Research Interests for Charles M Becker

Professor Becker's research interests include social security system forecasting, the economics of transition economies, economic demography, computable general equilibrium simulation modeling, and urban economics. He has written books on urbanization in India and in sub-Saharan Africa, on the impact of sanctions in South Africa and neighboring countries, and on a computable general equilibrium simulation model of India. Becker's research interests include social security system forecasting, the economics of transition economies, economic demography, CGE modeling, and urban economics. He has written books on social security reform in Kazakhstan, urbanization in India and in sub-Saharan Africa, the impact of sanctions in South Africa and neighboring countries, and a computable general equilibrium simulation model of India. Ongoing projects concern reassessing infant mortality rates, the graying of poverty in developing countries, migration and demographic change in the former USSR, accidental death and disability in middle-income countries, and on progression to and performance in Economics doctoral programs by minority students. Professor Becker joined Duke in 2003, having previously taught at Vanderbilt University, the University of Colorado at Denver, and the University of Colorado at Boulder. From 2001-07 he served as Director of the American Economic Association's Summer Program and Minority Scholarship Program, and from 2004-07 was on the Board of Directors of the National Economic Association.

Keywords:

demography, transition economies, developing economies, sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, Kazakhstan, India, Russia, former Soviet Union, urban economics, migration, mortality, disability

Current projects:

social security forecasting in Kazakhstan

multi regional social security forecasting in Kyrgyzstan

mortality risk in Kazakhstan

migration in the former USSR

disability risk in Russia

determinants of health care utilization in Russia

Russian financial sector development

suburbanization in Indian cities

minority enrollments in graduate economics programs

determinants of poverty in Kyrgyzstan.

Areas of Interest:

pension/social security system forecasting
urbanization and migration in developing countries
inter-regional migration in the former USSR
mortality and disability in the former USSR
population aging and fertility in developing and transition countries
US minority student performance and progression to graduate study

Representative Publications

1. Charles M. Becker, Grigory A. Marchenko, Sabit Khakimzhanov, Ai-Gul S. Seitenova, and Vladimir Ivliev, SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM IN TRANSITION ECONOMICS: LESSONS FROM KAZAKHSTAN (2008 (forthcoming)), New York: Palgrave Macmillan
2. Charles M. Becker and Gregory N. Price, Curriculum Intensity in Graduate Preparatory Programs: Impact on Performance and Progression to Graduate Study among Minority Students in Economics, in DOCTORAL EDUCATION AND THE FACULTY OF THE FUTURE, edited by Ronald G. Ehrenberg (2008 (forthcoming)), Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press
3. C.M. Becker, Urbanization and Rural-Urban Migration, in INTERNATIONAL HANDBOOK OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS, edited by Amitava Krishna Dutt and Jaime Ros (2008 (forthcoming)), Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar
4. Charles M. Becker and Terry-Ann L. Craigie, W. Arthur Lewis in Retrospect, Review of Black Political Economy, vol. 34 no. 4 (December 2007)
5. Charles M. Becker, Ai-Gul Seitenova and Dina S. Urzhumova, Pension Reform in Central Asia: an Overview, in ECONOMICS OF INTERGENERATIONAL EQUITY IN TRANSITION ECONOMIES, edited by Masaaki Kuboniwa and Yoshiaki Nishimura (2006), Tokyo: Maruzen Publishers (Ch. 9.)