R. Kaj Gittings , Ph.D. Associate Professor and Associate Chair, Director of Undergraduate Studies - Department of Economics

Personal Website

Education

• Ph.D., Economics, Cornell University, 2009
• M.A., Economics, Cornell University, 2007
• M.A., Economics, University of Colorado-Denver, 2002
• B.A., Economics, University of Colorado-Denver, 2000

Research interests

• Labor Economics
• Organizational and Personnel Economics
• Executive Compensation
• Economics of Crime

Courses offered

• ECO 5314 Econometrics
• ECO 5321 Labor Market Theory & Policy
• ECO 5322 The Economics of Wages and Income
• ECO 2301 Principles of Economics I
• ECO 4305 Intro to Econometrics

Selected Publications

“Who Benefits from a Resource Boom? Evidence from the Marcellus and Utica Shale Plays.” 2020. Energy Economics, vol.87, pp. 1-14 (with Travis Roach). 

“Urban Transport and Crime: Evidence from Unanticipated Mass Transit Strikes.” 2019. Economic Inquiry, vol. 57 no. 3, pp. 1718-1737 (with Gregory DeAngelo, Daniel S. Grossman and Umair Khalil). 

“Interracial Face-to-Face Crimes and the Socioeconomics of Neighborhoods: Evidence from Policing Records.” 2018. International Review of Law and Economics, vol. 56, pp. 1-13 (with Gregory DeAngelo and Anita Alves Pena). 

“Police Incentives and the Enforcement of Drug Crimes.” 2018. Review of Law and Economics, vol. 14, no. 1. (with Gregory DeAngelo and Amanda Ross). 

“The Effects of Foreign Aid on Economic Growth in Developing Countries.” 2017. Journal of Developing Areas, vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 153-171 (with Masha Rahnama and Fadi Fawaz). 

“Getting Handcuffs on an Octopus: Minimum Wages, Employment and Turnover.” 2016. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, vol. 69, no. 5, pp.1133-1170 (with Ian M. Schmutte). 

“The Impact of Incentives on Human Behavior: Can We Make It Disappear? The Case of the Death Penalty.” 2010. The Economics of Crime: Lessons for Latin America, Rafael Di Tella, Sebastian Edwards and Ernesto Schargrodsky (editors), NBER/University of Chicago Press, pp. 379-418 (with Naci Mocan). 

“Getting Off Death Row: Commuted Sentences and the Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment.” 2003. Journal of Law and Economics, vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 453-78 (with Naci Mocan).