Two Economics undergraduate students from the Stamford campus, Isabella Thomas (’27) and Angel Bravo (’26), presented their research at the Issues in Political Economy conference in New York City on February 27, 2026. The agenda featured 43 student presentations from 20 academic institutions from all over the United States. As per the academic conference style, Isabella and Angel also were assigned as discussants for the research papers of other students. They gained the full experience of the professional economics conference.
Both students presented the results of the empirical application of the Solow Growth Model comparing economic development of countries of their choice. Isabella Thomas studied Venezuela and Brazil, while Angle Bravo compared Columbia and Switzerland. This research stemmed from the ECON 2012 Q – Intermediate Macroeconomics course taught by Professor Smirnova. The students studied the literature, worked with the Penn World Tables dataset, and applied regression analysis to the time series covering 1950-2019. The results show that countries differ in their economic development paths. The students delve into the reasons for divergence for each country and provided their policy recommendation in each case.
To support Isabella and Angel, the Economics Research and Policy Council (a.k.a. Economics Club) in Stamford, organized the trip to the conference supported by Stamford Student Activities. The group of 12 Stamford Economics students attended the conference and participated in lively academic discussions among the participants.
The presentations at the conference were supported by the Office of Undergraduate Research Conference Presentation Awards.
