Several prizes have been awarded to graduating undergraduate economics thesis writers.
Each year the Economics Department awards four prizes to graduating economics thesis writers. The Seymour E. and Ruth B. Harris Prize for Honors Thesis in Economics and the Allyn A. Young Prize are awarded to students who submit outstanding theses. The John H. Williams Prize is awarded to the honors senior graduating with the best overall record, and the Morris Kronfeld Prize is awarded to a graduating senior who has shown the greatest academic improvements during his/her undergraduate years. This year, the prizes were awarded to three candidates.
The John H. Williams Prize and the Allyn A. Young Prize were awarded to John Gabrieli ’16 for his outstanding academic performance in the Department and his thesis, “Extending the Ladder or Opportunity: Education Funding, Adequacy Lawsuits, and Economic Mobility in America,” advised by Professor Thomas Kane.
The Seymour E. and Ruth B. Harris Prize for Honors Thesis in Economics was awarded for Auden Laurence ’16 for her thesis, “Access for All? The Political Economy of Support for Early Childhood Education,” advised by Professor Jeffry Frieden.
The Morris Kronfeld Prize was awarded to Abel DeAndreis Colina for demonstrating great academic improvement.
In addition to department prizes, students were awarded prizes for their theses. The Thomas Temple Hoopes Prize is given annually to students who exhibit outstanding scholarly work or research. The John Dunlop Prize is awarded to a graduating senior who writes the best thesis on a challenging public policy issue at the interface of business and government, and the Harvard Environmental Economics Program awards students for the best research papers addressing a topic in environmental, energy, or natural-resource economics.
Six economics concentrators were among the 64 students awarded Hoopes Prizes this year:
- John Gabrieli ’16 for his thesis, “Extending the Ladder or Opportunity: Education Funding, Adequacy Lawsuits, and Economic Mobility in America,” nominated by Professor Thomas Kane
- Nicole Golden ’16 for her thesis, “Drivers of Success within Accountable Care Organizations: An In-Depth Examination of a Value-Based Medicine Model,” nominated by Dr. Gregory Bruich
- Kevin Boening Li ’16 for his thesis, “The Finance of Fine Art,” nominated by Professor John Y. Campbell
- Jacob Moscona ’16 for his thesis, “Agricultural Productivity and Economic Growth: Evidence from the 20th Century’s Green Revolution,” nominated by Professor Nathan Nunn
- Bianca Mulaney ’16 for her thesis, “Superbugs from Superdrugs: Understanding the Health Impact of Antibiotic Usage in Agriculture (An Economic Approach),” nominated by Professor David Cutler
- Andrew Raftery ’16 for his thesis, “Reciprocity with Imperfect Information: Why Altruism Is So Quirky,” nominated by Dr. Erez Yoeli
For the first time since the John Dunlop Prize was established, the prize was split between three students. Each of this year’s awardees is an economics concentrator.
- Auden Laurence ’16 for her thesis, “Access for All? The Political Economy of Support for Early Childhood Education,” advised by Professor Jeffry Frieden
- Michael Loughlin ’16 for his thesis, “Behavioral Responses to Electricity Prices: Evidence from Jamaica,” advised by Professor Maximilian Kasy
- Anchisa Pongmanavuth ’16 for her thesis, “Credit Crisis 3.0? An Assessment of the Macroeconomic Risk of Corporate Debt,” advised by Emmanuel Farhi
The Harvard Environmental Economics Program awarded an honorable mention to economics concentrator Sierra Fan for her thesis, “A Breath of Fresh Air: A CGE Approach to Carbon and Pollutant Taxes in China,” advised by Professor Dale Jorgenson.
We are very proud of our award winners and wish them and all of our graduating seniors a very happy graduation and best of luck with the years ahead.