Kate Baggott – Page 25

Economics PhD Candidate Wins European Economic Association Award

November 20, 2023 By Kate Baggott

The European Economic Association, with the UniCredit Foundation, has awarded its Economics Job Market Best Paper Award to Guangbin Jeremy Hong. Hong is a student of the Department of Economics at the University of Toronto.

The award is open to all PhD candidates or graduates who plan to participate in the European Job Market for Economists in 2023-2024. Truly global in scope, the award is open to students of all nationalities enrolled at all universities. Of the ten papers recognized by the EEA’s Scientific Committee, Hong’s is the only one written at a Canadian university.

“I’ve had a lot of support from my committee and my colleagues here at UofT,” Hong said. “This award made me recognize just how many opportunities around the world my studies have offered me. It’s such an honour.”

The paper, Two-Sided Sorting of Workers and Firms: Implications for Spatial Inequality and Welfare, examines why both the best firms and the best workers choose to locate in big cities, a phenomenon Hong uses the term “co-locate” to describe. These location choices affect the aggregate productivity of the economy, and everyone’s economic well-being.

[Read more…]

Guangbin Jeremy Hong Wins Bank of Canada Award

November 7, 2023 By Kate Baggott

PhD Candidate Guangbin Jeremy Hong wrote the best Economics graduate student paper in Canada for 2023. That’s according to the Bank of Canada who gives the Graduate Student Research Paper Award to recognize promising graduate students in Economics or Finance.

“The Graduate Student Paper Award celebrates excellent research by students at universities in Canada, and Canadian students around the world. It recognizes research in areas that are of interest to the Bank and support its policy goals,” said BoC Deputy Governor Toni Gravelle. “And this year, we explored some fascinating ideas. The submissions covered a wide range of research areas, from spatial inequality to the clean energy transition to the at-times enigmatic behaviour of financial markets.”

The title of Hong’s award-winning paper is The Two-Sided Sorting of Workers and Firms: Implications for Spatial Inequality and Welfare.

“Jeremy’s job market paper studies how firms and workers co-locate across cities, and why it matters in terms of earnings inequality and location-based policies,” said Professor Kevin Lim, a member of Hong’s supervision committee. “The Bank of Canada has recognized that Guangbin Jeremy Hong’s scholarship is relevant and important to understanding economic conditions in Canada and around the world.”

Hong is in the final year of his PhD at the Department of Economics. The job market papers each doctoral candidate in the field produces is a chapter taken from their dissertations that highlights their original research, aptitudes, skills, and contributions to the literature.

“It’s so humbling to be recognized by the Bank of Canada for my job market paper,” said Hong. “My academic community here at the University of Toronto has helped me to grow as an economist and as a researcher and I would like to thank my supervision committee and my cohort of colleagues for their support.”

Award finalists are invited to a workshop at the Bank of Canada Annual Conference to engage with and receive feedback from a diverse group of researchers and policymakers.

“Members of the Department of Economics are thrilled that the Bank of Canada has recognized Guangbin Jeremy Hong’s paper. Discussion about where and why firms locate their operations, and where and why skilled workers live and work where they do, and its impact on everyone’s well-being, is central to understanding how the global economy now works, or should work,” said Professor Ettore Damiano, Department Chair. “Jeremy Hong’s research presents theory and empirical evidence which move this discussion forward.”

Return to the Department of Economics website.

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Forging a Path: Causal Inference and Data Science for Improved Policy

October 23, 2023 By Kate Baggott

The Forward Society (FOS) Lab, housed in the Department of Economics, is co-hosting its first inter-disciplinary event.

Bringing together social scientists, statistical scientists, computer scientists, and researchers who work in healthcare, education, and environmental sustainability, the workshop recognizes that we are in the midst of a rich and evolving data landscape. Statistical, econometric, and data science advancements all represent opportunities we can realize through collaboration between data scientists, experts in causal inference literature, and applied researchers.

The event will provide our diverse academic and research communities with the opportunity to strengthen connections between cutting-edge econometric tools and relevant economic questions addressing society’s’ most pressing concerns.

What: Forging a Path: Causal Inference and Data Science for Improved Policy

When: November 10-11, 2023

How: In-person

Where: Data Sciences Institute, 10th floor Seminar room, 700 University Ave, Toronto

Why: Our academic communities acknowledge the need for sound, evidence-based policies. The event features keynote speakers who understand the empirical contexts, objectives, and challenges faced by policymakers. The planned presentations, covering diverse areas of interest, all have a focus on the innovative methodologies that are largely untapped by applied research, their potential, and recent projects and publications that bring these nescient methodologies into the foreground.

Who? Keynote speakers include Alberto Abadie, Professor of Economics and Associate Director of the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society at MIT, and Elizabeth Halloran, Professor, Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, and Department of Biostatistics, University of Washington.

Co-sponsored with the Data Sciences Institute, the event is the result of a collaboration between Ismael Mourifié of the Department of Economics, Linbo Wang of the Departments of Statistical Sciences and of Computer Science, and FOS Co-Directors Gustavo Bobonis and Raji Jayaraman, both of the Department of Economics.

Click to register.

About the Forward Society Lab (FOS) :The Forward Society Lab (FOS) is a global lab that leverages data and state-of-the-art research methods to shine a light on the voices and experiences of marginalized people to help move society forward. FOS works in partnership with all levels of government, not-for-profits, NGOs, and social agencies to co-create, implement, and evaluate programs on a test scale to identify best practices and generate evidence to inform policies that improve lives. Housed in the Department of Economics, University of Toronto, FOS research affiliates develop their own international community partnerships and projects.

Considering an MA in Economics? Two Events for You

October 23, 2023 By Kate Baggott

Considering an MA in Economics? The MA in Economics program here at the University of Toronto is hosting an open house and you’re invited. We’re holding one virtual and one in-person event. Register below to join us.

MA Program Virtual Open House

When: November 10^th at 6PM ET

Where: Zoom

How: Register here.

MA Program In-Person Open House

November 17^th at 4PM ET

Where: TBD (register for updates)

How: Register here.

Why: Economic analysis expands how societies understand wealth, poverty, social privilege, and social justice. The Masters in Economics program here at the University of Toronto challenges students to grow their capacity to conduct economic analysis and their own understanding of how resources are allocated and their movement.

The MA program offers broad, research-focused training that goes beyond understanding finance. Students undergo rigourous training in economic data analysis, macroeconomics and public policy, industrial organization, international trade, labour, health, and development. Our faculty members are among the world’s leading experts in their fields, providing high-quality learning experience with exposure to cutting-edge research. University of Toronto’s excellent facilities include the best university library system in Canada. Students may also benefit from the close association of members of faculty with specialized institutes and centres at the University like the Centre for Industrial Relations.

The graduate teaching staff is so large and diverse that students can specialize in almost any area of interest. In addition to the courses offered by the Department, candidates may take courses in political science, management, history and other allied fields.

Graduates of the MA program have gained admission to top PhD programs and employment in both the public service and the private sector.

More questions? Come get your answers at one of the open houses.

Friendship and FinTech: MFE Grads Invest in Each Other

October 19, 2023 By Kate Baggott

FinTech startup OneVest raised $17 million in Series A funding this past June. The wealth management platform was co-founded in 2021 by MFE alumnus Jakob Pizzera, class of 2010, who serves as the company’s COO. Deloitte Ventures, itself launched in just January 2022, is one of OneVest’s investors. Its investment team is co-led by Managing Director Jay Crone, also a 2010 MFE alumnus.

Pizzera and Crone met 14 years ago during the math bootcamp the department runs every August for incoming MFE students. They have been the best of friends ever since.

“I have vivid memories of Jay and Jakob from their time in the program back in 2010,” said Professor Jordi Mondria, Director of the MFE program. “It’s inspiring to see them as MFE alumni who still embody the program’s core values – leadership, curiosity, drive, determination, and entrepreneurial spirit. They stand as exceptional role models for our current students.”

The friendship the two forged at UofT helped to solidify the additional co-founder-investor relationship they have now.

“We actually started talking to Deloitte Ventures, which was just getting started, before Jay joined the company,” Pizzera recalled, “but once he was in the position the fact that I knew what he was like, and how he works, made the deal easier to navigate.”

The friendship also benefitted Deloitte Ventures.

“Deloitte missed out on the opportunity to invest in OneVest during their first round of funding,” Crone said. “It was just a matter of having too many people who wanted to invest in the company, which is a good problem for a FinTech startup to have.”

Prior knowledge of the other helped the pair to take shortcuts during the getting to know you phase of most founder-investor relationships. They did not have to assess each other’s characters or build trust because they already had it. There were no shortcuts, however, in the due diligence process.

“There were certainly shortcuts during the early phase of discussions,” Pizzera recounted. “That is when VCs are most interested in the calibre of the team and their experience relative to the focus of the business and its model. It did make for a seamless transition into the deeper due diligence.”

It’s a perspective Crone shares. [Read more…]

Economics PhD Candidate Wins European Economic Association Award

Guangbin Jeremy Hong Wins Bank of Canada Award

Forging a Path: Causal Inference and Data Science for Improved Policy

Friendship and FinTech: MFE Grads Invest in Each Other

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