Biography

David M. Kemme currently holds the William N. Morris Chair of Excellence in International Economics and Co-Director of the Data Science Research Cluster, FedEx Institute of Technology at the University of Memphis. He served as a Trustee of the University of Memphis and Chair of the Academics, Research and Student Success Committee (2019-2023) He was also Director of the International MBA program (1994-1997) and Chair of the Economics Department (1997). Prior to joining the University of Memphis he was a W. Frank Barton Faculty Fellow at Wichita State University (1991-1994) and Pew Charitable Trusts Scholar-in-Residence at the Institute for East-West Studies, New York (1989-1991) where he directed the Economics and Security Program. In 1991 he was also a Distinguished Fellow at the Mitsui Research Institute in Tokyo. Most recently he was a visiting scholar at the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank. He earned a BA in mathematics from Miami University (Oxford, OH) and MA and Ph.D. in economics from The Ohio State University. He was a Fulbright Lecturer at the Main School of Planning and Statistics in Warsaw (1981-1982).

He has researched and published over one hundred articles on the economics of transition in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, productivity and efficiency in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, exchange rate misalignment, disequilibrium macroeconomics, and the chronic shortage model of centrally planned economics. He is author of Economic Transition in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union: Issues and Strategies and has edited or co-edited four other books. Dr. Kemme served as Associate Editor of the scholarly journal Economic Change and Restructuring, and Co-editor of Comparative Economic Studies. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Atlantic Economic Journal and the European Journal of Comparative Economics. He is a member of the Board of Consultants of Economic Systems and a member of the Executive Committee of the European Association of Comparative Economics. His work has been translated and published in Russian, Japanese, Ukrainian, Polish and Armenian.

He has served as a consultant to numerous organizations and corporations including BearingPoint, Shell Oil, FedEx, the Rand Corporation, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), the Asian Development Bank, the Joint Economic Committee of the US Congress, the European Union, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the United Nations Development Program, the US Agency for International Development, and the Academy for Educational Development, among others. Most recent consulting activities include econometric modeling for The Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance of Armenia and inflation forecast targeting models and small structural macro-econometric models for the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan. He has made numerous appearances in both local and national news media including CNN, FNN and CNBC programs and is regularly quoted in leading national newspapers such as the New York Times, the New York Post, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.

His current research interests are macroeconometric modelling and forecasting, economic crises, international tax evasion, irregular migration and sovereign wealth funds.

Selected Sponsored Activities

Principal Investigator for sponsored research or Project Director for institutional programs or research funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, the Japan Economics Foundation, the United States Information Agency, the Council for Soviet and East European Research, the International Research and Exchanges Board, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Social Science Research Council. Participant in projects funded by the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, FedEx, St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, The Commercial Appeal.

Teaching

• Econ 7100:  Economics for the Global Executive
• Econ 7175/8175:  International Trade:  Theory and Policy
• Econ 7810/8810: Econometrics I, basic introduction to econometrics
• Econ 8812: Econometrics III, time series econometrics

Service

Selected Professional Service

• Coeditor, Comparative Economic Studies (2003-2007).
• Associate Editor, Economic Change and Restructuring (2005-2009).
• Associate Editor, Economics of Planning (1998-2005).
• Member of Board of Editors, Russian and East European Finance and Trade(1998-2002), Emerging Markets Finance and Trade(2002-2006), International Atlantic Economic Journal (1998-present), Comparative Economic Studies (1994-1997).
• Member of Scientific Committee of the Board of Editors of the European Journal of  Comparative Economics (2004 – 2010)
• Board of Directors, Executive Committee, European Association of Comparative Economics, 2006-2010.
• Member of Fulbright Selection Committee for Central Europe, Council for International Exchange of Scholars, (1997-2000); Selection Committee for Edmund S. Muskie Fellowships, (1993-1996); Selection Committee for Exchanges with Central and Eastern Europe of the International Research and Exchanges Board (1992-1995); Ad Hoc Committee on Economics Education Reform in Eastern Europe of the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, (1991); Selection Committee for Eisenhower Exchange Fellowships (1991); National Peer Review Committee, Fulbright Senior Specialists Program, CIES, (2004-2005).
• External Reviewer, US Department of State, FREEDOM Support Act, AED (2004).

Research

Journals

“Should Countries adopt Capital Controls to Minimize the Risk of Banking Crises?  A  Categorical Data Analysis,” The World Economy, 45,10 (2022). With Saktinil Roy.

“Market Fairness and efficiency:  Evidence from the Tokyo stock exchange,” Journal of Banking and Finance,” Vol. 134. (2022). With Thomas McInish and Jiang Zhang. 

“The Effects of the Eurasian Economic Union on Regional Foreign Direct Investment and Implications for Growth.” Journal of International Trade and Economic Development, (2021).With Yerkezhan Akhmetzaki and Bulat Mukhamediyev. 

“Inequality, Autocracy and Sovereign Funds as determinants of Foreign Portfolio Equity Flows," Journal of Financial Research, (2021). With Bhavik Parikh and Tanja Steigner. 

“Tax Morale and International Tax Evasion,” Journal of World Business, 55 (2020) 101052. with Bhavik Parikh and Tanja Steigner.

"The run-up to the global financial crisis: A longer historical view of financial liberalization, capital inflows and asset bubbles," International Review of Financial Analysis, 69 (2020). With Saktinil Roy.

“Tax Havens, Tax Evasion and Tax Information Exchange Agreements in the OECD,” European Financial Management, 23,3: 519-543 (2017). With Bhavik Parikh and Tanja Steigner.

"Exchange/Rate Regimes and Welfare Losses from Foreign Crises: The Impact of the US Financial Crisis on Mexico," Review of International Economics,  25,1: 132-147 (2017), With Kayhan Koleyni.

"Foreign Direct Investment and Export Performance in Emerging Economies: Evidence from Indian IT Firms," Review of Development Economics, 18(4), 681-692, (2014). With Oleks Nikolsko-Rzhevskyy and Deepraj Mukherjee,

"Did the Recent Housing Boom Signal the Global Financial Crisis?" Southern Economic Journal, 78,3: 999-1018. (2012) With Saktinil Roy.

"Causes of Banking Crises: Deregulation, credit booms, and asset bubbles, then and now," International Review of Economics and Finance, 24: 270-294. (2012) With Saktinil Roy.

"What is Really Common in the Run-up to Banking Crises?" Economics Letters, 113 (2011) 211-214. With Saktinil Roy.

"From Peg to Float: Exchange Market Pressure and Monetary Policy in the Czech Republic," Review of International Economics, 19(1), 93-108. (2011) With Gennady Lyakir.

"Using Extraneous Information to Analyze Monetary Policy in Transition Economies" Journal of International Money and Finance, 28 (2009) 868-879. With William T. Gavin.

"Introduction to Symposium: Inflation Targeting in Emerging Economies: Prerequisites, Policies and Outcomes," Comparative Economic Studies, 50,3: 416-420 (2008)

"Inflation Targeting in Armenia: Monetary Policy in Transition," Comparative Economic Studies 50,3: 421-437. (2008). With King Banaian and Grigor Sargsyan.

"Risk, Regulation and Competition in Banking and Finance in Transition Economies," Comparative Economic Studies, 50,2: 210-216 (2008). With Koen Schoors and Rudi Vandervennet

"Real Exchange Rate Misalignment: Prelude to Crisis?" Economic Systems, 30: 207-230 (2006). With Saktinil Roy.

"Najwazniejsze zagrozenia rownowagi finansow publicznych w Polsce w przedniu wejscia do Unii Europejskiej," Studi Ekonomiczne 36/37, 1-2: 11-30 (2003) With Ryszard Rapacki.

"Liberalization, Entry and Product Quality in Transition Economies," Economic Systems, 26,4. (2002). With Pinaki Bose.

"Fiscal Reform, Fiscal Policy and Fiscal Constraints during Transition in Poland," Post-Soviet Economics and Geography, 41,8: 581-598. (2000) With Ryszard Rapacki.

"Determinants of the Real Exchange Rate, Misalignment and Implications for Growth in Poland," Economic Systems, 24,2:171-205. (2000) With Wenyuan Teng.

"Banking Sector Reform in the Transition Economies - A Central Banking Perspective: Comment," Economic Survey of Europe, (1998), No. 2:82-84.

"Access to Bank Loans in a Transition Economy: The Case of Hungary," Journal of Comparative Economics, 24,1:79-89. (1997) With Philip Hersch and Jeffry Netter.

"Competition in Transition Economies: Determinants of Price-Cost Margins in Private Sector Manufacturing in Eastern Europe." Southern Economic Journal, 61, 2: 356-366 (1994). With Phillip Hersch and Sharad Bhandari.

"The Estimation of Technical Efficiency in Polish Industry: 1961 1986." Economic Systems 15, 1:43 56 (1991). With John Neufeld.

"Losses in Polish Industry Due to Resource Misallocation." Jahrbuch der Wirtshaft Osteuropas, 14, 2: 139 150 (1990).

"The Chronic Shortage Model of Centrally Planned Economies." Soviet Studies, 41, 3:345-364 (1989).

"Productivity Growth in Polish Industry." Journal of Comparative Economics, 11, 1:1-20 (1987).

"Disequilibrium in Centrally Planned Economies Beyond Cycles." Jahrbuch der Wirtschaft Osteuropas. 12, 2:65 69 (1987). With Jan Winiecki.

"The Failure of Effective Technology Transfer in Polish Industry." Economics of Planning, 21, 1:1-12 (1987).

"The Relative Economic Efficiency of Private versus Public Waterworks in the 1890's." Business and Economic History, 15: 13-27 (1986). With William Hausman and John Neufeld.

"The Real and Monetary Impact of Exogenous Disturbances Upon Centrally Planned Economies: With an Application to Poland." Carl Beck Papers, 405 (1985).

"The Polish Economic Crisis: Contributing Factors and Economic Costs." Journal of Comparative Economics, 8, 1:25-40 (1984). With Keith Crane.

"Discriminating Among Alternative Production Functions in Polish Industry." Empirical Economics, 9, 1:59-66 (1984).

"Microeconomic Efficiency in the Polish Enterprise During the NEM Period." Economics of Planning, 18, 1:1-21 (1982).

"Estimation of the Variable Elasticity of Substitution Production Function for Polish Industry and Implications for Growth." Ekonomia 45:75 86 (1985).

"Econometric Models of East European Economies: A Survey of Models of Poland." The Association of Comparative Economic Studies Bulletin, 33, 2:58 69 (1981).

Chapters in Edited Volumes

“International Tax Evasion:  Sources, Paths, and Destinations,” Chapter IV.8 The Routledge Handbook of Comparative Economic Studies, Bruno Dallago and Sara Casagrande, Eds. (London: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, 2022). With Bhavik Parikh and Tanja Steigner.

“Electronic Commerce – Markets, Competition and Social Welfare:  A Clash with History of Economic Thought,” Chapter 16 of European Comparative Economic Studies:  Thirty Years After, In Honour of Horst Brezinzki, Wladimir Andreff, Ed. (Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Economic Transition), 2020.

"Exchange Rate Misalignment: Macroeconomic Fundamentals as an Indicator of Exchange Rate Crises in Transition Economies," Empirical Methods for Analyzing the Risks of Financial Crises, Sonderheft 3/2003, Institut fur Wirtschaftforschung Halle, Halle

"Russian Financial Transition: The Development of Institutions and Markets for Growth," in Russia's Uncertain Economic Future a Compendium of papers submitted to the Joint Economic Committee, Congress of the United States (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Gove

"Determinants of Productivity in Central Europe during Economic Transition," in Planning, Shortage and Transformation, Essays in Honor of Janos Kornai, Eric Maskin and Andras Simonovits, Eds. (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2000). With Sharad Bhandari.

"Economic Transition and Economic Performance: Lessons from Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union" in The System Transformation of Transition Economies: Europe, Asia and North Korea, Doowon Lee, Ed. (Seoul: Yonsei University Press, 1997) with Michael

"Post-Privatization Issues in Central Europe," in East Central European Economies in Transition, Study Papers submitted to the Joint Economic Committee, Congress of the United States, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1994)

"Banking in Central Europe During the Protomarket Period: Developments and Emerging Issues." In Development and Reform of the Financial System in Central Europe. John P. Bonin and Istvan Szekely, editors. (Hampshire, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, Ltd.

"Technology Controls and Prospects for Change," In Technology Markets and Export Controls in the 1990s: Four Views. David M. Kemme, Editor. (New York: New York University Press and IEWS, 1991).

"Obstacles to Reform: 1981-1988." In Economic Reform in Poland: The Aftermath of Martial Law 1981?1988. David M. Kemme, editor. (Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1991).

"The Chronic Excess Demand Hypothesis." In Models of Disequilibrium and Shortage in the Centrally Planned Economies, C. Davis and W. Charemza, editors. (Andover, UK: Chapman and Hall, 1989).

"Economic Reform and Foreign Trade in Poland, Comments." In Economic Adjustment and Reform in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, Josef Brada, Ed A. Hewett, and Thomas A. Wolf, editors (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1988).

"The Polish Crisis: An Economic Overview." In Politics in Contemporary Poland: Edge of the Abyss, Jack Bielasiak and Maurice Simon, editors (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1984).

Reviews and Other Publications

Review of Financial Structure and Economic Growth: A Cross Country Comparison of Banks, Markets, and Development, Edited by Asli Demirguc-Kunt and Ross Levine, Comparative Economic Studies, 47, 710-712 (Dec 2005).

Review of Financial Liberalization, How far, How fast?, Gerard Caprio, Patrick Honohan and Josef Stiglitz, Editors, Journal of Comparative Economics, 32,2: 364-366 (2004).

Review of "The Mixed Blessing of Financial Inflows: Transition Countries in Comparative Perspective," Janos Jacs, Robert Holzman, and Michael Wyzan, Editors, Journal of Comparative Economics, 28,4: 845-848 (2000).

Review of Systemic Changes and Stabilization in Eastern Europe, Laszlo Csaba, editor. The Slavic Review, 51, 4: 861-862 (1992).

Review of Gorbachev's Struggle for Economic Reform: The Soviet Reform Process, 1985-1988, by Anders Aslund. The Russian Review, 50, 2:230-232 (1991).

Review of East West Agricultural Trade, James R. Jones, editor. Soviet Union/Union Sovietique, 14, 1:138 (1987).

Review of Exchange Rate Theory and Practice, John F. O. Bilson and Richard C. Marston, editors. Southern Economic Journal, 53, 2:541-543 (1986).

Review of Economic Relations with the USSR, Abraham S. Becker, editor. Soviet Union/Union Sovietique, 12, 2:239-240 (1985).

Review of Industrial Innovation in the Soviet Union, R. Amann and J. Cooper, editors. The Wall Street Review of Books 12, 1:53 56 (1984).

Review of The Socialist Corporation and Technocratic Power: The Polish United Workers' Party, Industrial Organization and Workforce Control: 1958-1980 by Jean Woodall. Southern Economic Journal 51, 1:292-293 (1984).

Review of Alcohol in the USSR: A Statistical Study, by Vladimir G. Treml. Southern Economic Journal 50, 3:923924 (1984).

Review of Diplomacy of Power: Soviet Armed Forces as a Political Instrument, by Stephen Kaplan. Southern Economic Journal, 49, 3:891-892 (1983).

Review of The Impact of International Economic Disturbances on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe: Transmission and Response, Egon Neuberger and Laura D'Andrea Tyson, editors. Southern Economic Journal, 48, 3:824-826 (1982).

Review of The Disequilibrium Model in a Controlled Economy, by David Howard. Southern Economic Journal 47,2: 553?555 (1980).

Special Reports, Articles in Professional Journals and Proceedings

“Determinants of Migration and Project Objectives,” for the Creating Economic Opportunities  Project, Palladium International LLC, USAID Guatemala, September 2019

"The National Funds of Kazakhstan” US State Department Title VIII Grant Report. (2011)

"Kazakhstan: Implementing Inflation Forecast Targeting: Final Report,” March 2009, ADB Financial Sector Governance TA-4431 (KAZ). (and 8 progress reports 2005-2008). With Warren Coats.

Modeling CPI Inflation in Armenia ” Macroeconomic and Fiscal Analysis Team, Bearing Point, USAID Tax and Fiscal Reform Project (2004).

“A Structural Econometric Model of the Armenian Economy: Version 2,” Macroeconomic and Fiscal Analysis Team, Bearing Point, USAID Tax and Fiscal Reform Project (2004).

“The Role of the Parliament and Central Bank in Monetary Policy" in Experience, Forms, and Methods of Parliamentarian's Activities, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, (Washington, D.C.: USGPO, Fall 1994).

Reform of the System of Money Banking and Credit in Central Europe (Kiev, Ukraine: Harvard University Project on Economic Reform in Ukraine, 1994). In Ukrainian.

“Poland: Review of the Private Small and Medium Scale Enterprise Sector," IBRD, Report No. 8991?POL, Sep­tember 5, 1990. Multiple authors.

Managing the Transition: Integrating the Reforming Socialist Economies into the World Economy , Report of the Working Group on International Economic Change, Restructuring and East?­West Security, (New York: IEWS, 1989). (Reprinted in Japanese in Seiron, February, 1990, pp. 160?174).

“A Preliminary Specification of an Econometric Model of Poland." SRI?International, Center for Economic Policy Research and Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associ­ates, Inc., Washington, D.C., September 1979.