Althouse Hall Room 216
717-245-1782
Professor Underwood earned his Ph.D. in Economics from Colorado State University in 2013. His dissertation examines the role of demographic change, especially declining household size, in determination of household expenditures and the resulting carbon dioxide emissions. He has since published in several academic journals, including the Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Energy Policy, Ecological Economics, The Journal of Economic Education, and Review of Political Economy. His research interests include household energy use and emissions, the environmental implications of urban density and the sharing economy, the challenges for climate change mitigation posed by demographic change, and economic education. Professor Underwood regularly teaches environmental economics, econometrics, and microeconomics. In his advanced econometrics course, students practice the importance of reproducible and transparent methods in research through completion of their own empirical research project, which is also the focus of a 2019 publication in The Journal of Economic Education with Professor Emily Marshall. He also teaches courses in population and urban economics and is a contributing faculty member in the Data Analytics department.
ECON 222 Environmental Economics
A study of human production and consumption activities as they affect the natural and human environmental systems and as they are affected by those systems. The economic behavioral patterns associated with the market economy are scrutinized in order to reveal the biases in the decision-making process which may contribute to the deterioration of the resource base and of the quality of life in general. External costs and benefits, technological impacts, limits to economic growth, and issues of income and wealth distribution are examined. A range of potential policy measures, some consistent with our life style and some not, are evaluated.
Prerequisite: 111.
ECON 298 Econometrics
This course is an introduction to econometrics in which the tools of economic theory, mathematics, and statistical inference are applied to the analysis of economic data. Students will develop foundational knowledge of applied statistics and econometrics through exploration of empirical techniques relevant to quantitative economics including probability, estimation, hypothesis testing, correlation, modeling, simple and multiple linear regression analysis, and time series analysis. In addition, this course will cover basic extensions of a multiple linear regression model such as dummy variables and interaction terms. Students will use Stata, or other statistical analysis software widely used in economics, to understand and apply empirical work.Prerequisite: ECON 111 and ECON 112; MATH 170 and (MATH 121 or MATH 225 or INBM 220 or COMP 180 or DATA 180 or MATH 180)
ECON 550 Independent Research
ECON 298 Econometrics
This course is an introduction to econometrics in which the tools of economic theory, mathematics, and statistical inference are applied to the analysis of economic data. Students will develop foundational knowledge of applied statistics and econometrics through exploration of empirical techniques relevant to quantitative economics including probability, estimation, hypothesis testing, correlation, modeling, simple and multiple linear regression analysis, and time series analysis. In addition, this course will cover basic extensions of a multiple linear regression model such as dummy variables and interaction terms. Students will use Stata, or other statistical analysis software widely used in economics, to understand and apply empirical work.Prerequisite: ECON 111 and ECON 112; MATH 170 and (MATH 121 or MATH 225 or INBM 220 or COMP 180 or DATA 180 or MATH 180)
ECON 398 Advanced Econometrics
This course covers some advanced topics in applied econometrics. Students will apply multiple regression analysis to both cross-sectional and longitudinal (panel) data to familiarize students with a variety of advanced econometric techniques including instrumental variable analysis, differences-in-differences methods, limited dependent variable models, and dynamic panel analysis. Students will conduct individual empirical research projects using Stata, or other statistical analysis software widely used in economics, to enable students to understand and apply the conventions of empirical research in economics. We will cover elements of technical writing, reviewing existing literature, data collection and organization, and file management for complete transparency and reproducibility.
Prerequisites: 268 or 278, and 298.