The Department of Economics encourages student involvement in activities outside of the classroom. Your gifts to the department help make them possible. We have students who join our Fed Challenge class, where our faculty train and coach them to participate in the National Fed Challenge team competition held in Chicago every Fall. Undergraduate students analyze economic and financial conditions and formulate a monetary policy recommendation, modeling the Federal Open Market Committee.
Our Economics Club students take trips to Chicago to visit financial institutions to learn more about real-world applications they are learning in the classroom. Every year, they travel to the Statehouse to meet with local and state politicians to better understand our laws and how it all applies to Economics.
For "Econ in Motion," a film project led by Dr. Cecil Bohanon, students do all the work from making the film to acting, directing, to editing. The films are presented to the University and the local community and made available to educators worldwide at the YouTube website "Econ in Motion." The films range from short clips illustrating economic concepts to narrative stories that illustrate economic ideas to longer documentary-style films covering big economic topics like the "Scottish Enlightenment" and the "Dutch Tulip Bulb Mania." Many of the films have been invited to film fests—the site has garnered over 90,000 views.
Moreover, the department has students who work with professors on research projects and go to different economics conferences to help present the work. Our students have been everywhere from Chicago to Las Vegas, presenting research with our faculty. We hope to send more students to more major conferences as we continue to grow. Your gifts will help us do just that and continue providing these hands-on, immersive experiences for students.
The Institute for the Study of Political Economy (ISPE), part of the Economics Department, seeks to further our understanding of the market, political, and social processes and institutions. In 2021-22, ISPE presented public programs from visiting economics scholars on topics such as drug prohibition, inflation, cryptocurrencies, and business ethics, as well as panel discussions on the 2021 Nobel Prizes and free speech. In addition, ISPE has furthered student learning through sponsorship of a political economy reading group, student lunch discussions with guest speakers, and travel for student researchers to present papers at academic conferences. ISPE will host two regional academic conferences for faculty this summer. One Ball State Day gifts will allow ISPE to continue and expand these activities.
