Mateen Karimi, a rising junior majoring in management, published his paper, “The Socioeconomic Integration of Second-Generation MENA Immigrants,” in the journal, Aisthesis, this past June. Each year, the journal publishes a compilation of scholarship completed by students in honors programs nationwide.
The article shows that the native-born children of Middle Eastern North African (MENA) immigrants in the United States acquire more education and achieve higher salary incomes than both non-MENA whites and blacks, but falter on employment outcomes as a whole. Interestingly, second-generation Iranians and Yemenis acquire more education than both whites and blacks, but also have the highest unemployment rates.
Professors Harmon, Smirnova, and PhD Candidate Conant participated in the Ninth Annual AEA Conference on Teaching and Research in Economic Education (CTREE), in St. Louis, Missouri, May 2019.
Professors Oskar Harmon and Natalia Smirnova organized and moderated the panel “The College Fed Challenge: Discussion of Participating in an Existing Competition or Organizing a Competition in your Federal Reserve District”. The panelists were the faculty organizers of the regional Fed Challenge competitions in 4 of the 5 Fed Districts that sponsor a Fed Challenge competition, and the organizer of the finals round at the Fed Board of Governors in Washington DC. The discussion focused on two themes. One was a comparison of the similarities and differences in the structure of the competitions across regions and the effect on team outcomes in the national finals. Second was strategies to the geographic challenges and the difficulties facing the non-eastern states 8 reserve districts, only one of which competes (Chicago) relative to the 4 east coast districts, all of which compete.
Paul Conant and Oskar Harmon presented their paper “Teaching of Sports Economics by Reacting to the Past”. They presented a real-world scenario (RWS) assignment that is an adaptation of the “reacting to the past” teaching style. In this style students learn by taking on roles, informed by articles from the period of the event. They participate in a competitive game using the communication skills of speaking and writing, and analytical skills of critical thinking and problem solving. The specific RWS discussed in this paper will consist of students answering the historical event question: Should college athletes be allowed to unionize? The Case of Northwestern 2014. Students are assigned roles which can force them to combat their preconceived notion about the issue and help students consider different perspectives on the issue. We hope to merge the sociopolitical world with neoclassical economic learning in order to help students understand the nuance of pertinent world issues.
Natalia Smirnova also assumed an active role at the conference. She was a discussant of two papers. One paper presented the use of Excel for teaching students a Health Economics addiction model; and the second paper analyzed the reasons for female students’ attrition from the first Economics course they took and not becoming Economics majors at UC Berkley. Both papers were well received and generated debates among sessions’ participants.
Professor Smirnova extended her stay in St. Louis to explore Team-Based Learning (TBL) techniques. The TBL workshop was sponsored by the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) initiative. Professor Smirnova is encouraged to bring new techniques into her classroom.
Professor Ross’s work with former students Jesse Kalinowski (Quinnipiac) and Matt Ross (NYU) was published in the 2019 American Economic Association Papers and Proceedings.
In this paper, they document that police change where they patrol and the types of infractions that they monitor when darkness falls. This behavior has important implications for attempts to test for racial profiling in traffic stops where often stops at night when race cannot be observed are used as a benchmark to determining whether police disproportionately stop minority motorists during the day (non-gated link to working paper below).
Professor Nishith Prakash has received an appointment as a fellow with the Women and Public Policy Program (WAPPP) at Harvard Kennedy School.
About WAPPP
The Women and Public Policy Program of Harvard Kennedy School closes gender gaps in economic opportunity, political participation, health and education by creating knowledge, training leaders, and informing public policy and organizational practices.
Our research provides evidence-based insights on the role of gender in shaping economic, political, and social opportunities available to individuals. We identify successful interventions and measure their impact on women, men, and society, then share recommendations on what policies, organizational practices, and leadership techniques help close involuntary gaps.
We train today’s leaders and prepare future leaders to create a more gender equal world, while providing women with skills and tools to successfully navigate existing systems. We draw on Harvard University’s unparalleled faculty expertise and its global reach to impact the thinking of those who make decisions across sectors.
No other organization in the world builds on behavioral insights to create evidence-based organizational designs that can promote women’s empowerment, overcome gender bias, and provide equal opportunities for women and men, like the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard Kennedy School. And no other entity provides assistance to organizations with the goal of consulting, learning and teaching at the same time, benefiting from the talent pool of Harvard faculty, students and fellows.
On April 18, the department convened for an awards banquet that recognized the best among undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty. This year’s award recipients are:
Omicron Delta Epsilon inductees:
Kader Akpinar
Gianna DeMasi
Ryan Gilland
Michelle Grieco
Andrew Hendrickson Jr.
Christopher Holden
Andrew Humphrey
Marisa Infante
Yuansun Jiang
Megan Llewellyn
Colin MacDougald
Adam Patterson
William Poundstone
James Rice
Jeffery Sanawong
David Stanco
Brianna Sullivan
Mollie Swanton
Mary Vlamis
Nicholas Wehrle
Undergraduate Awards
Economics Department General Scholarship
Michael Goccia
Mathilda Hill
James Rice
Sharon Spaulding
Qingya Yang
Kathryn A. Cassidy Economics Scholarship
Tiffany D’Andrea
Zichen Shu
Zian Zhang
Harrison Zraly
Rockwood Q. P. Chin Scholarship
Arianna Dines
Sueing Ngov
Sheng Tian
Louis D. Traurig Scholarship
Fizza Alam
Dea Ballij
Marisa Infante
Ajshe Zulfi
Paul N. Taylor Memorial Prize
Harry Godfrey-Fogg
Julia & Harold Fenton and Yolanda & Augustine Sineti Scholarship
Michelle Grieco
Charles Triano Scholarship
Gianna DeMasi
Dr. Joseph W. McAnneny Jr. Scholarship
Elizabeth Miller
Alexander Mostaghami
John Peterson
Mary Vlamis
Ross Mayer Scholarship
John Cizeski
Tyler DiBrino
Graduate Awards
Albert E. Waugh Scholarship
Mark McInerney
W. Harrison Carter Award
Lindsey Buck
Huarui Jing
Abraham Ribicoff Graduate Fellowship
Wei Zheng
Timothy A. and Beverly C. Holt Economics Fellowship
Dingxian Cao
Jingyun Chen
Zhenhao Gong
Chuang Li
Chun Li
Heli Zu
Jinning Wang
Economics Department General Scholarship
Treena Goswami
Shilpa Sethia
Rui Sun
Kevin Wood
Haoxiang Xu
Best Third Year Paper Award
Umesh Ghimire
Roklen Graduate Research Scholarship
Xizi Li
Eleanor Bloom Trust Fund
Eniola Fasola
Graduate School Pre-Doctoral Fellowship
Xuejian Gong
Miranda Mendiola Valdez
Ziyun Wu
Hao Cui
Anup Tiwari
Ruohan Huang
Yizhi Zhu
Abdulmohsen Almuhaisen
On April 18, the department convened for an awards banquet that recognized the best among undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty. This year’s award recipients are:
Omicron Delta Epsilon inductees:
Kader Akpinar
Gianna DeMasi
Ryan Gilland
Michelle Grieco
Andrew Hendrickson Jr.
Christopher Holden
Andrew Humphrey
Marisa Infante
Yuansun Jiang
Megan Llewellyn
Colin MacDougald
Adam Patterson
William Poundstone
James Rice
Jeffery Sanawong
David Stanco
Brianna Sullivan
Mollie Swanton
Mary Vlamis
Nicholas Wehrle
Undergraduate Awards
Economics Department General Scholarship
Michael Goccia
Mathilda Hill
James Rice
Sharon Spaulding
Qingya Yang
Kathryn A. Cassidy Economics Scholarship
Tiffany D’Andrea
Zichen Shu
Zian Zhang
Harrison Zraly
Rockwood Q. P. Chin Scholarship
Arianna Dines
Sueing Ngov
Sheng Tian
Louis D. Traurig Scholarship
Fizza Alam
Dea Ballij
Marisa Infante
Ajshe Zulfi
Paul N. Taylor Memorial Prize
Harry Godfrey-Fogg
Julia & Harold Fenton and Yolanda & Augustine Sineti Scholarship
Michelle Grieco
Charles Triano Scholarship
Gianna DeMasi
Dr. Joseph W. McAnneny Jr. Scholarship
Elizabeth Miller
Alexander Mostaghami
John Peterson
Mary Vlamis
Ross Mayer Scholarship
John Cizeski
Tyler DiBrino
Graduate Awards
Albert E. Waugh Scholarship
Mark McInerney
W. Harrison Carter Award
Lindsey Buck
Huarui Jing
Abraham Ribicoff Graduate Fellowship
Wei Zheng
Timothy A. and Beverly C. Holt Economics Fellowship
Dingxian Cao
Jingyun Chen
Zhenhao Gong
Chuang Li
Chun Li
Heli Zu
Jinning Wang
Economics Department General Scholarship
Treena Goswami
Shilpa Sethia
Rui Sun
Kevin Wood
Haoxiang Xu
Best Third Year Paper Award
Umesh Ghimire
Roklen Graduate Research Scholarship
Xizi Li
Eleanor Bloom Trust Fund
Eniola Fasola
Graduate School Pre-Doctoral Fellowship
Xuejian Gong
Miranda Mendiola Valdez
Ziyun Wu
Hao Cui
Anup Tiwari
Ruohan Huang
Yizhi Zhu
Abdulmohsen Almuhaisen
Professor Zhao’s paper “Household Saving, Financial Constraints, and the Current Account in China” has been accepted for publication in the International Economic Review.
In this paper, Professor Zhao and his coauthor find that the rise and fall in China’s current account surplus was largely due to (1) the rising household saving driven by the decline in family insurance coupled with inadequate public insurance, and (2) the variation in financial constraints facing the Chinese firms.
International Economic Review publishes cutting edge papers in many areas of economics, including econometrics, economic theory, macro, and applied economics. It is considered one of the leading journals in economics in the world (Engemann and Wall, 2009).
Congratulations to Economics faculty members Michele Baggio and Kai (Jackie) Zhao, who have received promotion to tenured Associate Professor, and to Steven Lanza, promoted to Associate Professor in Residence!
The UConn Board of Trustees approved the promotions, effective August 23rd, at the Board meeting on Wednesday, April 24th.
Kevin Wood has been awarded a nationally competitive Ph.D. Fellowship from the Boston College Center for Retirement Research and the Social Security Administration (SSA).
His doctoral research examines decisions of older Americans in response to the introduction of the Affordable Care Act including retirement prior to receipt of Medicare and enrollment in other SSA programs such as Disability Insurance and the Supplemental Security Income program.
In recent years this fellowship has been awarded to graduate students at institutions such as Yale, Harvard and the University of Maryland. Congratulations to Kevin on his accomplishment!
Kanda Naknoi is a visiting scholar at the Department of Economics at UC Davis.
During the visit she will work on the dynamics of investment in emerging economies after the Global Financial Crisis. She will also attend seminars and will make a presentation. Her visit will end in mid June.
Mateen Karimi, a rising junior majoring in management, published his paper, “The Socioeconomic Integration of Second-Generation MENA Immigrants,” in the journal, Aisthesis, this past June. Each year, the journal publishes a compilation of scholarship completed by students in honors programs nationwide.
Kanda Naknoi is a visiting scholar at the Department of Economics at UC Davis.