Dr. Maury Granger

Economist and native Kentuckian Dr. Maury Granger developed an interest in economics while working as a community organizer and activist in the Louisville, KY metropolitan area during the late
1970’s and early 1980’s. He strongly believes that the purpose of an education pivots around three ideals. First, he argues that, “it should advance one’s ability to think swiftly and efficiently; secondly, it should cultivate one’s ability to separating facts from fiction; and finally, it should engender in one a sense of ethics and morality.”

This pedagogic framework, in his opining, is amenable to modern as well as traditional educational best practices. Additional, he feels that this framework best equips us to achieve, with increasing facility, legitimate goals. A well-rounded education, he concludes, should strengthen one’s concentration powers as well as promote the development of a mindset that helps one distinguish between what are legitimate goals and what are not.

Dr. Granger has worked at Jackson State University since 2002, serving as Chairperson for the Department of Economics, Finance and General Business from 2005-2012, President of the University’s Department Chairs Council from 2009-2012, and currently Professor of Economics. Prior to joining the faculty in the College of Business at JSU, he taught at Western Kentucky University (1989-92), Wright State University (1993-94), Kentucky State University (1994-95), and North Carolina A&T State University (1995- 2002). During his career, he has taught a broad range of economics and statistics courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, in particular: Mathematics for Economics and Finance, Econometrics, Urban Economics, and Public Economics (Public Finance). He also taught International Economics at Pukyong National University, in Busan, South Korea (Summer-2011).

Dr. Granger led the Department of Economics, Finance and General Business through the 2010 and 2011 AACSB and SACS reaccreditation/reaffirmation processes, oversaw the curricula redesigns for the Economics, Finance and Business Administration Majors, and articulated the department’s long range goals within the “New Academy—Regeneration of JSU” strategic planning process. He points out that the time-on-task required of him to complete his administrative responsibilities nearly stifled his research and grant writing aspirations. Since resigning as Department Chairperson in 2012, Dr. Granger has been “on-the-mend” a recently secured a $300,000 Title III Grant for the College of Business’ Trading-Room Project and has successfully reengaging his teaching and research agendas.

Dr. Granger’s research interest primarily focus on quality-of-life analysis (JEL# I31), higher education work force analysis (JEL #I21), firm location (JEL #R3 and I31), and more generally cultural economics (JEL #Z12). His two highest ranked publications dealt with HBCU faculty research productivity and the influence of amenities on manufacturers’ location patterns. These publications appeared in the Southern Economic Journal and the Journal of Urban Studies respectively. A forthcoming publication continues the amenity/quality of life (QOL) line of research through the development of a “spatial equilibrium amenity measure.