Daniel Kolliner is an applied microeconomist with an interest in topics related to political economy and public economics. His current research aims to understand how political institutions impact the distribution of public goods and services and what types of policies may mitigate these results. He leverages compelling quasi-experimental research designs and creative uses of often underused publicly available data sources to estimate the causal effects of these institutions.
Prior to joining Kenyon College, Daniel earned his Ph.D. at the University of Maryland. He has also spent time working at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and as a risk analyst. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his dog Bean, playing board games and running.
Education
2022 — Doctor of Philosophy from University of Maryland
2012 — Bachelor of Arts from Oberlin College
Courses Recently Taught
This course studies issues of economic choice, economic efficiency and social welfare. The course presents theories of consumer and producer behavior and shows how these theories can be used to predict the consequences of individual, business and government actions. Topics covered include opportunity cost, the gains from trade, supply and demand analysis, taxes, externalities, price controls, consumer choice, production and cost, product pricing and market structure. This course is required for the major. No prerequisite. Offered every fall semester.
This course studies national economic performance. Building upon the microeconomic theories of consumer and producer behavior developed in ECON 101, the course introduces models that focus on the questions of unemployment, inflation and growth. Topics covered include measurement of national income and inflation, macroeconomic models, saving and investment, money and banking, fiscal and monetary policy, and international trade and finance. This course is required for the major. Prerequisite: ECON 101. Offered every spring semester.
The objective of this course is to introduce the modern economist’s scientific approach to addressing economic policy issues. Particular goals include learning how economists identify and frame the key questions associated with policy issues and learning how to credibly use empirical evidence to understand and evaluate policies. Ethical dimensions associated with these economic analyses also are discussed. This course works toward those goals while exploring a selection of contemporary economic policy issues. The course features a mixture of lectures, group discussions, student presentations and problem sets. A large portion of the grade comes from the score on a final, data-based, comprehensive proposal that is worked on throughout the semester in which the student is expected to demonstrate knowledge gained throughout all sections of the class. This counts toward an elective for the major. Prerequisite: ECON 101, 102 and STAT 106 or a score of 4 or 5 on the AP statistics exam.
This is a seminar intended for juniors and seniors majoring in economics with an interest in political economy. There are three main goals for this course. First, to provide an introduction to a few of the major questions political scientists and economists study. Second, to use these questions to introduce a variety of empirical methods. And third, to engage in working with data and statistical computing to answer these questions. In total,\nthere are 28 meetings, and there will be three types of class meetings: Lectures (25%), paper discussions (50%), and in-class labs (25%). This counts toward the seminar requirement for the major. Prerequisites: ECON 101, ECON 102, and STAT 106.
