John Abell

 

Department of Economics

Randolph College
2500 Rivermont Ave,
Lynchburg, VA 24503

e-mail address: jabell@randolphcollege.edu

Click here for a link to the Randolph College Economics Department Home Page: http://www.randolphcollege.edu/x10305.xml

Usamacinta River, Mexico, near the Mayan city of Yaxchilan. NEH 2006 summer institute.                                                                       

Economics of Food and Sustainability course students, and co-authors of the following article: Inner City Food Deserts: Case Study of Lynchburg, VA (Virginia Economic Journal, Vol. 16, 2011, pp. 41-64). L-R: Lucas Brady, Louise Searle, Isabelle Dom, me, Mareeha Niaz, Ludovic Lemaitre, Tom Burford (college friend and advisor to our organic garden), and Reid Winkler.

Beach Bum Triathlon, Hilton Head Island, SC (2003)

 

Muddy Buddy: run, bike, mud event, 2003, with buddy/daughter Lauren Abell, R-MWC class of 2000

Lauren and Paul's Wedding April 2, 2005

Areas of research and teaching interest:

Economics of Food and Sustainability

Ecological Economics

Macroeconomics

Money and Banking

Economics of Latin America

Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean

Advanced International Economics

Links to economics resources:

- The following pages contain a sampling of course syllabi.  Currently on-line are Principles of Macroeconomics (Econ 101), Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory (Econ 207), Money and Banking (Econ 238), Economics of Latin America (Econ 246), Economics of Food and Sustainability (Econ 286), and Senior Seminar (Econ 495).       Sample Course Syllabi

-Power Point talk given to the "Uniting Communities on Hunger" forum at Randolph College, May 25, 2012. The focus was both global and local, with an emphasis on Lynchburg, Virginia's hunger, poverty, and food desert problems: http://www.randolphcollege.edu/documents/academics/economics/food_crisis.ppt

- Economics of Food and Sustainability course (Econ 286) project: Inner City Food Deserts: Case Study of Lynchburg, VA (Virginia Economic Journal, Vol. 16, 2011, pp. 41-64).

- Link to local news story about the "Locavore" movement in Lynchburg.

- Great decisions lecture Feb. 10, 2011 Lynchburg, VA Public Library "Responding to the Financial and Economic Crisis." Link to Power Point Presentation.

Africa travel seminar: I traveled to Kenya, Africa in May 2009. The trip was organized by "The Village Experience," a socially conscious travel organization in Indianapolis, Indiana.  The trip was multi-faceted: It had components focusing on community service, human rights, women's rights, poverty, HIV/AIDS awareness, health care, and reconciliation (necessitated the violence in the aftermath of the presidential elections of December 2007).   Our travels took us to Nairobi, Lake Nakuru, and Eldoret. The following two slide presentations provide a glimpse of some of the imagery (both beautiful and troubling).

Kenya slide show a

Kenya slide show b

Ecuador travel seminar: The following link is a web blog that I maintained during a June 2007 R-MWC student-faculty trip to Ecuador led by our Quillian Scholar Mario Incayawar. The focus was on traditional Quichua healing practices. Ecuador Web Blog June 2007

Maya travel seminar: The following link is a web blog that I maintained during an NEH-sponsored trip to Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras in Summer 2007. It contains photos, commentary, and controversy.  Maya World Institute Summer 2006 Web Blog

Latin American research: The following link takes you to a number of articles I have written on Latin America, with a particular focus on my primary research interest, Guatemala.   Guatemala

Guatemala/El Salvador student travel seminar: The following link contains a photo essay and description of an R-MWC travel seminar to Guatemala and El Salvador that took place in June 1997:   Travel Seminar

San Lucas Tolimán, Guatemala: If you're interested in learning about a community where economic development is pursued as if people mattered (as E.F. Schumacher suggested was important in his book Small Is Beautiful) then you will want to check out the following slide presentations. Also, you may want to visit the portion of the website above devoted to articles I have written on Guatemala. Many of them focus on San Lucas Tolimán.

SLT Slide show 1

SLT Slide show 2

SLT Slide show 3

SLT Slide show 4

Street art from Spain: While in Spain (January, February 2007) on sabbatical, in addition to all the usual places one is supposed to visit and do, such as the Prado Museum in Madrid (with Velasquez' Las Meninas), Museo Sofia Reina in Madrid (with Picasso's Guernica), the Salvador Dali museum in Figueres, the Joan Miró museum in Barcelona, or Gaudi's architecture also in Barcelona, Carnaval in Cadiz,  Segovia's castle, Toledo's landscape (as El Greco saw it),  Granada's Alhambra, Cordoba's Mesquita/Cathedral, and Sevilla's cathedral and alcazar (plus a month of Spanish language school)... in addition to all that..., I had time to wander about checking out the most incredible street art. Many of the artists, themselves, refer to it as graffiti, but it is much more interesting than simple street gang "taggings." Some of it is of such a high quality, you'd think you're looking at a photograph--much of it is certainly frameable..., and what's really fascinating is that it is all done with spray paint cans! I observed a crew working on a fresh new piece one afternoon in full sun with absolutely no fear of the authorities. Spanish society seems to have accepted such art as part of the social landscape.

Street Art show 1                 

Street Art show 2

Street Art show 3

Street Art show 4

Other images from Spain:

 Spain slide show 1

 Spain slide show 2

Check out these editorials in the student newspaper:

Sweatshops

Automobiles, Oil, and Terrorists