Demand is up in the Department of Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Students are flocking to study economics like never before: six years ago there were roughly 300 declared economics majors; in 2015 that number grew to more than 1,000. And the department’s faculty members are prime commodities: other universities or industries in the private sector frequently attempt to lure economics professors away with lucrative outside offers.
As a special project, a portion of Annual Fund gifts is being allocated to the Professor Donald Hester Chair in Economics. Professor Hester taught at the UW for more than three decades, and is remembered as one of the department’s most prolific, popular, and dedicated faculty members. Your gift will honor his influence on his students and the field and provide resources to keep top faculty at UW-Madison.
The current Hester professor, Charles Engel, is known for his research on nominal/real exchange rate movements. His work investigating “the border effect” on international price dispersion has been fundamental to advancing research regarding the law of one price. Private gifts help ensure that future Badgers will benefit from faculty members who make a difference in the lives of their students by inspiring, motivating and influencing their ability to learn.