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 UCA 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 UCA 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 UCA 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.

The Arkansas Center for Research in Economics continued its Fall 2023 Distinguished Speaker Series with a presentation from Dr. Emily Hamilton on October 26. Dr. Hamilton is a Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Urbanity Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Her research focuses on urban economics, land use policy, and housing affordability. She is often asked to testify before various state legislatures and the U.S. House of Representatives to share her expertise on these topics.

Emily Hamilton and ACRE Director Jeremy Horpedahl

Throughout Dr. Hamilton’s presentation, students, faculty, and community members learned the background and history of zoning policy and the relationship between local land-use regulations and rising housing costs in American cities. She explained how higher costs contribute to slower economic growth and prevent cities from being affordable places for people to live, even if they are regions that are offering beneficial job opportunities and competitive wages. In particular, Dr. Hamilton argued that are one of the most important zoning rules that increase the cost of housing, because they prevent construction of more houses on a given piece of land.

Pointing to Houston, Texas, as an example of a city with relatively high levels of housing affordability compared to other U.S. cities, Hamilton highlighted their lack of use-zoning and how residents have voted against adopting a zoning ordinance every time a proposal has been present on a ballot. Dr. Hamilton’s work allows us to better understand the economic implications of housing prices under supply constraints and the effects of housing policies.

The final public lecture for the ACRE Fall 2023 Distinguished Speaker Series will conclude with a presentation on November 28, by Dr. Michael C. Munger on “Monopoly Power, Political Power, and the Problem of Platforms.”

David Bernstein and ACRE Director Jeremy Horpedahl

The  Arkansas Center for Research in Economics kicked off its Fall 2023 Distinguished Speaker Series with a lecture from Professor David E. Bernstein. Professor Bernstein holds a University Professorship chair at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. During his public lecture, he shared work and research from his newest book, Classified: The Untold Story of Racial Classification in America.

In the discussion with reference to his book, Bernstein outlines the history and current issues surrounding the use of racial classification. As the recent ruling in the 2023 Supreme Court Case Students for Fair 51��¥ v. Harvard College & UNC has declared Affirmative Action unconstitutional, Professor Bernstein’s research into this issue has become especially relevant. He argues a need to re-examine how these groupings are defined, why we use them, and if they are serving their intended purpose, especially in institutional settings.

Bernstein explains that the formal racial categorization of people is a relatively new practice that was implemented by U.S. federal bureaucrats in the 1970s. They initially created these racial categories to collect statistical data during a time when America primarily consisted of black and white people. Although the country has changed significantly since then and now consists of many different groups of people from different backgrounds, there has been little change to the formalized racial categories to reflect the evolving demographics across the country.

Dr. David Bernstein speaks to UCA students

Bernstein’s discussion highlighted cases in which individuals’ self – identification is contested and offered examples of legal issues arising from arbitrary racial classification. In this manner, Bernstein calls attention to the lasting influence of what he deems to be haphazardly constructed racial classifications and what he considers to be the necessary steps moving forward.

The ACRE Distinguished Speaker Series will continue on October 26, 2023 with guest lecturer Emily Hamilton.