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Ness School of Management and Economics

Joseph Santos

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Title

Academic Director/Professor

Office Building

Harding Hall

Office

102

Mailing Address

Harding Hall 102
Economics-Box 2220
University Station
Brookings, SD 57007

Biography

Joseph M. Santos directs the Ness School of Management and Economics at South Dakota State University, where he also leads the Dykhouse program in Money, Banking and Regulation. Joe’s research includes measuring the burdens of financial regulation and the credibility of monetary policy, chronicling and assessing the efficiency of early 20th century commodity futures markets, and evaluating the distribution of instructional resources across institutions of higher education. Joe earned his Ph.D. in economics from Rutgers University.

Education

  • B.S. in economics | The College of New Jersey, Trenton
  • M.S. in economics | Rutgers University
  • Ph.D. in economics | Rutgers University
    • Monetary and financial history, industrial organization, applied econometrics

Academic Interests

  • Financial-market efficiency
  • Financial institutions
  • Monetary policy

Academic Responsibilities

  • Econ 302 - Intermediate Macroeconomics
  • Econ 330 - Money and Banking Economics
  • Econ 513 - Macroeconomic Policy
  • Econ 703 - Advanced Macroeconomics

Committees and Professional Memberships

  • American Economic Association
  • Western Economic Association
  • Associate editor, American Economist

Awards and Honors

  • NSME Graduate Teacher of the Year (2020)
  • NSME Undergraduate Teacher of the Year (2020)

Grants

  1. Dykhouse Scholar in Money, Banking and Regulation (2011-2014). Project: To establish and direct a Center for Monetary and Banking Studies in the Department of Economics at South Dakota State University. $240,000.
  2. Canadian Embassy. Faculty Research Grant (2006-08). Project: Examine the origins of the Canadian Wheat Board. $7,500.
  3. Chicoine Family Excellence in Economics Fund (2007). Project: Extend my research on commodity futures-price efficiency on the CBT. $2,970.
  4. South Dakota State University. Research Support Fund (2007). Project: Determine how stock and grain Futures prices respond, over time, to new information. South Dakota State University. $1,570. (w/ D. Du, formerly of South Dakota State University)
  5. State of South Dakota: 2010 Individual Research Seed Grant (2005-08). Project: Examine the evolution, performance and welfare properties of nineteenth century futures markets at the Chicago Board of Trade. $51,629.
  6. State of South Dakota: The Governor Rounds Technology Grant for Course Redesign (2003-05). This grant program is a state-sponsored derivative of the national Pew Grant Program in Course Redesign. Project: Redesign large enrollment principles curricula to improve student learning at South Dakota State University and the University of South Dakota. $57,823. (w/ R. Brown, University of South Dakota)
  7. Faculty/Librarian Instructional Partnership (FLIP) Grant administered by the Minnesota Private College Research Foundation and funded by the Bush Foundation of St. Paul and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of NYC (2001). Project: Design and implement an empirical macroeconomics research curriculum for undergraduates. $8,000. (w/ D. Alexander, formerly Reference and Electronic Resource Librarian, South Dakota State University)
  8. State of South Dakota: Governor's Grant for Teaching with Technology (1999-2001). Project: Design and Implement an Internet-based financial system simulation game for undergraduate students. $22,695.

Areas of Research

  • Financial Regulation
  • Monetary Policy
  • Higher-Education Finance

Publications

  1. Review of The Rise and Fall of United Grain Growers: Cooperatives, Market Regulation and Free Enterprise. (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2019), by Paul D. Earl, forthcoming in Great Plains Research
  2. Holbeck, Michael and Joseph M. Santos, "Estimating an Equitable Distribution of Instructional Resources with an Institution," Journal of Education Finance, 46 (Summer, 2020):100-116.
  3. Santos, Joseph M., "Trading Places: Futures Markets at the Dawn of US Agricultural Policy," Financial History, 132 (Winter, 2020): 24-27.
  4. Review of The Myth of Independence: How Congress Governs the Federal Reserve (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2017), by Sarah Binder and Mark Spindel, in Eh.Net (March, 2018)
  5. Santos, Joseph M., "Grain Traitors: A History of the U.S. Futures Contract," Financial History, 127 (Fall, 2018): 24-26.
  6. Santos, Joseph M., "Back to the futures: An assessment of market performance on the early Winnipeg Grain Exchange," Canadian Journal of Economics, 47 (November, 2014):1426-1448.

Department(s)