The Department of Economics Announces the 2024-25 Tobin Scholars

What’s been your favorite class so far?

My favorite class so far has been ECON 136 Econometrics because we built from seemingly scratch the theory behind causal analysis and then applied it to issues like how staggering students into tiered performance-based classes impacts their learning outcomes. Even more importantly, Professor Vytlacil is a great professor!

Are you doing a senior essay, and if yes, what’s the topic?

I am writing my senior essay on assessing farmers' competitive responses to grain market oligopsonies.

What activities have you been involved with at Yale?

I'm involved in Women in Economics and Yale's Handbells Ensemble. I'm also a huge fan of the Schwarzman Center events, so if there were a student group dedicated to attending those, I would be in it.

What’s been your favorite class so far?

My favorite class at Yale was the Global Financial Crisis taught by Professor Andrew Metrick. I was fascinated to learn the mechanics of the 2008 crisis and how regulators can build a more stable financial system. This class also inspired me to pursue a career in financial system regulation.

Are you doing a senior essay, and if yes, what’s the topic?

Yes! I am writing my senior essay on the Community Bank Leverage Ratio Framework (CBLR). The CBLR was a 2020 policy that allowed small banks to opt out of risk-weighted capital reporting to reduce the regulatory burden on the financial system. My project will examine whether banks that opted out engaged in riskier behavior when they were no longer subject to the same level of regulatory scrutiny.

What activities have you been involved with at Yale?

Outside of my academics, I am involved in Asian-ish, an affinity group for multicultural Asian students, Saybrook College Council, Yale Votes, and Women in Economics. I am also a peer mentor for the Economics department and have peer tutored for Introductory Macroeconomics and Intermediate Microeconomics.

What’s been your favorite class so far?

One class I greatly enjoyed was Games and Information with Professor Polak and Professor Zhou (ECON 160). Building on the famed course ECON 159 (which I think everyone should consider!) was an opportunity to relax assumptions made in the previous course and introduce new concepts such as marriage algorithms, gerrymandering, and auction design. As a joint Global Affairs major, both classes connect the two academic fields incredibly well.

Are you doing a senior essay, and if yes, what’s the topic?

My thesis aims to understand why Thailand has disproportionally benefited from the US-China trade war and the resulting export tariffs through three methods: 1) using CGE and gravity trade models to assess whether Thailand’s exports in key sectors showed different price elasticities to competitors nations; 2) analyzing WITS trade data to identify which bilateral partnerships and sectors benefited most from these tariffs; and 3) surveying key policymakers to incorporate qualitative insights into Thailand’s response strategy, with an eye toward predicting the future impact of US-China tariffs on Thailand’s economic growth.

What activities have you been involved with at Yale?

Throughout my four years, I have been involved in the Yale Spizzwinks(?) A Cappella group, the Students’ Association of Thais at Yale, Yale Global Strategy & Consulting Group, the International Students Organization, Yale Danceworks, and the Yale Buddhist Student Community – a fun smattering of different experiences.

What’s been your favorite class so far?

I have two: Behavioral Finance with Professor Barberis and Monetary Policy with Professor English. Behavioral Finance describes how certain irrational behaviors might explain market anomalies, using concepts from psychology to challenge the traditional explanations. Monetary Policy helped me understand how policymakers approach the difficult task of maintaining stable prices while also keeping employment healthy. Both Professor Barberis and Professor English do an amazing job of explaining complex concepts in a simple, engaging manner.

Are you doing a senior essay, and if yes, what’s the topic?

I'm writing a senior essay about how central bank communications differ across countries, and the potential effects of these differences on financial markets. The topic is motivated by the fact that how a central bank communicates a policy is often just as important as the policy itself.

What activities have you been involved with at Yale?

I am a member of Yale's Fed Challenge Team, which participates in a competition that involves analyzing macroeconomic conditions and presenting a monetary policy recommendation. I am also an ULA for Intermediate Machine Learning, a member of the Yale Undergraduate Piano Collective, and previously a writer for the Yale Daily News.