Kim publishes paper, co-authored with former student, in business journal

Doh-Khul Kim, North Central College associate professor of economics and finance, co-authored a paper titled “The Effectiveness of Commodities in Hedging Inflation—Is It Still Valid During Low Inflationary Period?” which was published in the fall/winter edition of the Journal of Business and Economic Perspectives. His co-author is North Central graduate Eric McKee ’12, who triple-majored in actuarial science, finance and classical civilization.

Their paper was presented in 2012 at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research and North Central’s Rall Symposium for Undergraduate Research and was submitted for McKee’s honors thesis.

Their published paper in the journal is based on this earlier work, which includes research on the effectiveness of industrial commodities in hedging any inflationary risks in the economy. They presented their findings using traditional regression models and found that energy-related commodities, such as coal and copper, are more effective than gold and silver in hedging the risk. Their findings are at odds with a traditional view about gold and silver in hedging such inflationary risk.

Published twice a year by the University of Tennessee at Martin, the Journal of Business and Economic Perspectives is peer-reviewed with a rigorous publication process. It publishes papers about economics, finance, accounting and other business-related disciplines.
    
McKee is working on his master’s degree in mathematics, actuarial science sequence at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was recognized with North Central’s 2012 Outstanding Major in Finance Award and the 2012 Outstanding Major in Actuarial Science Award.

Kim joined North Central’s faculty in 2008. He received his B.A. from Chung-Ang University in Seoul, Korea, his M.A. from Temple University and his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia.