Once upon a time, Jesse Gregory was a record-setting power hitter for the Kenyon College baseball team. These days, Gregory is acclimating himself to the University of Wisconsin-Madison in his first year as an assistant professor in the Department of Economics.
Gregory studied physics and economics at Kenyon, a liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio, and earned Academic All-American honors as a senior in 2003. He went on to earn his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan earlier this year.
Welcome, Jesse! Tell us about your research.
My research interests fall mainly in the fields of labor economics and public economics. A main focus of my work is to try to understand the economic effects of government interventions that target particular geographic locations. For example, I have studied the effects of "Empowerment Zone" subsidies to businesses that locate in chronically depressed urban neighborhoods, and I have studied the effects of post-Hurricane Katrina "Road Home" rebuilding grants on the resettlement decisions of pre-Katrina New Orleans homeowners.
Why are you excited to be at UW-Madison?
The main attraction was probably the colleagues that I have in the Department of Economics. My family – my wife Sashi and our daughters Ishwari (two years old) and Anuradha (four months old) – and I are also very excited about Madison as a place to live. Given my research interests, I am also looking forward to interacting with the interdisciplinary social science groups on campus, including the Institute for Research on Poverty and the Center for Demography and Ecology.
What courses will you teach?
During the fall semester I will be teaching two courses: an upper-level undergraduate elective in public finance (Econ 441) and a second-year Ph.D. course in public finance (Econ 741). I hope to bring my enthusiasm as an applied researcher to both courses.
What are your interests outside of work?
Outside of work I like to get together with friends, cook, spend time outside with my daughters and my wife, and follow sports.
You did your Ph.D. at Michigan. So who are you rooting for, Badgers or Wolverines?
My main college sports loyalty is still to my hometown Florida Gators, but I also like to follow and root for the local teams wherever I’m living. I’m sure I’ll be rooting for the Badgers before long!