Michael Horvath - US grants

9507978 Horvath The objective of this CAREER grant is to strengthen the link between two strands of economics: industrial organization and macroeconomics. The field of industrial organization has recently been successful in illuminating several key behavioral characteristics of firms. For example, almost regardless of industry definition, small and young firms have been shown to have much more variable growth rates and higher rates of failure than large and old firms. Little attempt has been made to determine the implications of these findings for the behavior of the macroeconomy, nor has much emphasis been placed on macroeconomic forces that may be shaping these findings at the industry level. This research project would explore the interrelation between the microeconomic decision-making at the firm level and the macroeconomy. The emphasis will be on understanding how macroeconomic forces such as fiscal and monetary policy, as well as aggregate demand and supply shocks affect the distribution of operating firm types in a broad selection of industries, and how the changing distribution of firm types influences fluctuations in aggregate variables such as productivity, job creation, employment, and output. The education plan entails the development of course sequences for undergraduate and graduate student son desegregated aspects of the macroeconomy. The discipline of economias has tended to overemphasize the division between micro and macroeconomics to the point where students feel it necessary to choose early in their studies which subfield to embrace. This often works to the detriment of both the students and the entire field. The merit of the research proposal hinges on the ability of microeconomic, firm-level behavior to indicate something meaningful about macroeconomic behavior and vice-versa. Clearly, if the results provide insightful, then the distinction between microeconomics and macroeconomics from the perspective of how these subfields are taught is perhaps needlessl y stringent. The proposed courses would detail the results of the proposed research but would also explore other topics.

Cleveland State University will implement a NSF ADVANCE Adaptation project to create comprehensive chair training focusing on: 1) improving faculty work-nonwork balance through practices such as Family-Supportive Supervisor Behaviors; 2) improving departmental culture for work-nonwork balance by addressing key assumptions and language surrounding work; and 3) improving advocacy for women faculty by addressing implicit bias, providing stronger letters of recommendation, and encouraging faculty to promote themselves more strongly. The ADVANCE project will complement many other on-going efforts at CSU to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion within the STEM faculty including participation in past ADVANCE partnership project with Case Western Reserve and participation with the INCLUDES ASPIRE center.

The CSU Adaptation project draws on evidence-based practices both outside and inside academia, including previous ADVANCE awardees. Specifically, the project draws from empirically supported work of previous ADVANCE projects (University of Washington) and research on non-academic organizations (the Work, Family, and Health Network). These strategies will be adapted to be effective at CSU as well as include focuses on issues of intersectionality such as national origin and age. The project has the potential to show how these techniques may need to be adjusted depending on the context, national origin, age, or other characteristics.

The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate. ADVANCE "Adaptation" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institution of higher education as well as non-academic, non-profit organizations.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.