David Shapiro (economist)

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David Shapiro

David Shapiro is an American economist at the Pennsylvania State University. He joined the Penn State faculty^[1] in 1980. He is a leading academic in the field of Economic Demography. In addition to research and teaching, Dr. Shapiro currently heads the economics honors program and is the co-director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Economics.

1 Education
2 Academic Career
3 Personal Life
4 Selected Publications
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Education

Shapiro grew up outside of New York City and attended Irvington High School. Following graduation in 1964, he studied at the University of Michigan, majoring in economics and political science. Shaprio obtained a Ph.D in Economics at Princeton University in 1972^[2], specializing in labor economics and demography.

[edit] Academic Career

During the 1970s, Shapiro was on the faculty at the Ohio State University. His early research work focused on women, youth, and older men in the U.S. labor market. After his move eastward to Penn State in 1980, he became involved in development work in sub-Saharan Africa, and this region subsequently became the major focus of his research. Beginning in the late 1980s, Shapiro traveled to sub-Saharan Africa and worked on a long-term project focused on women's education, employment, and fertility behavior in the city of Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, leading to a book with co-author Olkeo Tambashe, entitled Kinshasa in Transition: Women's Education, Employment, and Fertility. In spring 2004, Shaprio received a Fulbright grant to spend the 2004-05 academic year at the University of Kinshasa, teaching and pursuing further research there.

In addition to research, Shapiro is heavily involved with undergraduate education at Penn State. He has taught a number of courses, including principles of economics, intermediate microeconomic theory, and field courses in labor and demography. In recent years, his teaching has concentrated on the honors seminar in economics, and coordinating the honors thesis class in the economics department's honors program, as well as on economics of discrimination and economic demography.

[edit] Personal Life

In his free time, Shapiro enjoys walking his dog, Odie and caring for his fish. He plays basketball and also is an avid music fan, with a large, varied collection from around the world.

[edit] Selected Publications

Kinshasa in Transition: Women's Education, Employment, and Fertility (with B. Oleko Tambashe), University of Chicago Press, 2003..
"Fertility Transition in Urban and Rural Sub-Saharan Africa: Preliminary Evidence of a Three-Stage Process" (with B. Oleko Tambashe), Journal of African Policy Studies, Fall 2002, 8 (2 & 3), pp. 103-127.
"Gender, Poverty, Family Structure, and Investments in Children's Education in Kinshasa, Congo" (with B. Oleko Tambashe), Economics of Education Review, 20(4), August 2001, pp. 359-375.
"Education, Employment and Fertility in Kinshasa and Prospects for Changes in Reproductive Behavior" (with B. Oleko Tambashe), Population Research and Policy Review, 16 (3), June 1997, pp. 259-287.
"Fertility Decline in Kinshasa," Population Studies, 50 (1), March 1996, pp. 89-103.
"Racial Differences in Access to High-Paying Jobs and the Wage Gap Between Black and White Women" (with D. Anderson), Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 49 (2), January 1996, pp. 273-286.