Stephen J. Schmidt
Kenneth B. Sharpe Professor of Economics
Union College
Email: schmidsj@union.edu
Office: Lippman Hall, room 209
Postal:
Department of Economics, Union College
807 Union Street, Schenectady NY 12308
Office phone: (518) 388-6078
I have been a professor of economics at Union College since 1994, after completing my Ph.D. in economics at Stanford University. I was appointed the Kenneth B. Sharpe Professor of Economics in September 2019.
My research interests include the economics of education, especially education finance, and the normative evaluation of economic outcomes and policies. I’ve done some work in transportation policy as well. I have published articles in American Economic Review (Papers & Proceedings), Journal of Public Economics, Contemporary Economic Policy, Economics of Education Review, Journal of Higher Education, Theoria, Restoration Ecology, Journal of Economic Education, Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, Southern Economic Journal, International Journal of Industrial Organization, and others. Click on the Research link above for more information about my research.
I teach courses in econometrics, game theory, intermediate microeconomics, the economics of race, and normative economics, as well as the College’s first-year inquiry seminar, and I supervise senior theses. Click on the Teaching link above for more information about my teaching.
I am currently serving as chair of the Faculty Executive Committee, but I get out in June 2024 with good behavior.
I am not the same person as my colleague Shelton S. Schmidt, though people do confuse us alarmingly frequently. I am not the same person as any of my other colleagues either, but I don’t get mixed up with them nearly as often, even the ones I write papers with.
If you miss my test page on bananas, then you’re a very special person, and it’s still available here.
Just a little bit of personal information here: I read military history, I learn Jewish religious texts, sometimes I do things with Union Hillel and Chabad, I am currently serving as president of Congregation Agudat Achim in Niskayuna (you’ve been there for Carrot Festival, perhaps?) I row crew. I kayak. I raise my three kids together with my wife Alexandra, although two have since graduated college (and are working engineers) and the third is currently a junior. If you would like to know more than that, you have many options for contacting me above.
