Holy Cross is ranked 16th in the world among higher education institutions that research sports and economics, according to Research Papers in Economics, or RePEc, a volunteer-driven initiative to create a public-access database that promotes scholarly communication in economics and related disciplines. Holy Cross is ranked above Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and the University of Chicago.
Victor Matheson, associate professor of economics, has spearheaded the College’s efforts in the field. His primary area of research deals with the impact of sports teams, stadiums, and events on local economies and has debunked the claims that spectator sports make large contributions to local economies.
Matheson attributes the program’s most recent success to two factors.
“Over the past decade, we have added a bunch of great young faculty from the top graduate schools in the country to an already strong department,” Matheson says. “The recent addition of the Summer Research Program has only accelerated the research output of the department and has offered students a chance to participate in the research process along with the faculty.”
Kolleen Rask, associate professor and chair of the economics department, agrees. “Through our department Honors Program and our Summer Research Program, students have contributed to the effort, in some cases co-authoring articles,” she says.
“The economics department has always been highly respected, and we are particularly proud of our impressive junior faculty,” Rask says. “They bring state-of-the-art scholarly techniques as well as creative ideas and interesting questions.”
The high volume of quality research output at Holy Cross is nothing new. In the fall of 1997, the Journal of Economic Education placed Holy Cross’ economics department second in the country among undergraduate liberal arts colleges, just behind Williams College in an analysis of research output.
Research by faculty members in the economics department is getting noticed outside of the academic world, as well. Several faculty members are frequently sought after by national news outlets. Matheson's research on the economic impact of the Olympics, for example, has been cited in American Public Media's “Marketplace,” Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, CNBC, Fox News Channel, Los Angeles Times, and The New York Times. More recently, research by Robert Baumann, associate professor of economics, has been cited in articles about the NFL shutdown in “Marketplace,” Crain's New York Business and Sports Illustrated.
This ranking is the latest example that teaching and research are not mutually exclusive, Matheson says.
“In the best graduate schools in the country, there remains the outdated idea that teaching undergraduates is incompatible with doing good research,” he says. “Our ranking in sports economics clearly shows that liberal arts colleges can be hotbeds for important research.”
By Dan DeConinck ’13
Related Information:
Holy Cross Among Top Institutions Studying Sports Economics
Read Time
2 Minutes
