The BA and BS degrees in Economics are now classified as STEM degrees. As such, it allows our international students to apply for a 2-year OPT extension in addition to the 12 months of F1 students visas for all other degrees.
News
James D. Rodgers, Professor of Economics and Head of the Department of Economics from 1985 to 1994 died on February 15. Jim was a great colleague and as Department Head led the transformation of the Department of Economics to where it is today.
Kai-Jie Wu received his PhD in economics from the University of Rochester. His research focuses on macroeconomics, economic growth, and labor economics. Kai-Jie has studied the role of specialized firms as a driver of increased industry concentration over the last 40 years. Specialized firms, which produce higher quality goods, have replaced diversified firms over time and this can explain the entire increase in industry concentration over the period. Earlier this year, this research was discussed in. the Economist. We welcome Kai-Jie to Penn State.
Maria Jose Carreras-Valle received her PhD from the University of Minnesota. Maria’s research interests are in international economics, international trade, and macroeconomics. Her research focuses on the role of inventories in international trade. She has studied the impact of global supply chains in explaining the increase in US manufacturing inventories since 2005. In particular, rising trade with China increased delivery times and induced US firms to hold larger inventories. We welcome Maria to Penn State.
Congratulations to Leah Hunt and Jiaqi Ren for receiving the Wallace prize for best Third Year Paper
Congratulations to Jiaqi Ren on being awarded the Rosenberg Liberal Arts Centennial Scholarship for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Daniel Xu, ’07 Economics, received The Robert E. Lucas Jr. Prize awarded biannually for the most interesting paper in the area of Dynamic Economics published in the Journal of Political Economy in the preceding two years. The prize was established in 2016 on the occasion of the celebration of Lucas’s seminal contributions to economics and his Phoenix Prize award.
Papers published between July 2022 and June 2024 were considered for the fifth prize, which has been awarded to Chris Edmond, Virgiliu Midrigan, and Daniel Xu for “How Costly are Markups?” (Journal of Political Economy 131 [7]: 1619–1675). (https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/journals/jpe/lucas-prize)
Bill Goffe, teaching professor of economics in the College of the Liberal Arts, has received the 2025 McKay Donkin Award.
Established in 1969 in honor of the late McKay Donkin, who served as vice president and treasurer of the University from 1957 to 1968, the award is presented to a full-time member of the faculty or staff or to a retiree who has contributed most to the “economic, physical, mental or social welfare of the faculty” of the University. The contribution should be for duties or services above and beyond the recipient’s regularly assigned duties.
Nominators said Goffe spearheads numerous initiatives that elevate the well-being and sense of community among faculty across Penn State. They lauded his exceptional efforts to improve teaching, advocate for faculty inclusion and foster professional development
https://www.psu.edu/news/academics/story/economics-professor-honored-mckay-donkin-award
“Congratulations to Xuefei Liu for receiving the Susan Welch Graduate Economics Student Prize for best performance in the first year of the Economics Ph.D. program.”
“Congratulations to Eric San Miguel Flores for receiving the Will E. Mason Memorial Award for best thesis proposal in the Economics Ph.D. program.”
"Congratulations to Eduard Osipov, recipient of the 2025 Wallace Prize for Best 3rd Year Paper".
"Congratulations to Ju Hyun Oh, recipient of the 2025-2026 Rosenberg Centennial Scholarship".
Gonzalo is working on matching market design.He is currently writing a paper on residency matching in Peru. The article below tells that he helped Argentine authorities to figure out that their mechanism for assigning residencies prioritizes foreign trained doctors, even though they are more prone to leave the country after completing the residency (according to surveys). I hope that in the long run this may also lead to an academic paper.
Economics student and Chapel intern, Kayla Lynch, gained hands-on experience in the renewable energy sector to land a job in New York City after graduation.
