Economics Faculty 2007-2008

Xiaofen Chen       xiaofen@truman.edu          Ext. 4644 
Dr. Chen joined the Truman faculty in 2001. Dr. Chen received her bachelor’s degree in international economics at Peking University in Beijing, P.R. China. She earned both her masters and doctorate degrees at Virginia Tech. Her teaching interests include international monetary economics, international trade, principles and intermediate macroeconomics. Her current research is in the areas of international economic integration and economies in transition. Her recent journal publication was “Financial Liberalization, Competition, and Bank Loan Quality” (March 2005, Journal of Economic Integration). She is a contributing writer for the International Encyclopedia of Public Policy: Governance in a Global Age (edited by Phillip O'Hara, Oxford and New York: Routledge, forthcoming) and Asian American History and Culture: An Encyclopedia (edited by Huping Ling and Allan Austin, ME Sharpe, forthcoming). Dr. Chen is a member of the AEA (American Economic Association) Committee on the Status of Women in the Economic Profession, the Econometric Society, and Western Economic Association International.

Bruce Coggins           bcoggins@truman.edu       Ext. 4656
Dr. Coggins has been at Truman since 1998. He received his bachelor’s and doctoral degrees from the University of California-Riverside. His research interests include industrial organization, macroeconomics, microeconomics, history of thought, and money, credit, and banking. His publications include Does Financial Deregulation Work: A Critique of Free Market Approaches (1998), a revision of his Ph.D. dissertation. His most recent articles, “Getting the Economics Wrong Can Kill You: A Problem for De-Marketing Antibiotics,”(The Journal of Economic and Economics Education Research, Vol. 2,No.1, 2001) and “Insurance at Risk: The Genome Threat,” (Academy of Strategic and Organizational Leadership Journal, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2001) both written with Val Larson and Neil Gilchrist, were both winners of Allied Academies distinguished research award.

David Gillette           gillette@truman.edu         Ext. 4334         David Gillette's Homepage
David Gillette has been at Truman since 1990. He holds a bachelors degree in Business Economics from Idaho State University and a doctorate in Economics from Washington State University. His teaching interests include macroeconomic and monetary policy issues found in such courses as: Introduction to Economics, Principles of Macroeconomics, Money and Banking, Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory, The Economic Analysis of Social and Policy Issues. His teaching of a Junior Interdisciplinary Seminar titled The Economics of Gender also reflects those interests, as does his current research in the area of economics of gender. He advises Truman's Panhellenic Council, Truman's chapter of Up 'till Dawn in association with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the Tau Upsilon Chapter of Alpha Kappa Psi, and the Xi Chapter of Omicron Delta Epsilon. He has organized Social Science Lectures for visiting speakers Jo Anna Gray, Carolyn Clark, Thomas Parsons, Christopher Waller, Arun Raha, John Walker, William Anderson, and Walter Block.

Terry Olson         tolson@truman.edu           Ext. 4503
Dr. Olson is presently the chairman of the Economics Department.  He has been at Truman since 1990. He holds a B.S. degree in Economics and a B.A. degree in Statistics from the University of Minnesota and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His teaching interests include Principles of Microeconomics, Intermediate Microeconomics, Cost Benefit Analysis, econometrics, labor economics, economics of public expenditures, and economics of law. His current research focuses on applied cost-benefit analysis, personnel economics, differences in cooperative and altruistic behavior across groups, and game theoretic applications in the law. He is a member of the Phi Kappa Phi and Omicron Delta Epsilon honor societies, the American Economic Association and the Western Economic Association International.

Seymour Patterson         spatters@truman.edu       Ext. 4577
Dr. Patterson has been at Truman since 1980. He holds a bachelors degree from Florida State University and masters and doctorate degrees from the University of Oklahoma.  His teaching interests include international monetary theory and policy, international trade theory and policy, macroeconomics, and economic development.  His current research focuses on ethnicity and economic growth, conflict and growth, and corruption and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa. 

Mustafa Sawani        msawani@truman.edu      Ext. 4659
Dr. Sawani has been at Truman since 1985.   He holds a bachelors degree from the University of Tripoli and masters and doctorate degrees from the University of Missouri.  His teaching interests include microeconomics theory, mathematical economics, environmental and resource economics, economics of the European Union, and introductory courses in both macro and micro economics.  His current research focuses on economics of education, economics of the European Union, and economics of the LDC’s.  He is a member of the Western Economic Association International, and The Middle East Economic Association.

Steve Smith                 srsmith@truman.edu            Ext. 4304
Dr. Smith has been at Truman since 1986. He has a bachelor’s in economics from Eastern Illinois University, has completed the course work for a master’s degree in economics at Auburn University, and holds a law degree (J.D.) from the University of Texas at Austin. He teaches History of Economic Thought and the Economic History of the United States, as well as Principles of Macroeconomics, Principles of Microeconomics, the Legal Environment of Business, and Government Regulation of Business. He is a member of the State Bars of Missouri and Texas and has presented papers at professional conferences on the work of economists Friedrich Hayek and James Buchanan, as well as on various legal topics. His special interests are economic history, the history of economics, and the Austrian school of economists.

Werner Sublette       wsublett@truman.edu           Ext. 4651
Dr. Sublette has been at Truman since 1974. He holds his bachelors degree from Arizona State University and his doctorate from the University of Arizona.  His teaching interests include microeconomic theory, public sector economics, economics of poverty and discrimination, managerial economics, health economics, and the economics of social issues.  His current research focuses on the economics of sports, the health care crises as it relates to the poor elderly population, the impact of sumptuary taxes on consumption of cigarettes among the teenage population, and valuing forest lands for outdoor recreation.  He is a member of the Missouri Valley Economic Association, the Association of Forensic Economists, the Midwest Economics Association, and the American Economics Association.

Jane Sung                jsung@truman.edu               Ext. 4658
Dr. Sung has been at Truman since 1987. She holds her bachelor’s degree from the National Taiwan University and her master’s and doctorate from Wayne State University. Her teaching interests include microeconomic theory, mathematical economics, international trade theory and econometrics. Her research focuses on the effect of accessibility to the major employment center in diverse urban cities by using piecewise regression, and identifying major determinants of housing price by using nested and non-nested tests in hedonic regression. Other areas of her current research include comparing financial markets between the United States and Asian countries, and analyzing empirical studies of the impact of transition progress on foreign direct investment in transitional countries. She is a member of the Western Economic Association, and the Midwest Business Administration Association.