Grad Student Highlights from Our Ph . D . and MEECON Programs
Ph . D . Program
Daniel Prudencio is a Ph . D . candidate in our department who is planning to graduate in May 2021 . He has recently accepted a position as an assistant professor in the economics department at Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico City , where he will be teaching classes on industrial organization and development economics in the fall of 2021 .
Daniel ’ s research focuses on the economics of education , and on the intersection of applied industrial organization and development economics . In the latter area , he uses tools usually related to industrial organization and labor economics , such as procurement auction models and discrete choice models , to answer questions often posed in development economics . For example , he has studied how local governments in Mexico allocate street pavement contracts when they exercise greater discretion over the hiring practices of the firms that bid on the contracts . He analyzes a novel approach to monitoring and oversight that involves indirectly estimating the cost profile of the firms competing for public contracts . He finds that local governments choose firms well in terms of minimizing costs to the governments for complex pavement contracts , but that for simpler projects , which represent the vast majority of contracts , firm selection is significantly suboptimal . Regarding education , his research focuses on the importance of socio-emotional skills in child development , the development of students ’ educational choices and aspirations , and the impact of the international child sponsorship program , Compassion International , on educational outcomes .
Kerda Varaku is also a Ph . D . candidate in Economics graduating this spring . Her research interests are in financial econometrics , microeconometrics and causal inference with machine learning , especially data analytics and artificial intelligence . After graduation , she will be joining KPMG as a Senior Associate in their Economic and Valuation Services practice , where her work will focus on providing both private and public sector clients with economic and statistical insights using advanced mathematical and computational models .
Kerda ’ s dissertation research uses European firm-level data to explore the effects of public subsidies to firms ’ research and development ( R & D ) inputs and outputs . In order to promote economic growth , many governments attempt to stimulate R & D through direct funding or tax breaks , designed to offset market imperfections that result in private R & D levels below socially optimal levels . Since such interventions are costly , it is crucial to precisely measure their effects . The current literature on this issue is inconclusive and suffers from various serious econometric limitations involving model misspecification bias , non-tractability for high dimension data sets , and endogeneity bias . Kerda employs recently developed sophisticated methods that resolve these issues – specifically , double machine learning with deep neural networks , a method that allows learning of the unknown underlying model from the data , is tractable for high dimensional datasets , and is able to deal with the endogeneity bias . Her results show that current public policies in the EU promoting R & D stimulate both R & D inputs and outputs .
MEECON Program
The MEECON Program faculty and staff were excited to hear that Umer Shahryar (’ 16 ), a graduate of our first class , has taken the position of Petroleum Economist at Ministry of Energy ( Petroleum Division ) Policy Wing , Government of Pakistan . Umer worked with Presson Descon International Ltd . as the Head of Oil and Gas Business Development after he graduated , and then moved on to Chuanqing Drilling Engineering Company as a Management Consultant before taking his most recent position .
Luka Vukomanovic (’ 18 ) who started working at Stratas Advisors as an Oil Markets Analyst in the Houston and Singapore offices after graduating , is now working at McKinsey & Company in Houston as a Capability and Insights Analyst .
Lastly , we are excited that some of our current students have secured great opportunities before graduating this August . Emmanuel Castro (’ 21 ) has taken a position at Power Advocate . Mitch Holcomb (’ 21 ) was selected to join Trafigura ’ s prestigious Graduate Development Program after graduation .
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