New College of Florida Professor Tarron Khemraj Named Selby Chair in Economics

June 3, 2011—New College of Florida has named Assistant Professor of Economics Tarron Khemraj the William G. Selby and Marie Selby Endowed Chair in Economics.

On being awarded the position, Khemraj said, “I was surprised and certainly honored and humbled. I know that a lot of responsibility comes with it. I feel even more motivated to keep exploring new research ideas, teaching more innovative courses and serving the college in any way I can.”

The Selby Chair in Economics, established by the Selby Foundation in 1988, is one of six named endowed chairs funded by The New College Foundation. The position was previously held by Emeritus Professor of Economics Fred Strobel, who retired in 2009. Support from the Foundation is essential in order to attract and retain faculty and to provide the needed funds to stay current in their respective disciplines.

An applied economist, Khemraj focuses his research on problems in monetary economics, financial markets and oligopolistic banking structures as well as international economics within the context of small open developing countries. He is currently working on a book manuscript, Financial Oligopoly Liquidity Trap, which explores how the Federal Reserve’s injection of cash, through crediting banks with reserves, may not lead to job creation, but instead promote cost-push inflation since, he argues, commodity prices are being inflated by banks with propriety trading. In addition, he has written two new papers that look at how imperfect competition in the foreign exchange market can allow the central bank to control or target the exchange rate.

Khemraj currently serves as the economic advisor for the Guyanese political party Alliance for Change and as a research associate at the Caribbean Center for Money and Finance, University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago. He also writes a fortnightly column, “Development Watch,” for Stabroek News in Guyana.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Guyana, a master’s from the University of Manchester and a doctorate from the New School for Social Research. He is also an alumnus of The Cambridge Advanced Programme for Rethinking Development Economics.