- Edward Tower is a Professor within the Economics Department at Duke University. His teaching expertise includes the subjects of finance, computable general equilibrium modeling, development economics, managerial economics, micro and macroeconomics, and international trade and finance. He attended Harvard University, where he earned his Ph.D. in economics in 1971 and his M.A. in 1967. He also studied economics at Brown University in 1964-65 and physics at Harvard College from 1960-64.
Along with his teaching interests, Professor Tower’s research explores such subjects as tariffs, equities, quotas, mutual funds, index mutual funds, time zone arbitrage, trade, and development. He recently conducted projects that explored “voting on importation of Ethical Drugs” and “predicting returns on foreign and US equities.” He has published a number of books throughout his career, including Economics Reading Lists and Course Outlines, which, along with its four later editions, has been purchased in seventy-seven countries. Much of his work on U.S. trade policy has been utilized to determine congressional voting on protectionist issues based on campaign contributions; and his work on financial issues has shed light on the question of whether or not the US stock market is over-valued.Since he began publishing his work in 1965, he has had over 130 articles appear in print. His writings have been published within a wide range of collections and leading academic journals, including International Logistics and Trade, The Journal of Investing, Empirical Methods in International Trade: Essays in Honor of Mordechai E. Kreinin, The Journal of Portfolio Management, the Journal of Policy Reform, and many others. Some of his works include, “Sweetening the Pot: How American Sugar Buys Protection” with Omer Gokcekus and Justin Knowles, “Labor PAC Campaign Contributions and NAFTA Legislators: Rhetoric or Retribution?” with Gretchen Phillips, “Trade Protectionism” with William H. Kaempfer and Thomas D. Willett; and many more.Along with his work as a teacher and researcher, Professor Tower has various other professional responsibilities. He has supervised over twenty Ph.D. dissertations throughout his career, with many of the papers ending up in publication. He is also currently on the editorial boards for the Eastern African Economic Review, the Journal of Policy Reform, the North American Review of Economics and Finance, and the International Review of Economics and Business. In the past, he has also worked on the editorial boards for Contemporary Policy Issues, the Economic Inquiry, the Journal of Economic Integration, the Review of International Economics, the Southern Economic Journal, and the Westview Press—Political Economy of Global Interdependence Series.
-
Specialties
- International Trade
- Development Economics
- International Economics
- Financial Economics
-
Research Description
Professor Tower specializes in finance, computable general equilibrium modeling, macroeconomics, development economics, microeconomics, and managerial economics. He conducts a majority of his research within the study of trade and development, exploring a variety of variables from tariffs, quotas, and time zone arbitrage, to equities, mutual funds, and index mutual funds. Since he began publishing his work in 1965, he has contributed over 130 articles to leading academic journals and has had several books, chapters, and papers appear in print. Some of his more recent writings include, “School Choice: Money, Race, and Congressional Voting on Vouchers,” completed in collaboration with O. Gokcekus and J. Phillips; “Rational Pessimism: Predicting Equity Returns by Tobin’s q and Price/Earnings Ratio” with M. Harney; and “Predicting Equity Returns for 37 Countries: Tweaking the Gordon Formula” with K. Reinker. Much of his work pertaining to U.S. trade policy has been used to determine congressional voting on protectionist issues based on campaign contributions. His work on financial issues has also played an important role in determining the value of the U.S. stock market. His latest studies involved an investigation of congressional voting on importation of ethical drugs and predicting returns on both foreign and U.S. equity.
-
Current Projects
Voting on importation of Ethical Drugs., Predicting returns on foreign and US equities.
-
Areas of Interest
international trade
economic development
finance
equities
mutual funds
-
Education
- PhD, Harvard University, 1971
- M.A.,Harvard University, 1967
- Post Baccalaureate, Brown University, 1965
- B.A.,Harvard College, 1964
You can find out more about Prof. Tower at his profile at Duke Economics Website
