Moore Impact: The Darla Moore School of Business Podcast

EPIC: The Newest Center at the Darla Moore School of Business

Episode Summary

Dr. Orgul Ozturk is the Chair of the Economics Department and this fall launched the newest Center on campus, EPIC: Economic Policy and Innovation Center. She talks in this episode about translating research into usable policy analysis and recommendations.

Episode Notes

EPIC: the Newest Center at Darla Moore

• Host
  • Kasie Whitener, Clinical Assistant Professor
• Guest:
  • Dr. Orgul Ozturk, Department Chair, Economics

Orgul Demet Ozturk is the department chair and professor of economics in the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina. Her academic research interests are in applied microeconomics fields, specifically labor economics and health economics. Ozturk has written articles on the effects of labor market regulations and minimum wages on female employment, effectiveness of supported employment programs for developmentally disabled, the relationship between occupation choice and welfare independence, and the effects of maternal employment and welfare use on children’s cognitive outcomes. 

Her latest undertaking is “EPIC” or the Economic Policy Innovation Center, an opportunity to move research into implementation. First discussed on Episode 9 with Dr. Ozturk’s colleague Dr. Jason DeBacker, EPIC launched in fall 2024 with a specific purpose. Dr. Orgul explains.

Conversation topics include:

• Dr.Ozturk’s intermediate micro theory course - how decisions are made from an economist’s perspective, how the best decisions take place, and how people choose the best options for themselves
• Options for economics majors — so many; economics is about skills and a way of thinking about things; what do graduates from economics do? Grad school is an option, research and consulting also options
• Research in economics - mostly policy research: labor, health, and education
• Dr. Ozturk works mostly with South Carolina data for example, the impact of education policy on short term education outcomes and long term life outcomes. For example, looking at the Teacher Advancement Program - TAP - studying the South Carolina version and comparing it to other programs for outcomes and efficacy: Does the program achieve the goal? Incentivize teachers? Get better outcomes for their students? In South Carolina, the program is working quite well.
• A lot of academic work doesn’t translate into policy impact - this one is an exception
• It got attention from national media and some groups in DC to get more funding for these programs. A lot of efforts to retain teachers and keep U.S. education at the top of the world’s economy
• Research can be a long slow process. We see the need in SC for policy work to be translated: work 80-page papers into usable formats - events, white papers, a newsletter, to constantly communicate our research across the state.Whenever someone is trying to understand the pros and cons of a program, or determine how it will fare in SC, we want to be the analysts who figure out the answers to those questions.

To learn more about Centers at the Darla Moore School, click here.

To learn more about the Darla Moore School of Business, click here.

This has been Moore Impact; when you learn more you know more and when you know more you do more. Thanks for listening.