Professor Duncan to spend spring and summer at Cal-Berkeley
Release Date: December 09, 2015
Press Release
PUEBLO – A business professor in the Hasan School of Business at Colorado State University-Pueblo will spend the Spring and Summer of 2016 as a visiting scholar at the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at the University of California-Berkeley.
Beginning January 1, 2016, Economics Professor Dr. Kevin Duncan will join a renowned research community dedicated to innovative thinking, creativity, and collaboration across all fields at UC-Berkeley. Duncan’s research while visiting the Institute will address affordable housing impact fee policies that are common in the Bay Area, including the City of Berkeley. His research will expand the mitigation fee policy to address construction impacts.
“This is a wonderful opportunity, and I look forward to sharing my experiences with my students when I return,” Duncan said.
Duncan is well known for his economic impact studies on everything from the University itself to its athletic and international programs to more recent studies on the effect of the expansion of the Southwest Chief railway in Colorado. Duncan has received significant media attention nationwide for a series of studies that compare prevailing wage and non-prevailing wage states and the impact such policy has on a state’s economy. Studies show that undermining prevailing wage standards reduces middle class construction wages, reduces spending across the economy, and exports both tax dollars and jobs out of state.
The invitation is based on his research on construction labor market policy such as a first-of-its-kind report Duncan co-authored through Smart Cities Prevail – a leading construction industry education and research organization, which showed that prevailing wage policies add 17,500 jobs and $1.4 billion in output across California’s economy.
Entitled, Building the Golden State-The Economic Impacts of California’s Prevailing Wage Policy, the study was conducted using IMPLAN software (the industry standard for analyzing the effects of government policy choices on the economy) to model the impact of eliminating California’s prevailing wage standards.
In addition to measuring the policies’ impact on job creation and overall economic output, the study also concludes that prevailing wage policies facilitate broad improvements to the construction industry as a whole–including substantial reductions in materials waste and dramatic increases in both local hiring and overall workforce productivity.
Colorado State University - Pueblo is a regional, comprehensive university emphasizing professional, career-oriented, and applied programs. Displaying excellence in teaching, celebrating diversity, and engaging in service and outreach, CSU-Pueblo is distinguished by access, opportunity, and the overall quality of services provided to its students.
