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Department Head Joseph Haslag to lead Auburn’s Economics ‘boom’

Joseph Haslag, the new department head for the Department of Economics, joined the College of Liberal Arts this year to drive the value of and demand for Auburn Economics degrees.

“There’s a lot of opportunity for growth, to make faculty lives and the undergraduate experience better, and training graduate students,” Haslag said. “This place has got resources to make some remarkable things happen. I’m excited for what the future of this department holds.”

Prior to coming to the Plains, Haslag spent nearly three decades as an economics faculty member at the University of Missouri. He’s also worked for the Federal Reserve Banks in St. Louis, Missouri, and Dallas, Texas. Even then, he taught economics at local universities and said he hasn’t missed a semester in 38 years.

Haslag fell in love with economics for its real-world implications, and he hopes to create an environment at Auburn that helps students appreciate its many applications.

“Economics is an exciting field of study. It helps us understand so much of the social interactions that go on in the world. At the end of the day, we’re looking at how people make decisions and they are imminently fascinating,” Haslag said. “It just matched with my brain, understanding and making these decisions on value judgments with limited resources, it just lit a fire in me.”

One of Haslag’s priorities is to attract new faculty and support existing faculty who publish in the discipline’s top journals. Haslag said premier economics scholarship helps people understand the world, shapes economic policy and prepares graduate students for placements at R1 institutions.

His own research expertise includes monetary theory, macroeconomics and international economics.

Faculty members who excel in research, Haslag said, also hold the absolute advantage in teaching.

“The classroom made me a better researcher and being a better researcher made me a better teacher,” Haslag said. “There’s a reason why we hold universities with excellent economics departments as being ones in which the top scholars exist. Being close to the frontier requires you to understand the material at such a deep level, and to access people who are that close to the frontier is really valuable.”

Haslag will also work to increase tenure-track faculty positions, establish an alumni advisory board and adjust curriculums to outpace the competition.

In January, he was appointed as the Donald R. Street Endowed Professor in the Department of Economics. Haslag said his professorship, and future endowment opportunities, are investments in the success of the department as one of Auburn’s points of pride.

“The responsibilities, if used wisely, are for the betterment of your faculty,” Haslag said. “Professorships or endowed chairs are recognitions of everything that you’ve done so far. I’ve had a really blessed career on that front, but you’ve got a responsibility not to sit idle.”

Learn more about our programs at the Department of Economics website.

Tags: Economics Faculty