Economics
The career of Joseph Constantino Morreale began with his extensive educational efforts. He studied for his bachelor’s degree in Economics and Mathematics at Queen’s College of the City University of New York and graduated in 1967 with honors. He then went on for a Master’s degree in Economic Planning at the University of Buffalo of the State University of New York, graduating in 1970. After being awarded a teaching fellowship, he continued on at the University of Buffalo to study for a Ph.D. in Public Finance and Healthcare Economics, writing his doctoral dissertation on ‘The Role of the Physician in the Demand for Medical Care’, and graduating in 1972. He then progressed to a fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as a postdoctoral fellow at the Health Economics Research Center in 1974-75. Later, he earned a second Master’s degree in Higher Education Administration and Finance at the University at Albany-SUNY in 1989.
He began his academic career as an assistant professor of Economics at Western Michigan University in 1970. Following completion of his Ph.D. dissertation and the Health Economics Fellowship, Joseph went on to a position at the University of Pittsburgh in the Graduate School of Public Health. Later he worked with insurance and investment leader, Prudential Financial, as a financial planner from 1987 to 1989. After this experience in the private sector, he later moved on to a role that would come to define his future career: in 1990, he became full professor at the prestigious Pace University in New York City. After being selected in 1995-96 as an American Council on Education Administrative Fellow and completing his one year visiting administrative intern at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, he was appointed as a vice-provost for planning, assessment, and institutional research at Pace. Although he only stayed in this position for the next two years, Pace University would be a consistent fixture of his life and career in the future. This was followed by his rising to the position of senior associate provost and later as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs of Pace from 2003 to 2007. Afterward in 2008, he returned to the faculty as a full professor of economics. From 2014 until 2022, he served as Professor and Chair of the Economics Department. He developed three new innovative undergraduate courses: a required Senior Economics Research course, and two new courses in Behavioral Economics and Policy and an honors course on The Rise and Fall of World Empires. Moreover, most recently, he created and directed a new and expanding economics graduate degree program in Applied Quantitative Economic Analysis and Policy. He also developed and taught a graduate course in Health Care Economics and Policy. To date, Joseph has given more than fifty-three years’ service to the field of higher education.
Beyond his specialization in economics, Joseph offers his wide knowledge in every facet of his job, with expertise in health economics, environmental economics, public finance and policy, economic undergraduate research and pedagogy and Chinese economic studies. He has also authored a number of books and articles, notably including ‘Health Care Economics’ in 1977 and as editor of ‘The US Medical Care Industry’ in 1974. He is also co-author of two books on maintaining senior faculty vitality and post-tenure review. Many of his recent peer reviewed publications have centered on innovative pedagogy in economics, ecological economics and the study of climate change, experiential learning through experimental economics and behavioral economics. He also emphasized in his teaching students doing undergraduate research, mastering critical reading, and thinking skills, and initiating travel abroad courses. His extensive expertise and experience in the field has brought him recognition from distinguished professional bodies over the years. He has enjoyed fellowships with the National Defense Education Act and the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Association, as well as a senior fellowship with the Institute for Educational Management at the Graduate School of Education of Harvard University.
Joseph is a member of the American Economic Association and the International Atlantic Economics Society. He was also responsible for the introduction and teaching of a Chinese Economics Studies program, as well as founding the Confucius Institute of Pace University. Throughout his career, Joseph has been invited to travel around the world as a guest professor. His most recent position overseas was with the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, where he lectured from 2009 to 2016. Dr. Morreale was also elected to the Executive Board of the International Atlantic Economics Society in 2020. In addition to his career as a Professor, Joseph enjoys spending time with his family, playing guitar, enjoying tennis, music, film, art, photography and reading mysteries. He also is an avid reader of world economic history and the history of economic thought through the ages and researching his new focus on the field of Behavioral Economics.
For his many accomplishments and contributions to Pace University, he has been given two prestigious awards. For his outstanding teaching, scholarship, and service, he was awarded the status of Pace University Distinguished Professor of Economics in 2019. In his final year at Pace in 2023, Dr. Morreale was awarded the inaugural Pace University Lifetime Achievement Award, “in recognition and appreciation of your exemplary dedication to teaching, service and scholarship and outstanding contributions to Pace University.”