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Princeton University Library

Economics graduate student resources: home, relevant library (and auxiliary) services.

• Data Statistical Services Data and Statistical Services (DSS) provides data and statistical consulting. Gateway to the data collections at Princeton University, including crime, elections, public opinion, population, social, and economic data.
• Digital Map and GIS Center The Center provides access to geospatial data, digital map services and geographic information systems (GIS).
• Princeton Research Data Service Offers expert services and infrastructure needed to store, manage, retain, and curate digital research data, and to make research data available to the broader research community and to the public.
• Stokes - VizHub The Stokes Visualization Hub is a space and service that supports the interdisciplinary digital research and information visualization needs of the Princeton University community.
• Princeton Research Computing Services including system administration, programming, research software engineering, cloud computing and secure research infrastructure. Systems including clusters and large memory servers and data storage systems for data ranging from working data sets on our computational resources to persistent published data..
• General Library Resources for Graduate Students Guidelines for graduate students on library material access.

Literature Review

• Scopus This link opens in a new window International coverage of journal articles, selected web sites, and patents in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities; provides citation tracking for 1996+ (select coverage for earlier periods) and cited reference searches back to 1970. 1996+ more... less... Princeton's Institutional ID (needed for Papers software): 51401.
• Web of Science (ISI) This link opens in a new window Multidisciplinary index to journal literature in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities. Offers the option to find cited references, which are the authors lists of articles used in their research.  Journal coverage in the social sciences, arts, and humanities is not comprehensive.  Includes conference proceedings in the sciences and social sciences.
• EconLit This link opens in a new window Indexes international economic literature. Includes major journals, articles in collective volumes (essays, proceedings, etc.), books, full-text book reviews, dissertations, and working papers. 1886+
• World Economic Outlook This link opens in a new window Presents the IMF staff's analysis and projections of economic developments at the global level, in major country groups (classified by region, stage of development, etc.), and in many individual countries. Focuses on major economic policy issues as well as on the analysis of economic developments and prospects.
• ICPSR Bibliography of Data-Related Literature This link opens in a new window Citations of known published and unpublished works resulting from analyses of data held in the ICPSR archive.

Data Resources

• BNA Labor Plus This link opens in a new window This resource requires you to obtain a username and password prior to accessing the materials. Union data for elections, contracts, work stoppages, settlement summaries, and unfair labor practice charges. Primarily 1990s+. Includes the Daily Labor Report (December 2009+).
• CEIC This link opens in a new window Provides macroeconomic and financial time series data for many countries. Contains a wide range of data on topics including national accounts, government and public finance, demographic and labor markets, inflation, foreign trade, foreign direct investment, financial markets, and data on a variety of industry sectors. Includes subnational data for Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and Russia. Please logoff the database. We have 5 concurrent users. Additional help information can be found on their site . more... less... For off-campus use, connect to the campus network via SRA before utilizing this resource. It does not work with our standard EZproxy service. Please log off the database. We have 5 concurrent users.
• Sage Data (formerly Data-Planet Statistical Datasets) This link opens in a new window Provides easy access to a wide variety of economic, social, and political indicators. Includes IMF's International Financial Statistics, Direction of Trade (1980+), Balance of Payments, and Government Finance Statistics. Data is also accessible through Data-Planet Statistical Ready Reference .
• Data and Statistical Services (DSS) Data Catalog DSS maintains a catalog of microdata sources organized by topic and region.
• ICPSR (Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research) This link opens in a new window World's largest archive of digital social science data. more... less... Must register for an account in order to download data. Restricted to academic research by Princeton University faculty and students.
• ILOSTAT This link opens in a new window International Labour Office data for over 230 economies regarding labor and consumer prices. 1950+
• Roper iPoll Survey Database This link opens in a new window Largest collection of public opinion poll data, 1935-present. Contains more than 825,000 searchable questions and over 25,000 datasets from both U.S. and international polling organizations. Topics include social issues, politics, pop culture, international affairs, science, the environment, and much more. When available, results charts, demographic crosstabs, time-series trends, and full datasets are provided for immediate download. Registration is required but free using your Princeton email. Many of iPoll's international surveys are not searchable at the question level, but downloadable as full datasets. See also Roper's Featured Projects , including their Health Poll Database and Researching Black American opinion.
• IPUMS International Project dedicated to collecting and distributing census data from around the world.
• POLITICO Pro This link opens in a new window POLITICO Pro provides real-time policy reporting in agriculture, budget & appropriations, campaigns, cybersecurity, defense, education, eHealth, energy, financial services, health care, labor & employment, sustainability, tax, technology, trade, and transportation.
• GrayHair New Mover File Includes all historical consumer new mover records dating back to 2009. 2009 and 2010 data is quarterly. Afterwards, data is monthly. Includes consumer new mover records and those deemed undeliverable at the new address records. Includes all USA states, Puerto Rico and US territories.
• Lightcast Snowflake (formerly Burning Glass) Lightcast, formerly Burning Glass, data is available via a Snowflake Reader account. The tool includes a comprehensive US Job Postings dataset, as well as the Professional Profiles dataset. Users can perform research on the supply and demand for jobs and skills to identify emerging trends in the labor market as well as industry, occupational, skills, and employer-specific changes over time. Users may not publish or otherwise make available to any third party, any element of the Licensed Dataset. You can request a username and password for this resource from Charissa Jefferson .

Labor Economics Librarian

Economics & Finance Librarian/Data Services Librarian

Bobray Bordelon Economics, Finance, & Data Librarian [email protected]

• Last Updated: Apr 16, 2024 11:35 AM
• URL: https://libguides.princeton.edu/EconGrad

Markus K. Brunnermeier Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Economics

Markus K. Brunnermeier

Markus K. Brunnermeier  is the Edwards S. Sanford Professor in the economics department at Princeton University and director of Princeton's Bendheim Center for Finance. His research focuses on international financial markets and the macroeconomy with special emphasis on bubbles, liquidity, financial and monetary price stability, and digital money. In 2020, at the outbreak of Covid, he established a webinar series. 

Read full bio   CURRICULUM VITAE

A Crash Course on Crises

with Ricardo Reis

June 6, 2023

Intro chapter ( Link )

Teaching slides ( PDF , PowerPoint )

Endorsement by  Gita Gopinath, Greg Mankiw, Raghu Rajan, Ken Rogoff, ...

The Resilient Society

September 9, 2021

Intro chapters  of the book ( PDF )

Book launch  with Gillian Tett (FT) and Greg Ip (WSJ) moderated by Adam Posen (PIIE)

Endorsement by  Angus Deaton, Bob Shiller, Gilian Tett, Raj Chetty.

The Euro and the Battle of Ideas

with Harold James and Jean-Pierre Landau

September 13, 2016

Endorsement by  Ben Bernanke, Wolfgang Schäuble, Larry Summers, Jean Tirole, ...

News & Events

Research Program in Development Economics

Opportunities, predoctoral research fellows program.

The RPDE Predoctoral Research Fellows program is a two-year program at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs. This program is aimed at preparing individuals towards an academic career in development economics, public policy, or related disciplines. More information here . 

Development Economics Postdoctoral Fellows

RPDE’s Development Economics Postdoctoral Fellows Program offers the opportunity of joining RPDE for a year between completing a PhD and starting a faculty position. Fellows will use their year at Princeton to build their research portfolio and network, with support and mentorship from RPDE’s faculty. More information here . 

RPDE is currently not hiring for any positions. Please check back for more updates in Fall 2023. 

Owen Zidar Professor of Economics and Public Affairs

ECON 523 Graduate Public Finance I

This is the second quarter of the graduate public finance sequence.

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Exploring the Economics Program at Princeton University

By Eric Eng

Princeton University boasts one of the most highly regarded economics programs in the United States. With its extensive resources, world-class faculty, and rigorous curriculum, the program attracts top talent from around the world. In this article, we will take a deep dive into the various aspects of Princeton’s economics program, exploring its history, faculty, curriculum, and alumni success stories. We will also explore how the university supports students in pursuing successful careers in economics and examine the program’s goals for the future.

A Brief History of Princeton University’s Economics Program

The roots of Princeton’s economics program can be traced back to the early 20th century. In 1902, the university established the Department of Economics and Politics, which marked the beginning of a program that would grow to become one of the most distinguished in the country. Over the years, the department has undergone several changes and reconfigurations, finally emerging as the Economics Department, now housed in Julis Romo Rabinowitz Building.

In recent years, the Economics Department at Princeton has expanded its focus to include research on topics such as behavioral economics, environmental economics, and the economics of technology. The department has also increased its collaboration with other departments and centers within the university, such as the Bendheim Center for Finance and the Center for Health and Wellbeing. These efforts have helped to solidify Princeton’s position as a leader in the field of economics and continue to attract top scholars and students from around the world.

Princeton’s Economics Faculty: A Comprehensive Overview

Princeton’s economics program is fortunate to boast an internationally renowned faculty. Faculty members include Nobel laureates, MacArthur fellows, and members of the National Academy of Sciences. They are scholars who are among the best in their fields, both in research and teaching. The faculty members in the program also exhibit a strong commitment to mentorship, and they provide students with opportunities to get involved in their research or scholarship in a very collaborative environment.

One of the unique aspects of Princeton’s economics faculty is their interdisciplinary approach to research. Many faculty members collaborate with colleagues in other departments, such as psychology, sociology, and political science, to explore complex economic issues from multiple perspectives. This approach not only enriches their research but also provides students with a broader understanding of the interconnectedness of different fields of study.

Additionally, the faculty members in Princeton’s economics program are actively engaged in public policy debates and discussions. They frequently contribute to policy discussions at the local, national, and international levels, and their research often informs policy decisions. This engagement with real-world issues provides students with a valuable perspective on the practical applications of economic theory and research.

What Makes Princeton’s Economics Program Unique and Highly Regarded?

Several factors contribute to the unique and highly regarded reputation of Princeton’s economics program. For one, the program provides its undergraduate and graduate students with a broad and interdisciplinary education. The faculty is also highly supportive, with small class sizes and hands-on mentorship from faculty members who are leaders in their fields. Additionally, the university is located in a vibrant, intellectual community, allowing students to take full advantage of the resources around them.

Another factor that sets Princeton’s economics program apart is its emphasis on research. Students are encouraged to engage in independent research projects, and the program offers numerous opportunities for students to collaborate with faculty members on research initiatives. This not only provides students with valuable research experience, but also allows them to contribute to the field of economics in meaningful ways.

Furthermore, Princeton’s economics program has a strong focus on real-world applications of economic theory. Students are exposed to a variety of economic issues and challenges facing the world today, and are equipped with the tools and knowledge to address these issues in their future careers. This practical approach to economics education ensures that graduates of the program are well-prepared to make a positive impact in the world of economics and beyond.

Prospective Student’s Guide to Applying to Princeton’s Economics Program

For prospective students interested in pursuing an economics degree at Princeton , the application process is rigorous and competitive. To apply to the program, students must complete the Common Application and write a series of essays, including a statement of purpose and a response to a Princeton-specific essay prompt. In addition to this, applicants will need to have strong standardized test scores, grades, and recommendations from their high school teachers or guidance counselors.

It is important to note that Princeton’s economics program also values extracurricular activities and leadership experience. Applicants should highlight any relevant experiences in their application, such as participating in economics-related clubs or competitions, volunteering in their community, or holding leadership positions in school organizations. Additionally, the program encourages students to take challenging courses in math, statistics, and economics to demonstrate their academic preparedness for the program.

The Curriculum of Princeton’s Undergraduate Economics Program: An In-Depth Look

The undergraduate economics program at Princeton is designed to provide students with a broad and interdisciplinary education. The curriculum is organized around four broad themes: microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics, and specialized topics in economics. Students have the opportunity to personalize their degree by choosing from a range of electives and seminars. These courses include topics like behavioral economics, finance, and international trade.

Additionally, the economics program at Princeton offers students the opportunity to participate in research projects and internships. These experiences allow students to apply their knowledge in real-world settings and gain valuable skills and connections. The department also hosts various events and lectures throughout the year, featuring prominent economists and policymakers. These events provide students with the chance to engage with experts in the field and stay up-to-date on current economic issues.

Graduate Level Courses and Research Opportunities at Princeton’s Economics Department

Princeton’s graduate program in economics is internationally regarded as one of the best, and it prepares students for top positions in academia, government, and the private sector. The curriculum is rigorous, emphasizing analytical and quantitative skills, and includes coursework in microeconomic and macroeconomic theory, econometrics, and statistical analysis. Additionally, students conduct independent research in their specialized areas of interest, presenting their findings in workshops and conferences. The program also supports internships and research opportunities to facilitate post-graduation migrations into their respective fields.

Furthermore, Princeton’s Economics Department offers a wide range of research opportunities for graduate students. These opportunities include working with faculty members on ongoing research projects, collaborating with other graduate students on interdisciplinary research, and participating in research assistantships with external organizations. The department also hosts a number of research seminars and workshops throughout the year, providing students with the opportunity to engage with leading scholars in the field and to present their own research to a wider audience. These research opportunities not only enhance students’ academic and professional skills but also contribute to the advancement of economic knowledge and understanding.

Alumni Spotlight: Successful Graduates of Princeton’s Economics Program

The alumni of Princeton’s economics program are some of the most highly successful and respected economists in the world. Graduates have gone on to work at academic institutions, government agencies, and think tanks around the globe. For instance, the program boasts numerous Nobel laureates amongst its alumni, along with an impressive roster of renowned academic and business leaders.

One notable graduate of Princeton’s economics program is Janet Yellen, who earned her PhD in economics from the university in 1971. Yellen went on to become the Chair of the Federal Reserve, the first woman to hold the position in the organization’s history. Her work in monetary policy and macroeconomics has been widely recognized and praised, and she continues to be a prominent figure in the field.

The Role of Internships and Research Experience in Preparing Students for Post-Graduate Life

Princeton’s economics program is committed to providing students with opportunities to develop their research and professional skills. Internships and research experience help students to apply their classroom learning to the world beyond campus. Opportunities like internships and research opportunities provide essential experience for future job searches, giving students the necessary exposure into the job market before graduation. Alumni often boast of the impact of these experiences when searching for positions in academia, government, or the private sector after graduation.

Furthermore, internships and research experience also allow students to explore their interests and passions in a real-world setting. This can help students to make informed decisions about their career paths and future academic pursuits. Additionally, these experiences often provide students with valuable networking opportunities, allowing them to connect with professionals in their field and potentially open doors for future job opportunities. Overall, internships and research experience are crucial components of a well-rounded education, providing students with the skills, knowledge, and connections necessary for success in their post-graduate lives.

How Does Princeton University Support Students in Pursuing Careers in Economics?

Princeton University provides extensive support for students pursuing careers in economics. Resources such as the Career Services Center provide students with access to job postings, on-campus recruitment events, and career counseling. Students also have the opportunity to network with alumni and industry professionals through workshops, conferences, and seminars. Additionally, the university provides access to research resources and summer research funding.

Furthermore, Princeton University offers a variety of economics-related courses and programs to help students gain a deeper understanding of the field. These courses cover topics such as microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics, and financial economics. The university also offers a certificate program in finance, which provides students with a comprehensive understanding of financial markets and institutions.

Moreover, Princeton University has a strong reputation in the economics field, which can be beneficial for students seeking employment or graduate school opportunities. The university’s economics department is consistently ranked among the top in the country, and its faculty members are highly respected in the field. This reputation can open doors for students and provide them with valuable connections and opportunities.

The Future of the Economics Program at Princeton: Goals and Aspirations

Looking to the future, the economics program at Princeton has several goals and aspirations. One is to continue expanding the program’s interdisciplinary approach, allowing it to become a leader in emerging fields like behavioral economics and big data analysis. Additionally, the program seeks to create a more inclusive and diverse community of faculty and students while enhancing opportunities for research collaboration and engagement with the wider world.

As we’ve explored in this article, Princeton’s economics program is among the most highly regarded and well-respected in the world. Its rigorous curriculum, talented faculty, and supportive community provide students with a rich and challenging academic experience that prepares them for successful careers in the field of their choosing. Students leave the program with a network of distinguished alumni, a deep understanding of economic theory and analysis, and the skills and experience necessary to thrive in an ever-changing economic landscape.

Furthermore, the economics program at Princeton is committed to staying at the forefront of technological advancements in the field. The program plans to invest in cutting-edge research tools and software, as well as provide students with opportunities to gain hands-on experience with these tools. This will enable students to develop the skills necessary to analyze complex economic data and make informed decisions in real-world scenarios.

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PhD Candidate in Economics

Princeton University

I am a PhD candidate in Economics at Princeton University (anticipated graduation in Spring 2024) with research interests in the industrial organization of health markets and econometrics. My advisor is Kate Ho, and my other references are Alessandro Lizzeri and Ulrich Müller.

In 2024-25, I will be a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania. I will join the Department of Economics at Cornell University as an Assistant Professor in Fall 2025.

Before starting graduate school, I received a BS in mathematics with a specialization in economics from the University of Chicago in 2017 and was a Stanford Law Empirical Research Fellow under John Donohue III between 2017 and 2018.

• Industrial organization
• Health economics
• Econometrics

PhD in Economics, 2024 (Expected)

MS in Economics, 2020

BS in Mathematics with a Specialization in Economics, 2018

University of Chicago

Publications

Doubly-valid/doubly-sharp sensitivity analysis for causal inference with unmeasured confounding.

We propose semiparametric average treatment effect (ATE) bounds estimators with novel robustness properties: double sharpness and double validity.

B-Learner: Quasi-Oracle Bounds on Heterogeneous Causal Effects Under Hidden Confounding

We propose a meta-learner for conditional average treatment effect (CATE) bounds that can efficiently estimate sharp bounds.

Sharp Sensitivity Analysis for Inverse Propensity Weighting via Quantile Balancing

We provide sharp bounds for an existing sensitivity analysis that are valid under minimal conditions and sharp given a consistent quantile regression estimate.

Working Papers

Dynamic bargaining between hospitals and insurers (job market paper).

The large literature on vertical market bargaining assumes contracts last for one period, but actual hospital-insurer contracts last for multiple years and are negotiated as a multiple of a benchmark price that changes over time. I study dynamic regulations to those benchmark prices by extending the existing single-period approach to vertical market bargaining to enable contracts that are formed at different times.

Six Stylized Facts From Ten Years of Vertical Market Contract Data

I investigate vertical market contract dynamics by documenting and analyzing a novel panel dataset of hospital–insurer contracts in West Virginia. The largest insurer typically formed three- and five-year contracts. In contrast, smaller insurers generally formed long-lived contracts with faster price growth. By documenting a unique dataset and stark dynamic implications, this research contributes to a larger understanding of vertical market dynamics and helps set the stage for future work.

Sensitivity Analysis for Linear Estimators

We extend Dorn and Guo (2022)’s characterization of bounds for Tan’s marginal sensitivity model to considerably more general assumptions and estimands.

Work in Progress

Why are share of charges contracts long-lived.

I study auto-renew share of charges contracts, which are associated with small insurers paying high prices to American hospitals. I demonstrate that under certain conditions, these contracts can lead to Pareto improvements. The key feature of these contracts is the renewal process, which enables the insurers to discipline hospital charges with the threat of contract termination and renegotiation.

How Much Overlap Failure Can Doubly-Robust T-Statistics Handle?

We show that the Augmented IPW estimator’s simple t-statistics can remain well-calibrated even when strict overlap fails and there are many propensities near zero.

ECO 332: Economics of Health and Health Care

In-person: Spring 2022 (Preceptor)

Senior Thesis Assistant

In-person: Spring 2021

MATH 131-133: Elem Functions and Calculus

In-person: Fall 2014-Spring 2015 (Tutor)

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Markus Brunnermeier Delivers 2023-24 Keynes Lecture

Keynes Lecture

At the University of Cambridge on Friday, May 10, Professor Markus Brunnermeier delivered the 2023-2024 Keynes Lecture . The lecture is an annual event in support of the Keynes Fund. His presentation covered “The International Monetary System and Safe Assets.”

In his lecture, Brunnermeier discusses the attributes of safe assets and their role and impact within the international monetary system. The presentation also considers whether the international monetary system is inherently distortional. Watch Brunnermeier’s full lecture on YouTube .

About the Keynes Fund Lecture

The Keynes Fund through the Department of Economics at the University of Cambridge, established in 2012, promotes innovative and path breaking quality research in economics and finance. A key part of the Faculty of Economics, it provides resources for early stage researchers as well as for established academics in Cambridge, with a special emphasis on understanding key distortions that affect market allocations and create inefficiencies, and on finding policy solutions to correct such inefficiencies.

So far, more than  60 research projects have received about two million pounds in total. Research funded by the Keynes Fund has appeared in top peer reviewed journals  such as the Economic Journal, the Journal of the European Economic Association, Journal of Public Economics, the Journal of the American Statistical Association, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Professor Claudia Goldin awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2023

Undergraduate

The large number of professors and their diverse interests enable a student to study virtually any area of economics.  The extraordinary quality of Harvard undergraduates makes the classroom environment stimulating for teacher and student alike.

Supported by a diverse group of faculty who are top researchers in their fields and fueled by a vast array of resources, the PhD program is structured to train and nurture students to become leading economists in academia, government agencies, the technology industry, finance and banking, and global policy organizations.

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The Department of Economics is part of the larger academe of teaching and research at Harvard University.

Faculty Spotlight

Harvard undergraduate and graduate students are the finest in the world and are the lifeblood of the department. Every year we get a new group that challenges me to the utmost. I thrive on it.

Claudia Goldin

Henry lee professor of economics, news and events, professor david cutler awarded the 2024 william b. graham prize for health services research.

Professor David Cutler , Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics, was awarded this year's William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research.  This award is granted to "an individual who has significantly increased the quality of or access to health service delivery worldwide through the development of insights and innovations that have (a) eliminated barriers to the education and prevention of noncommunicable diseases; (b) highlighted the...

Senior Economics Winners Announced

Senior prize winners (l to r): hemanth asirvatham, aden barton, sara moore, jay garg.

Kunal Sangani awarded Padma Desai Prize

Econ 3012 student graduate workshop in labor economics and public economics, location: .

James Stratton (Harvard University)

Jennifer Walsh (Harvard University)

Contact:  Ursula Ferraro /  [email protected] Directions to  Littauer Center

ECON 3012 Graduate Student Workshop in Labor Economics and Public Economics

Stephanie Kestelman (Harvard University)

Fiona Chen (Harvard University)... Read more about ECON 3012 Graduate Student Workshop in Labor Economics and Public Economics

Sahil Chinoy (Harvard University)

Martin Koenen (Harvard University)... Read more about ECON 3012 Graduate Student Workshop in Labor Economics and Public Economics

Fields of Study

The study of the application of using hypothetical quantitative economic models.

Political Economy

The study of production and trade and their relations with law, custom and government; and with the distribution of national income and wealth.

Econometrics

The study of developing and using statistical and mathematical tools to analyze economic issues and policy questions.

Macroeconomics

The study of the national economy and the determinants of national production, unemployment, and inflation.

Economic History

The study of how economies and economic outcomes have changed over history and how economic institutions have developed. 

International Economics

The study of the effects upon economic activity from international differences in productive resources and consumer preferences and the international institutions that affect them. 

Behavioral Economics

The study of the cognitive and emotional dimensions of economic decisions.

Labor Economics

The study of employers’ decisions to hire workers and employees’ decisions to work. This involves determinants of wages, the incentives workers face, and the role of minimum wage laws, unions, pensions, and training programs. 

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Make your mark at Princeton.

The Princeton Graduate School welcomes applicants who are seeking to reimagine what’s possible in their fields. Global in scope, yet intimate enough to foster new, cross-disciplinary connections, we believe that the power to shape what’s next begins with you.

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Spotlights & recognition.

Princeton’s newest Ph.D. and master’s degree recipients were honored May 27 at the 2024 Hooding and Recognition Ceremony for completing their advanced degrees during this past academic year. Because of the rain, graduates gathered indoors at Jadwin Gym, where they were surrounded by family, mentors and loved ones.

Board approves 14 new faculty appointments

Photo by Danielle Capparella, Office of Communications

The Princeton University Board of Trustees has approved the appointment of 14 faculty members, including two full professors, two associate professors and 10 assistant professors.

Ayşegül Şahin, in economics and public affairs, specializes in empirical macroeconomics. Her appointment is effective July 1, 2025.

Şahin has taught since 2018 at the University of Texas at Austin as the Richard J. Gonzalez Regents Chair in Economics. Prior to that, she was a research economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 2004 to 2018. She began her academic career as an assistant professor at Purdue University from 2002 to 2004.

Şahin is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and serves on the Economic Advisory Panel to the Congressional Budget Office, in addition to advisory roles at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Carnegie-Rochester-NYU conference and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, among others.

Her work focuses on topics that include unemployment, labor force participation, entrepreneurship and inflation. Her research on macro-labor issues has received grants from the National Science Foundation and the Smith Richardson Foundation.

Şahin is the editor of the American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, having served as co-editor since 2020; she is the author of dozens of papers in journals including the American Economic Review, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, and the Journal of Monetary Economics. She has presented at numerous conferences and taught seminars at institutions around the world.

Şahin  earned a Ph.D. and an M.A. from the University of Rochester, as well as a B.S. and M.S. from Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey.

Guillermo Sapiro, in electrical and computer engineering, specializes in image processing and smart healthcare. His appointment is effective Sept. 1.

Sapiro comes to Princeton from Duke University, where he has taught since 2012, most recently as the James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a faculty member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences.

Prior to that he held multiple appointments, including two endowed professorships, at the University of Minnesota, where he taught from 1997 to 2012. He worked on the technical staff at  Hewlett Packard Labs from 1994 to 1997.

Sapiro is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and a fellow of IEEE and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). His academic honors include a National Science Foundation Career Award and a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientist and Engineers.

His research interests include computer vision, machine learning, computational vision and biomedical imaging, among others. His industry engagements include work as a Microsoft data science investigator and as a distinguished engineer with Apple, where he leads the Health AI initiative. He is the co-founder of Surgical Information Sciences.

Sapiro has authored more than 500 journals and book chapters in addition to his book, “Geometric Partial Differential Equations and Image Analysis,” (Cambridge University Press, 2001). He holds 13 patents. He was founding editor-in-chief of the SIAM Journal on Imaging Sciences.

He earned a Ph.D. and B.S. from the Israel Institute of Technology.

Associate professor

Gerald Carter, in ecology and evolutionary biology, specializes in ecology. His appointment is effective Sept. 1.

Carter comes to Princeton from Ohio State University, where he has taught since 2023, most recently as an associate professor.

He earned a B.S. from Cornell University, an M.S. from the University of Western Ontario, and a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland.

Kirstin Valdez Quade, in creative writing in the Lewis Center for the Arts, specializes in creative writing. Quade returns to Princeton, where she taught from 2016 to 2023, after teaching at Stanford University for the 2023-24 academic year. Her appointment is effective July 1.

Quade is the author of the novel “The Five Wounds,” winner of the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize and the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She is the recipient of a 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship in fiction.

She earned a B.A. from Stanford University and an M.F.A. from the University of Oregon.

Assistant professor

Bjoern Bringmann, in mathematics, joins the faculty in August. Bringmann specializes in partial differential equations and probability theory and holds a Ph.D. from the University of California-Berkeley, an M.S. from the Technical University of Munich, and a B.S. from the University of Münster. He has been a member or visitor of the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study from 2021 to 2024.

Michael Brinley, in history, joins the faculty in September. Brinley specializes in Soviet and post-Soviet history. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.A. from the University of Washington, and a B.A. from Pepperdine University.

Amelia Frank-Vitale, in anthropology and international affairs, joins the faculty in July. Frank-Vitale specializes in Latino studies and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, an M.A. from American University, and a B.A. from Yale University.

Marc Auréle Gilles, in mathematics, joins the faculty in September. Gilles specializes in numerical linear algebra and computational imaging and holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University and a B.A. from Rutgers University.

Susanna V. Haziot, in mathematics, joins the faculty in September. Haziot specializes in nonlinear partial differential equations and comes to Princeton from Brown University, where she has been an assistant professor since 2021. She holds a Ph.D. and an M.S. from the University of Vienna and a B.A. from Northwestern University.

Marcus Lee, in African American studies, joins the faculty in July 2025. Lee specializes in gender and sexuality studies and American politics, and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and a B.A. from Morehouse College. Lee has been a lecturer at Princeton since 2022.

Nicholas Rolle, in linguistics in the Council of the Humanities, joins the faculty in July. Rolle specializes in phonology and morphology, and holds a Ph.D. from the University of California-Berkeley and an M.A. and B.A. from the University of Toronto.

Tom Silver, in electrical and computer engineering, joins the faculty in September 2025. Silver specializes in learning and abstractions for robot planning and has a Ph.D. and S.M. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an A.B. from Harvard University.

Julien Stout, in French and Italian, joins the faculty in July. Stout, who specializes in medieval French literature and culture, has a Ph.D. and B.A. from the University of Montreal and an M.A. from McGill University.

Lilia S. Xie, in chemistry and the Princeton Materials Institute, joins the faculty in January 2025. Xie specializes in materials chemistry and holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. from Princeton.

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All the Highlights from Class Day 2024

It was with great pleasure that friends and family members of the Class of 2024 gathered in McCosh Hall on Monday, May 27th for the Economics Department’s annual Class Day celebration.

At the beginning of the ceremony, Economics Department Chair Wolfgang Pesendorfer recognized the many challenges this year’s graduating class overcame when their journey at Princeton began in 2020. 

“Your high school senior year was profoundly disrupted and many of you missed out on your high school graduation ceremonies,” Pesendorfer noted. “Your time at Princeton started out most inauspiciously: First only virtual, then mostly confined to your dorm rooms. I am sure this was not the college experience you had envisioned for yourselves.”

“But here you are, having navigated those challenges with resilience and determination. Congratulations.”

Here’s a quick look at some of the biggest moments from this year’s Class Day celebration.

Shirley Ren awarded the Halbert White ’72 Prize in Economics

Shirley Ren receives the Halbert White ’72 Prize in Economics and the Wolf Balleisen Memorial Prize for the best thesis on an economics subject.

This year’s Halbert White ‘72 Prize in Economics–awarded annually to the department’s top student as evidenced by excellence in department coursework and creativity in their Junior Paper and Senior Thesis–went to Shirley Ren.

In addition to majoring in economics, Ren, whose thesis was titled “ An Asset Demand Approach to Studying Recent Trends in Chinese Equity Markets,” also earned certificates in Finance, Statistics and Machine Learning, Applied and Computational Mathematics, Political Economy, and East Asian Studies.

The 2024 Senior Thesis Prize winners

Every year, the department recognizes students whose Senior Thesis projects exemplify quality, creativity, and academic rigor.

The John Glover Wilson Memorial Award for the best thesis on international economics or politics was awarded to Antek Hasiura for their thesis titled “Currency Crises in the Age of Decentralized Finance.”

The Walter C. Sauer ’28 Prize, awarded annually to the student whose thesis or research project on any aspect of United States foreign trade is judged to be the most creative, was awarded to Dickson Bowman for their thesis titled “An Analysis of the Cross-Border Effects of Mexican President Felipe Calderón’s Cartel Kingpin Strategy.”

The Griswold Center for Economic Policy Studies Prizes, awarded to the best policy-relevant theses, were given to:

• Jampel Dorjee for their thesis titled “How the Rich Stay Rich: Intergenerational Wealth Transfer in the British Aristocracy, 1860-2022.”
• Joe Fast for their thesis titled “The Effect of the Minimum Wage on Disability Insurance Recipients.”
• Samantha Lee for their thesis titled “The Effects of Market Exclusivity Loss on Medication Utilization Dynamics: A Comparative Analysis of Cardiovascular and Psychotherapeutic Drugs.”
• Tucker Saland for their thesis titled “Climate Value at Risk: A Model Calibration Approach to Green Financing, Environmental Taxes, and Climate Change.” 
• Aaron Ventresca for their thesis titled “The Effect of the Tax Cuts and Job Acts of 2017 on Private Charitable Giving.”

The Burton G. Malkiel *64 Senior Thesis Prizes in Finance were awarded to:

• Ben Cai for their thesis titled “Examining Changes in Individual Payment Choice Behavior.”
• Bofan Ji for their thesis titled “Liquidity Regime Unveiled: Integrating Liquidity Measures Through Gaussian Mixture-Driven Hidden Markov Models.”

The Elizabeth Bogan Prize in Economics , awarded annually for the best thesis or theses in health, education or welfare, was awarded to Maya Satchell for their thesis titled “The Private Market Meets Affordable Housing: Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Properties Improve Low-Income Neighborhoods with Minimal Effects on High-Income Neighborhoods.”

The Daniel I. Rubinfeld ’67 Prizes in Empirical Economics , awarded for the best theses in empirical economics, were given to:

• John Mulunda for their thesis titled “Less Money, More Problems: An Analysis of U.S. Public Pension Plans’ Funded Ratio, Asset Allocation, and Investment Returns from 2001-2022.”
• Michael Zhou for their thesis titled “A Factor Model for Correlation Risk Premium Returns.”

Finally, the Wolf Balleisen Memorial Prize for the best thesis on an economics subject written by an economics major went to Shirley Ren for their thesis titled “An Asset Demand Approach to Studying Recent Trends in Chinese Equity Markets.”

Expressing gratitude for our outstanding graduate student preceptors and faculty advisers

During this year’s Class Day ceremony, Pesendorfoer also recognized six graduate students for going above and beyond as preceptors. The winners of this year’s Graduate Student Teaching Prizes were Narek Alexanian , Dexin Li , Carol Shou , Rafael Schwalb , Jesse Silbert , and So Hye Yoon .

Professors Mikkel Plagborg-Møller and Kelly Noonan were each awarded the Harvey Rosen Teaching Prize for their outstanding contributions to undergraduate education, and Assistant Professor Karthik Sastry was recognized for his commitment to undergraduate advising.

“He pushed me to think deeper about development economics and the many moving parts that go into implementing a large-scale policy,” one student said of Sastry’s efforts. 

“He provides thoughtful and helpful advice and comments, and never once made me feel rushed.”

Recognizing campus-wide contributions and the department’s all-star student athletes

Finally, Pesendorfer gave special recognition to several students whose contributions to Princeton extended far beyond the department. 

Pesendorfer recognized Stephen Daniels , who was one of eight seniors, out of 180 nominations, to win the 2024 Spirit of Princeton award for his service and contributions to campus life. He also recognized Sydney Eck , who was one of three undergraduates this year to win the Princeton Research Day Orange and Black Award. Eck won the award for her Junior and Senior Independent Work, which focused on health economics in India and China. 

Pesendorfer also recognized many of the department’s student athletes, whose achievements made the entire university proud. Those students include: 

• Cate Bade and the women’s softball team won the Ivy League tournament, the post-season tournament and advanced to the NCAA.  
• Tommy Barnds and Pace Billings, as a part of the men’s lacrosse team, won the Ivy League post-season tournament and advanced to the NCAA.
• William Cauley and Joe Fast were Ivy League champions in men’s track and field.
• Alastair Cho was an Ivy League champion for men’s squash.
• Christian Hartch and the men’s water polo team made it to the final four of the NCAA championship. 
• Ellie Mitchell and the women’s basketball team were Ivy League champions, winning the post-season tournament and advancing to the NCAA. 
• Samantha DeVito , Ellie Mueller , and Grace Tauckus , as part of the women’s lacrosse team, made it to the second round of the NCAA.
• Jen Estes and Marissa Hart , as part of the women’s soccer team, also made it to the second round of the NCAA. 
• Ben Harrington and the men’s volleyball team made it to the quarterfinals of the EIVA tournament.
• Mariachiara (Kikka) Giudici competed with the women’s openweight crew team, which ranked third nationally.

Congratulations to the incredible Class of 2024! We can’t wait to see everything you achieve in the years ahead.

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Department of African American Studies

Board approves 14 new faculty appointments

The Princeton University Board of Trustees has approved the appointment of 14 faculty members, including two full professors, two associate professors and 10 assistant professors.

Ayşegül Şahin, in economics and public affairs, specializes in empirical macroeconomics. Her appointment is effective July 1, 2025.

Şahin has taught since 2018 at the University of Texas at Austin as the Richard J. Gonzalez Regents Chair in Economics. Prior to that, she was a research economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 2004 to 2018. She began her academic career as an assistant professor at Purdue University from 2002 to 2004.

Şahin is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and serves on the Economic Advisory Panel to the Congressional Budget Office, in addition to advisory roles at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Carnegie-Rochester-NYU conference and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, among others.

Her work focuses on topics that include unemployment, labor force participation, entrepreneurship and inflation. Her research on macro-labor issues has received grants from the National Science Foundation and the Smith Richardson Foundation.

Şahin is the editor of the American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, having served as co-editor since 2020; she is the author of dozens of papers in journals including the American Economic Review, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, and the Journal of Monetary Economics. She has presented at numerous conferences and taught seminars at institutions around the world.

Şahin earned a Ph.D. and an M.A. from the University of Rochester, as well as a B.S. and M.S. from Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey.

Guillermo Sapiro, in electrical and computer engineering, specializes in image processing and smart healthcare. His appointment is effective Sept. 1.

Sapiro comes to Princeton from Duke University, where he has taught since 2012, most recently as the James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a faculty member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences.

Prior to that he held multiple appointments, including two endowed professorships, at the University of Minnesota, where he taught from 1997 to 2012. He worked on the technical staff at Hewlett Packard Labs from 1994 to 1997.

Sapiro is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and a fellow of IEEE and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). His academic honors include a National Science Foundation Career Award and a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientist and Engineers.

His research interests include computer vision, machine learning, computational vision and biomedical imaging, among others. His industry engagements include work as a Microsoft data science investigator and as a distinguished engineer with Apple, where he leads the Health AI initiative. He is the co-founder of Surgical Information Sciences.

Sapiro has authored more than 500 journals and book chapters in addition to his book, “Geometric Partial Differential Equations and Image Analysis,” (Cambridge University Press, 2001). He holds 13 patents. He was founding editor-in-chief of the SIAM Journal on Imaging Sciences.

He earned a Ph.D. and B.S. from the Israel Institute of Technology.

Associate professor

Gerald Carter, in ecology and evolutionary biology, specializes in ecology. His appointment is effective Sept. 1.

Carter comes to Princeton from Ohio State University, where he has taught since 2023, most recently as an associate professor.

He earned a B.S. from Cornell University, an M.S. from the University of Western Ontario, and a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland.

Kirstin Valdez Quade, in creative writing in the Lewis Center for the Arts, specializes in creative writing. Quade returns to Princeton, where she taught from 2016 to 2023, after teaching at Stanford University for the 2023-24 academic year. Her appointment is effective July 1.

Quade is the author of the novel “The Five Wounds,” winner of the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize and the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She is the recipient of a 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship in fiction.

She earned a B.A. from Stanford University and an M.F.A. from the University of Oregon.

Assistant professor

Bjoern Bringmann, in mathematics, joins the faculty in August. Bringmann specializes in partial differential equations and probability theory and holds a Ph.D. from the University of California-Berkeley, an M.S. from the Technical University of Munich, and a B.S. from the University of Münster. He has been a member or visitor of the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study from 2021 to 2024.

Michael Brinley, in history, joins the faculty in September. Brinley specializes in Soviet and post-Soviet history. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.A. from the University of Washington, and a B.A. from Pepperdine University.

Amelia Frank-Vitale, in anthropology and international affairs, joins the faculty in July. Frank-Vitale specializes in Latino studies and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, an M.A. from American University, and a B.A. from Yale University.

Marc Auréle Gilles, in mathematics, joins the faculty in September. Gilles specializes in numerical linear algebra and computational imaging and holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University and a B.A. from Rutgers University.

Susanna V. Haziot, in mathematics, joins the faculty in September. Haziot specializes in nonlinear partial differential equations and comes to Princeton from Brown University, where she has been an assistant professor since 2021. She holds a Ph.D. and an M.S. from the University of Vienna and a B.A. from Northwestern University.

Marcus Lee, in African American studies, joins the faculty in July 2025. Lee specializes in gender and sexuality studies and American politics, and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and a B.A. from Morehouse College. Lee has been a lecturer at Princeton since 2022.

Nicholas Rolle, in linguistics in the Council of the Humanities, joins the faculty in July. Rolle specializes in phonology and morphology, and holds a Ph.D. from the University of California-Berkeley and an M.A. and B.A. from the University of Toronto.

Tom Silver, in electrical and computer engineering, joins the faculty in September 2025. Silver specializes in learning and abstractions for robot planning and has a Ph.D. and S.M. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an A.B. from Harvard University.

Julien Stout, in French and Italian, joins the faculty in July. Stout, who specializes in medieval French literature and culture, has a Ph.D. and B.A. from the University of Montreal and an M.A. from McGill University.

Lilia S. Xie, in chemistry and the Princeton Materials Institute, joins the faculty in January 2025. Xie specializes in materials chemistry and holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. from Princeton.

Department of Economics

Ying chen is the new vice dean for graduate education.

Ying Chen, Associate Professor of Economics, has been appointed the Vice Dean for Graduate Education at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, effective July 1, 2024. Professor Chen is an economic theorist interested in bargaining, strategic communication, agenda setting, and information acquisition. Her work explores how institutional and political constraints shape the evolution of economic policy.

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Dean's Convocation medalist lands her dream job with the International Monetary Fund

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Convocation

Dr. Marieh Azizirad, who completed her PhD in economics at Simon Fraser University (SFU) last summer, is thrilled to be starting a position as an economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, DC.

She is also being recognized with a 2024  Dean of Graduate Studies Convocation Medal awarded to graduating students whose cumulative grade-point averages place them in the top five percent of their class.

Growing up as one of seven siblings in Mahabad in the northwest of Iran, Azizirad says she always enjoyed school and was a good student, often at the top of her class.

Her first job as an economist at the Monetary and Banking Research Institute with the Central Bank of Iran gave her enough of a taste to know she loved the work, but she wanted to go further. She knew her career aspirations required an advanced degree, so she started looking at PhD programs abroad.

Azizirad received offers from several graduate programs but ultimately chose SFU’s Department of Economics because she was impressed by the research caliber of its macroeconomics research faculty. She was drawn to macroeconomics because it examines how the economy affects every aspect of our lives, and she liked how the field of study helps her better understand the world.  

While completing her doctoral degree, Azizirad took her time deciding whether she wanted to focus on policy or academia. In the end, she chose to focus on policy because it felt more tangible to her. She also attributed her decision to her preference for working in large collaborative teams and seeing results more quickly than in academia. As Azizirad puts it, “I’m a results-driven person.”

Azizirad says, “During my PhD I worked hard, often on the weekends too. I worked hard because I knew what I wanted and to get the results I needed to put in the work. The result is the career that I have now.”

Landing her dream job was not easy. Azizirad went through multiple rounds of interviews, each with its own challenges and requirements. “My interest, my ambition, my hard work, and my prior experience helped a lot,” she says.

 “Work hard, work smart, and make your decisions as soon as possible."

For students aspiring to achieve similar success, Azizirad says, “Work hard, work smart, and make your decisions as soon as possible. Knowing what you want to get out of your PhD journey will guide you on what to focus on in your research and how to do your research. This in turn will determine what you do later on.”

She also explains she worked hard to build the basics in her studies. With a solid grasp of the basics, the subsequent learning was more enjoyable.

“If you set a goal and you do your best, you’re already successful,” Azizirad says.

She is profoundly grateful for her time in SFU’s Department of Economics and would particularly like to thank her supervisor  Lucas Herrenbrueck  as well as professors Bertille Antoine and Luba Petersen for their support. 

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