From reading groups and guest speakers, to professional development for educators and media mentions by the White House, ACRE has had another successful semester of economics, education, and policy research. We hope you’ve been able to come to one of our events on campus, or read some of our many materials online.

Distinguished Speaker Series & Colloquium

Michael Munger (right) with Jeremy Horpedahl

Our final guest speaker for the Fall 2023 semester was Michael Munger from Duke University, who gave a public talk on “Monopoly Power, Political Power, and the Problem of Platforms,” and also joined BT����students in several classes. Munger followed two other speakers this semester: Emily Hamilton from the Mercatus Center, who spoke about housing policy and affordability; and David Bernstein from George Mason University Law School, who spoke about the history of racial classification in the United States. Professor Bernstein was also the keynote speaker for and a participant in our annual ACRE Colloquium, which brought students and professors from across Arkansas together for a weekend to discuss the ideas in Bernstein’s book.

Fall Reading Groups

Students in Dr. Jacob Held’s “Landmark Supreme Court” reading group

Our reading groups set an ACRE record this semester! More students applied than ever before, resulting in a wait-list to participate. One of those groups visited Southern Methodist University in October for a weekend discussion event with students at other universities, and keynote speaker Dr. Bart Wilson from Chapman University. Our Spring 2024 reading groups will be announced soon, and we look forward to having another good response from BT����students.

K-12 Programs

ACRE’s K12 program has hosted a number of professional development opportunities for educators across Arkansas. This past month’s engaging topics included: “Economic Mysteries in Economic History: What was Roaring about the Twenties?” and “The 2023 Economics Nobel Prize: Claudia Goldin, Women, & Work.”  Looking ahead, the ACRE educator reading group will continue this spring. For a full list of K12 offerings, to sign up for the K12 newsletter, or request a classroom visit this spring, go to

Government Transparency in Arkansas

AFOIA in the State Constitution:

Lately in Arkansas there has been a lot of discussion about government transparency, both during the Special Session of the Arkansas General Assembly in September and in the aftermath of the legislative session, from which a citizen initiative emerged proposing the incorporation of Arkansas’s Freedom of Information Act (AFOIA) into the state constitution. ACRE Policy Analyst Dr. Joyce Ajayi has continued tracking these developments and offering her expertise to help support the public debate on the issue. In November, she participated as a panelist at a town hall meeting on this topic in Conway and also authored an op-ed, “,” published in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. In the piece, she elaborates on the consequences and implications of incorporating AFOIA into the state constitution, emphasizing the need for careful consideration of both advantages and drawbacks.

Looking ahead, Joyce, along with a team of researchers across Arkansas, is co-authoring the Arkansas Civic Health Index. This publication will offer a comprehensive analysis of Arkansas’s civic health, including aspects like web transparency. The report, set to be released in December, will provide insights into the civic and political engagement landscape in Arkansas, showcasing strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and opportunities.

Media

As part of my role as Director at ACRE and a BT����professor, I regularly appear in the media and write popular essays about economics. A few of those outreach activities stood out as especially interesting and important this semester.

• I once again appeared on PBS’s Arkansas Week program and how that relates to public policy, such as the state budget.
• The Charles Koch Foundation featured an essay I wrote explaining . That essay summarizes a lot of the principles we use to think about fiscal policy at ACRE in our research and educational outreach.
• Lastly, a somewhat light-hearted blog post that I wrote about the cost of a , surprised me by getting picked up by a lot of media sources, as well as the a claim the White House made. I was not expecting that, but I am glad that someone is reading my work!

New Employees

ACRE is set to accomplish even more in the coming year with the addition of two outstanding individuals to our team. Elise Ormonde and Heidi Saliba each bring unique skillsets and perspectives to ACRE’s research and outreach. We are fortunate to welcome them, and you can read more about both here.

All of us at ACRE hope that you have a wonderful last few weeks of 2023, and we look forward to sharing more about all of our events, research, and student programs in 2024.

By Elise Ormonde, ACRE Research & Program Coordinator

BT����students participating in the ACRE Fall 2023 Economics Reading group had the exciting opportunity to travel to Dallas, Texas for a weekend summit hosted by the Southern Methodist University (SMU). This event was a collaboration between UCA, SMU, and Western Michigan University, featuring student reading discussions and a presentation by Dr. Bart J. Wilson on his upcoming book, Meaningful Economics.

The reading group program has provided students with the chance to investigate economics beyond the classroom and how it relates to this session’s theme: Humanomics: Economic Freedom & the Not-So-Dismal Science. Humanomics aims to incorporate human conduct into traditional economic theory and to answer questions such as: What are markets and do free markets promote the development of moral behavior? Are economists’ simplifying assumptions about human behavior and decision-making causing them to miss key components of the world? Students were already familiar with some of Dr. Wilson’s past work surrounding humanomics due to the inclusion of his and Vernon L. Smith’s book, Humanomics: Moral Sentiments and the Wealth of Nations for the Twenty-First Century, in this fall’s curriculum. Consequently, Wilson’s presentation on “Meaningful Economics” sparked relevant student conversation and many insightful questions.

The ACRE Economics Reading group will continue in the spring and focus on morality in markets.

Each semester, The Arkansas Center for Research in Economics (ACRE) gives BT����students the opportunity to apply for scholarships by participating in one of its weekly reading groups, such as the economics group, law group, philosophy group and Biz@Bear group. This academic year $28,700 was awarded for 70 reading group scholarships among 59 students.

“The goal of these groups,” explains ACRE Director and Associate Professor of Economics Jeremy Horpedahl, “is to get students thinking and talking about interesting ideas.” Students have an opportunity to learn from each other and interact with professors in a more casual environment. Students of all majors are encouraged to apply and those accepted are responsible for weekly readings and discussions.

Reading Group participants often receive opportunities to travel. This March, 13 BT����students in the ACRE Economics Reading Group participated in a summit at Southern Methodist University (left).  UCA, SMU, and Northern Michigan students met with Economist  from Harvard University. Dr. Glaeser authored several of the group’s readings.

Past reading group topics include “Economics, Evolution and the Environment,” “Capitalism, Socialism, and Human Flourishing,” “Landmark Supreme Court Cases,” and “Dr. Seuss and Philosophy.” For more information on reading groups visit this page or watch message from ACRE Director and BT����Associate Professor of Economics Dr. Jeremy Horpedahl about past reading groups.

In addition to its reading groups, ACRE also provides student scholarships to its annual colloquium, which brings together students and faculty from universities across Arkansas. ACRE provided $3,500 in scholarships to this year’s event, “The Terrors of the First Night: Taverns, Commerce, and the Violent Birth of British-American “Liberty” 1765 — 1766,” which was held at the Winrock Rockefeller Institute. Seven BT����students received scholarships to attend, along with 13 students from other Arkansas universities.