Vanderbilt Department of Economics

10/14/2025

Thanks to everyone who attended our annual fall picnic, and congratulations to the .gped students who received James S. and Rosemary Worley Awards!💫🍂

08/20/2025

We hope everyone has a great start to the fall semester!

07/31/2025

Please welcome our two new faculty members in the Department of Economics!

César Urquizo Ubillus is a quantitative macroeconomist specializing in labor economics and inequality.

Mitchell VanVuren is a macroeconomist primarily interested in questions of growth and development.

We are so excited for these incredible additions to our team!

08/13/2024

Nobel laureate and economist Muhammad Yunus, PhD’71, was recently chosen by President Mohammed Shahabuddin to lead an interim government in Bangladesh. Yunus returned to his native country on Thursday, Aug. 8, after weeks of student-led protests. He met with Shahabuddin and army chief Gen. Waker-U...

06/18/2024

This year we had the privilege of hosting the 2024 North American Summer Meeting of the Econometric Society at here at Vanderbilt University. Professors Tong Li and Mattias Polborn went above and beyond in organizing and hosting this event making it a success.

Amongst the 400+ attendees were two of co-host Tong Li's former students. Alper Arslan (PhD '18, now assistant professor at the University of Texas, San Antonio) and Brantly Callaway (PhD '16, now associate professor at the University of Georgia) returned to their alma mater, along with one of Callaway's own former PhD students Emmanuel Tsyawo (now assistant professor at Universite Mohammed VI Polytechnique).

Thank you to Tong and Mattias for all your hard work!

04/25/2024

Our fourth and final honors student is Jaehyeok Hong!

Jaehyeok (Justin) Hong came to Vanderbilt from South Korea and is a double major in Economics and Mathematics.

Jaehyeok decided to major in Economics due to his interest in Game Theory while in high school, but has since turned his attention towards econometrics. “I wanted to do an honors thesis because I wanted an opportunity to conduct research of my own, and I had a question of ’What is flexibility?’”
His honors thesis is entitled ‘Gender Differences in Job Flexibility’ and is advised by Professor Andrea Moro.

In Jaehyeok’s thesis he “calculate[s] whether there is a difference in the price of flexible work arrangements based on gender. I use four different measures--reasons workers could take paid leaves, intermissions during work hours, flexible job characteristics, and work from home--to see if there is a meaningful interaction effect between the measures and the female dummy. Although my results were not causal due to confounders, it does suggest that there is some negative relationship between females and flexible work arrangements.”

After graduation, Jaehyeok will be preparing to apply to graduate programs as he progresses further into his academic career!

04/23/2024

Katelynn Lewallen is from Scottsdale, Arizona, and is graduating with a double major in Economics and Mathematics and a minor in Business.

“I originally entered Vanderbilt as a math major bur decided to add economics as a double major because I was seeking more real-world application. I decided to do an honors thesis to further prepare for the PhD program I will be starting next year!”

Katelynn’s honors thesis is advised by Dr. Analisa Packham and is entitled: ‘Need-Based Aid for the ‘Not Too Needy" - An Analysis of California's Middle Class Scholarship’

In her thesis Katelynn “investigate[s] the effects of need-based aid for the middle class on college enrollments and graduation rates. While some propose the middle-class is financially equipped enough to attend college through family income or merit-based scholarships, my findings may suggest otherwise. I find California's Middle Class Scholarship increases both enrollments and degree attainments by about 3%.”

In the fall, Katelynn will be starting her PhD in Economics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

04/12/2024

Cameron Deal came to Vanderbilt from Peoria, Arizona, and is double majoring in Mathematics and Economics with a minor in History.

It was his work as a freshman with the LGBTQ Policy Lab that first pulled him towards economics research. “From there, I fell in love with the way economics tools could be used to study diverse topics and especially their application to history.”
Cameron’s honors thesis is advised by Dr. Brian Beach and entitled ‘Exposure, Integration, and In*******al Marriage: Evidence from The Great Migration and Residential Segregation.’
Cameron’s thesis “studies the effects of social interactions on racial integration in the marriage market using two historical quasi-experiments. I use a shift-share instrument to find that the Great Migration increased the prevalence of in*******al marriage but the magnitude of this increase is small relative to the change in Black population. This relationship is muted in high-segregation cities, suggesting that residential segregation limited the social integration response to the Great Migration. Additionally, I use railroad track placement to instrument for residential segregation and find that residential segregation decreased in*******al marriage. Together, this evidence suggests that social interactions played a role in the increase in in*******al marriage in the non-Southern 20th century United States.”

Cameron will be joining Harvard’s Business Economics PhD program in the fall!

04/09/2024

Join us this Thursday for our annual McGee Lecture! The spring semester McGee Lecture hosted by the Department of Economics will take place from 3-4:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 11, in Buttrick 101.

Lawrence F. Katz is the Elisabeth Allison Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics at Harvard University and a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

He served as the chief economist of the U.S. Department of Labor for 1993 and 1994, and currently serves on the Board of Manpower Demonstration Research Corp. (MDRC). His research focuses on labor economics and the economics of social problems.

Undergraduates are encouraged to attend. There will be a reception with food and beverages in the Buttrick Atrium following the lecture.

04/04/2024

Today!
Buttrick 101!
3:00-4:30 + a reception!

The Spring semester Steine Lecture will take place on April 4th, from 3:00-4:30 in Buttrick 101.

Frederic Mishkin will speak on ‘Central Banking Post Crises.'

Frederic S. Mishkin is the Alfred Lerner Professor of Banking and Financial Institutions at the Graduate School of Business, Columbia University. He is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and from September 2006 to August 2008 was a member (governor) of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Undergraduates are encouraged to attend.

There will be a reception with food & beverages in the Buttrick Atrium, following the Lecture.

All students welcome!

04/02/2024

This month we're highlighting our four incredible economics honors students and the work they've done! Meet our first honors student, Claire Chen.

Claire Chen is a senior from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who is double majoring in Economics and History, with a minor in Mathematics.

“I am passionate about economics and aim to have a research career in the field. The Honors Program gave me the opportunity to explore my interests under the guidance of my thesis advisor, Dr. Ariell Zimran, as well as the program director, Dr. Michelle Marcus. I am also grateful for the support of my fantastic cohort—I've learned so much in just three semesters!”

Her honors thesis is advised by Dr. Zimran and is entitled: “Changes in the Assimilation of Asian Americans from 1860-1940.” In her thesis, Claire considers that “Asian immigration to the United States motivated the first instance of federal immigration legislation with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, but little is known about Asian immigration during the period despite a robust literature on their European counterparts.” Claire “used linked cohorts drawn from complete-count census data to find that Asian immigrants displayed a ‘catch-up’ assimilation phenomenon: successive Asian cohorts steadily reduced their outcome gaps with the native population. These findings provide insight into the assimilation process of an understudied immigrant community, furthering the understanding of assimilation in the United States.”

Claire will be remaining at Vanderbilt to pursue her Ph.D. in Economics this fall!

03/29/2024

The Spring semester Steine Lecture will take place on April 4th, from 3:00-4:30 in Buttrick 101.

Frederic Mishkin will speak on ‘Central Banking Post Crises.'

Frederic S. Mishkin is the Alfred Lerner Professor of Banking and Financial Institutions at the Graduate School of Business, Columbia University. He is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and from September 2006 to August 2008 was a member (governor) of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Undergraduates are encouraged to attend.

There will be a reception with food & beverages in the Buttrick Atrium, following the Lecture.

All students welcome!