C. Beaudreau

Bernard C. Beaudreau is Professor of Economics at Université Laval in Quebec City, Canada. He holds an M.A. and a Ph.D in economics from Western University. His research interests include economic theory, economic history, the history of economic thought, international trade, and consilient science. He has published numerous articles in leading journals as well as a number of monographs, including The Economics of Speed: Machine Speed as the Key Factor in Productivity in 2020.

Why did you become a member of the International Atlantic Economic Society?

For a number of reasons, not the least of which is the quality of both the various conferences as well as the publications. Both the Atlantic Economic Journal and International Advances in Economic Research are, in my view, excellent journals.

What types of projects/research are you currently working on and what inspired/motivated you to pursue these interests?

I am currently working on a number of projects, including a general theory of industrial revolutions and a follow-up to my forthcoming book The Great Depression, Its Origins in Acceleration and Electric Unit Drive (2023) which will focus on the role of acceleration (machine speed-ups) in post-WWII productivity growth. Fun Fact: my interest in industrial revolutions was triggered in large part by Joel Mokyr’s Presidential Address of the IAES in Lisbon 2016. Given my long tenure giving the History of Economic Thought course in my department, I am also currently putting the finishing touches on a critical history of economic thought from the point of view of science and the scientific method.

What advice would you give to someone who is considering entering your line of work/field of study?

Read, read, read. History matters and students should make every effort to familiarize themselves with the history of their chosen field or topic. Too often, economic ideas are presented out of context. Put simply, context matters.

Going forward, what other projects/research are you planning to or hoping to pursue?

I hope to (i) examine in more detail the role of Calvinism in economic thought (e.g. Smith and Say were Calvinists) (ii) revisit Adolph Berle Jr. and Gardiner Means’ The Modern Corporation and Private Property 1934, and (iii) examine the role the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 played in the breakdown of the international order in the 1930s and 1940s.

What’s your favorite hobby?

Genealogy.

Dr. Donald Parsons

Dr. Donald Parsons

Donald Parsons is Professor of Economics, and Director of the George Washington University Department of Economics’s Research Program in Labor and Social Insurance. Parsons received his PhD in economics from the University of Chicago in 1970. He came to George Washington University in January 1998 and served as Department chair from 2003 to 2006. He previously served as professor of economics at the Ohio State University and has held appointments at the University of Siena (Italy) as Fulbright professor (1991); Centre for Socio-legal Studies (Wolfson College, Oxford University) as visiting scholar (1993), Copenhagen Business School as visiting professor (1998); and Soong Sil University as distinguished foreign scholar, Brain Korea 21 Project, 2001. He joined IZA (Institute for Labor Studies) Bonn as a research fellow in July 2006.

Why did you become a member of the International Atlantic Economic Society?

I became a member in an unlikely way.  I was asked to join the Board of Editors of the AEJ and of course accepted.  Only after joining did I fully appreciate the value of the Society, especially to young scholars.  It opens up a wide range of possibilities, including of course publication in the AEJ.  More important, perhaps, early in the career it offers a chance to present one’s work to a broad audience while more generally interacting at conferences and, not incidentally, travel.

What types of projects/research are you currently working on and what inspired/motivated you to pursue these interests?

For a number of years now, I have been rethinking the design of the U.S. unemployment insurance system.  In the U.S., unemployment comes from two types of layoffs in almost equal measure, permanent and temporary.  The types differ significant in how they are best insured and treating the two separately opens up the possibility that we could “do better” for both.  Few other countries have this particular bifurcated labor market, but there is much to learn from how other governments and labor markets adapt to their specific circumstances.

I could claim that my interest in unemployment insurance systems derives from a deep social passion, but I suspect that curiosity has really been the drive behind my efforts.  That, and of course, the challenge.  Can I do better than the many great economists who have struggled with this issue before me?

What advice would you give to someone who is considering entering your line of work/field of study?

Like any other long-term endeavor, do it because you enjoy the work.  Otherwise, the long hours required to achieve some success will lead to a stress-filled life.  Anyone with the talent to succeed in economics could succeed in many areas.  Somewhere out there is a life passion.  Make sure this is yours.

Going forward, what other projects/research are you planning to or hoping to pursue?

The unemployment/severance pay project has been an extensive undertaking, one that will surely take me much of the next year to complete.  Although I have ideas for what will follow, they are too vague in my mind to lay out now.

What’s your favorite hobby?

I much enjoy poetry.  That carries over to the classroom.  As I drill students on the mechanics of our profession, I remind them that life (and economics) is much richer than the materialistic focus that motivates many of our most productive models.  For example, I rarely let a term go by in which I don’t introduce students to Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Love is Not All.” 

Dr. Wasseem Mina

Dr. Wasseem Mina

Dr. Wasseem Mina is an Associate Professor of Economics at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU). He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University, M.A. from the University of Manchester, and B.A. from the American University in Cairo. His research is on foreign direct investment in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, international lending and IMF programs, debt maturity and institutions, international property rights protection and bilateral investment treaties, labor markets and social protection, financial development and social protection, social cohesion and capital flows, determinants of youth unemployment in Arab countries, and the determinants of female youth unemployment in the GCC countries. His most recent publications address the relationship between social protection and labor markets, the relationship between labor markets and female youth unemployment in the GCC countries, and the relationship between social protection and remittances.

He was a Visiting Professor of Economics at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, and a Visiting Scholar at the IMF Institute of the IMF, the United Nations University – World Institute for Development Economics Research, and the International Center for Public Policy at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University. Before obtaining his Ph.D., he worked as a foreign service national economist at the United States Agency for International Development (Cairo mission) for five years focusing on policy reforms in the financial sector.

While teaching at Georgia State University – as a Ph.D. candidate, Professor Mina received an excellence in teaching award for teaching principles, theory of macroeconomics, and Global Economy courses. At UAEU, he teaches undergraduate courses in economics: Public Economics, Theory of Microeconomics, Applied Economics of the Middle East, and the Principles of Microeconomics and Macroeconomics.

Why did you become a member of the International Atlantic Economic Society?

The International Atlantic Economic Society is one of the professional economic societies that I came to know and decided to join while I was doing my PhD in Economics at Georgia State University. In October 2015, I presented a paper entitled “Institutional Clusters and FDI Flows to the MENA Region” at the IAES conference in Boston, MA.

Before 2020 – the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, physical travel was a must for conference participation. This constituted a barrier for conference participation in general. I hope virtual conference participation and discounted conference submission and registration fees would encourage more IAES conference participation from overseas, in particular from African countries.

What types of projects/research are you currently working on and what inspired/motivated you to pursue these interests?

I am currently working on a number of projects. The first is labor markets and youth unemployment in the MENA region. Youth unemployment is high in some MENA countries, which deprives these economies of resources and growth potential. Additionally, youth unemployment can be potentially demoralizing and threatening the stability and cohesion of societies.

The second project is on social protection, the need for which has increased significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent global slowdown. I have already explored the relationship between labor markets and social protection in my published articles in Applied Economics and Review of Development Finance. Currently, I am looking into the relationship between financial development and social protection. This is a collaborative project motivated by a discussion with a colleague of mine, Sasidaran Gopalan, who did research on financial development. Financial inclusion, which is an aspect of financial development, can help governments reach those working in the informal sector, the marginalized, and the elderly. By increasing the access to financial institutions, financial inclusion can be indicative of modernization and development. According to the modernization theory, social protection is associated with more modernized and developed societies. Therefore, from these perspectives, financial inclusion and development are positively associated with social protection.

What advice would you give to someone who is considering entering your line of work/field of study?

First, enjoy what you are doing; if you don’t enjoy it, do not do it. Second, be inquisitive. As you pursue your inquiry, be objective and independent. Third, be determined and persistent. You will be very lucky if audiences appreciate and value your findings. Not all audiences are with you on the same boat heading in the same direction or facing the same wind. Fourth, you have got to decide whether you want to pursue quality or quantity in research and publications. The path for each may be different. Finally, my advice is based on my personal experience. It may be complete nonsense to you!

Going forward, what other projects/research are you planning to or hoping to pursue?

I am hoping to finish several papers on the relationship between social cohesion, investment, and growth and the political economy of social contracts, education quality and unemployment in the GCC countries. There are a couple of new projects and lines of research on the political economy of trade and corruption, and labor markets and health spending.

What’s your favorite hobby?

The short answer is currently walking and playing with pets. Walking gives me a chance to meditate and think calmly and clearly, while playing with pets – dogs and cats – gives me a lot of positive energy and trust in truly innocent and loving creatures. Having said this, I have had a number of hobbies at the different stages of life including reading; playing soccer, volleyball and tennis; biking; and collecting stamps before the adoption and spread of internet and emails.

Professor Pierre Rafih

Prof. Pierre Rafih

Pierre Rafih is currently Professor of Investment & Finance and Management Accounting at the University of Applied Management (UAM) in Munich, Germany. He is vice-president of the university senate, director of both the MBA Program and the Graduate International Accounting And Finance Major Program. He is a member of the German Federal Government funded CHINATIV-project of the Institute for Creativity and Innovation (ICI) of the university as an expert in financial innovation. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in investment and finance, management accounting, and controlling, as well as game-based courses in strategic management and introduction to business administration. Professor Rafih also regularly gives lectures on cryptocurrencies, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), and other blockchain applications and teaches a graduate blockchain, cryptocurrency and NFT course in the Fintech MSc. of the Demokritus University of Thrace (Greece).

A French national with Lebanese and German roots, he graduated as valedictorian as a Finance major at the American Business School of Paris in France, followed up with equally successful MBA studies in the United States (University of Richmond, VA) and completed his studies in Germany. Prior to working in academia, Professor Rafih was an investment banker in the equity business for a large German bank for 8 years, participating in and managing many Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), later as a senior equity broker for institutional clients. Professor Rafih also worked and has been certified as a translator for English and German as part of his military service in France

He received two teaching excellency awards from the university and state recognition as part of an education initiative of the Government of Bavaria. During his time at the university, Professor Rafih developed several business simulations games for courses such as economics, strategic management, introduction to business administration and event management. He also was also deeply involved in certification and quality management projects of the university as part of the university’s state and Bologna accreditations and also worked on such projects with partner universities in Germany and Austria. His published articles and papers are on topics including equity markets, investment behavior, financial innovation and cryptocurrencies, and German voting behavior. His research currently focuses on investor behavior and financial literacy, as well as the implications of digital money (private corporate initiatives and central bank digital currencies) for global economics.

Why did you become a member of the International Atlantic Economic Society?

I joined for the opportunity to meet fellow researchers, as well as to advance my own understanding and stay on top in my fields of interests, broaden my perspective, deepen my understanding of relevant fields and meet brilliant colleagues for mutual exchanges, either around a glass of wine or to work on a common topic of interest. Not to mention I have met fellow researchers at the IAES conferences whom I now count as esteemed friends and look forward to sharing interesting insights, or a fine dinner, or simply deep thoughts at one of the conferences, which have always been memorable and fondly remembered.

What types of projects/research are you currently working on and what inspired/motivated you to pursue these interests?

Because of my professional background, I have always been fascinated by financial innovation. The advent of cryptocurrencies, from the financial perspective and lately much more from a behavioral approach, have been my main focus of research in recent years. Naturally, my interest was spurred by related topics and developments, such as NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), the workings of virtual economies and the implication of the advent CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies).

My second field of research relates to financial literacy, which in my country of residency (Germany), I find surprisingly lacking. I consider this an issue of utmost societal importance, since we can certainly say that state pension plans will not be able to uphold the implicit and often explicit promises made of financial security after a life of work. Any serious projections cause us to fear the worst. For this reason, it is important to empower the civil population to take matters into their own hands. I think this is a daunting task, since it includes not only achieving a broad understanding of matters such as financial investments, but in Germany in particular it requires a cultural leap. In this I found my epic (though I mostly feel it is quixote) quest. I will work to improve financial literacy and bring about a creature that, thus far, resides in the realms of myths: the investment savvy average citizen.

My motivation and inspiration come as much from a sense of responsibility, which I would thank my parents for, as from my first academic path and early professional career, which led me straight from business studies in finance and investment to working at an investment bank in the IPO (Initial Public Offerings) and equity brokerage industry for eight years. My decision to turn to academia was spurred as much by my feeling that I wanted to contribute more, to understand more, and to be surrounded by interesting people. If anyone had told me 20 years ago, as a stockbroker, that I would end up being a professor at a university, I would have laughed at them wholeheartedly.

What advice would you give to someone who is considering entering your line of work/field of study?

I would actually say the four same things I say to students or colleagues who ask me about securing their own long-term financial independence:

1. It is never too late to start.
2. There is no best time to start, start now.
3. You just need to set yourself a few rules and have the discipline to abide by them.
4. Relax, it is much easier and much less stressful than it sounds or you think it is.

Going forward, what other projects/research are you planning to or hoping to pursue?

I want to continue to understand and help improve how people relate to finance and investment, I would like to continue to explore innovation in finance. In academia I have recently developed a fintech course on blockchain, cryptocurrencies, NFT and related issue that I am teaching at a Greek university as part of an ERASMUS partnership project. I would also like to conduct a large-scale study of investor behavior, exploring investment behaviors (risk preferences, investment terms, herd behavior, mental accounting, heuristics, information diffusion, …) with respect to personality traits and behavioral finance models. Such a study could be helpful in exploring issues related to the behavior of cryptocurrency investors, as well as potentially providing a sound basis for some work related to financial literacy. This project is quite ambitious though. It will likely take years and I am looking for partners.

What’s your favorite hobby?

I like to play and develop games. In fact, I have already developed or helped develop four serious games for graduate and undergraduate business students, two of which are used in classes at our university and another one in the process of joining them. I am absolutely persuaded that, from a pedagogical perspective, well designed and challenging games are very effective teaching implements in all of the applicable dimensions in which learning effectiveness might be measured.