As part of her University Scholar project, Karen Lau ’25, who is triple majoring in economics, history, and Asian American studies (individualized), spent the summer going through archives at NYU’s Tamiment Library and interviewing women involved in the 1982 International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) strike in Manhattan. For the economics part of her project, with the guidance of Professor Delia Furtado, she will use Current Population Survey (CPS) data and state-of-the-art empirical techniques to estimate the causal impacts of the strike on labor market outcomes of New York City garment workers.
When asked if she had advice for other economics majors considering applying for the University Scholar program, she responded,
“While applying for University Scholar, I had no experience with STATA or any knowledge of which data sources to use, but I had ideas, and I knew which faculty members whose research I found interesting that I could ask for support. Meet with faculty members in different departments to share your ideas. Their feedback and experience will help you distill your ideas, which may be too broad or too ambitious, into a specific, understudied topic to which your research could contribute original findings. Professor Furtado motivated me to take Econometrics II, learn unfamiliar techniques, and develop a mixed-methods approach, allowing my data analysis and regressions to corroborate my qualitative research. Don’t be intimidated by the “Q” in Econometrics I and II! Learning to use STATA can be challenging at first, but taking these courses will help you develop quantitative skills that can serve you beyond college and help you contribute to the literature on a topic you are passionate about. In Econometrics II, I learned about difference-in-differences regression, a method I am using to analyze how a labor shock impacted workers’ wages. The more comfortable I felt using STATA, the more confident I felt carrying out a thesis project with techniques drawn from economics. The University Scholar program is looking for interdisciplinary-minded students who are not necessarily the most experienced researchers, but who are most willing to challenge themselves to build new skills and bring multiple fields into conversation.”
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Huari’s research interests are in asset pricing, financial econometrics, macro finance, and machine learning. At Sewanee, she teaches the courses, Investment Finance, Derivatives and Fixed Income Securities, Financial Modeling, and Financial Engineering.
Current UConn PhD students, do reach out to Huari and Tao for advice on building a successful academic career at a liberal arts college.
“The Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization is devoted to theoretical and empirical research concerning economic decision, organization and behavior and to economic change in all its aspects. Its specific purposes are to foster an improved understanding of how human cognitive, computational and informational characteristics influence the working of economic organizations and market economies and how an economy’s structural features lead to various types of micro and macro behavior, to changing patterns of development and to institutional evolution.”
“Economic Inquiry is a highly regarded scholarly journal in economics publishing articles of general interest across the profession. Quality research that is accessible to a broad range of economists is the primary focus of the journal.”
On a picture perfect Spring evening, several doctoral students participated in the 
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