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Posted: 11/05/20

‘The Coming COVID Baby Bust’ Topic of TAMIU’s Online IBC Bank & Commerce Bank Keynote Speaker Series

 

Dr. Melissa Kearney
Dr. Melissa Kearney  

The COVID-19 Pandemic and the effects of the associated recession on individuals, families’ business and the nation will be the topic explored during the next TAMIU IBC Bank and Commerce Bank 2020-2021 Keynote Speaker Series offering Wednesday, Nov. 18 at 3 p.m.  

Dr. Melissa S. Kearney, the Neil Moskowitz Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland, will present her lecture titled, “The Coming Covid Baby Bust and Other Challenges for Families.”

The virtual lecture, presented via WebEX, is at 3 p.m. CST. It is free and open to the public. To register, participants can visit https://go.tamiu.edu/kearney or search for WebEX Event # 133 891 0276. The ongoing response to the COVID-19 Pandemic has prompted the lecture’s transition to an online presentation.

Texas A&M International University’s (TAMIU) A. R. Sanchez, Jr. School of Business, and the Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade present the lecture, part of a series sponsored by IBC Bank and Commerce Bank.

The COVID-19 Pandemic and current recession has affected the nation in unprecedented ways. One likely, perhaps surprising effect is a lasting reduction in fertility, according to Dr. Kearney.

In a recent report, Kearney, along with Dr. Phillip Levine, the Katharine Coman and A. Barton Hepburn Professor of Economics at Wellesley College, predicted that the Pandemic could lead to as many as a million fewer babies born in the coming year. In this lecture, she will discuss that report in the broader context of the economics of fertility, and other ways in which the current crisis is likely to have lasting, negative effects on families.

Besides her position at the University of Maryland, Kearney is also director of the Aspen Economic Strategy Group, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Kearney’s scholarly research focuses on poverty, inequality, and social policy in the United States. Her work is published in leading academic journals and is frequently cited in the press. 

She is a senior editor of the Future for Children, an editorial board member of the American Economic Journal: Economic PolicyJournal of Economic Literature, and Demography, and was previously co-editor of the Journal of Human Resources.

She is a scholar affiliate and board member of the Notre Dame Wilson-Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities, a scholar affiliate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL), and on the board of governors of the Smith Richardson Foundation. 

She teachers Public Economics at both the undergraduate and Ph.D. level at the University of Maryland. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT and a BA in Economics from Princeton University.

For more information, contact Amy Palacios, associate director, Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade, at 956.326.2820 or amy@tamiu.edu or visit offices in Western Hemispheric Trade Center, room 221.

Additional information is also available at  facebook.com/tamiucswht.