University of Pittsburgh

Graduate

Job Placement for Graduate Students

The market for economists remains strong: universities, colleges, business firms, international organizations, and government agencies have numerous openings, and graduates of high-quality PhD programs have no difficulty in finding rewarding positions that pay well.

The University of Pittsburgh Department of Economics assists its PhD candidates in finding appropriate positions by circulating its candidates' credentials to well over a thousand employers of PhD-level economists, by advising students at every step of the job hunting process (i.e., application procedures, interviews, presentation of research seminars, negotiations, and decisions), and by urging particular employers to consider qualified Pitt students. Each year an established member of the senior faculty serves as a graduate placement officer to coordinate the process and help all students. Furthermore, individual faculty members in the student's field (including the primary dissertation advisor) tend to offer extensive personal help.

During recent years, Pitt students have accepted academic positions at Aarhus University, Carnegie-Mellon University, McGill University, Queens University, University of Michigan and University of Minnesota, and Stanford University, among others. Nonacademic positions have been accepted at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the International Trade Commission, the International Monetary Fund, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the World Bank. Many foreign students return to their native countries and take important public, private, and university positions.

Below is a listing of recent PhD graduates and their respective first positions.


2011-2012

Serife Genc
Primary Fields: Macroeconomics, Labor Economics, Growth and Development
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper title: "Immigration in Canada: A General Equilibrium Analysis"
Advisor: Daniele Coen-Pirani and Marla Ripoll, co-chairs
First Position: Research Economist, Central Bank of Turkey

Sun-Tak Kim
Primary Fields: Political Economy, Experimental Economics, Experimental Political Science, Formal Political Theory, Microeconomic Theory
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper title: "Compulsory versus Voluntary Voting: an Experimental Study"
Advisor: John Duffy
First Position: Assistant Professor, National Taiwan University

Hyeon Sook Park
Primary Fields: Macroeconomics, Behavioral Economics, Mathemtical Economics, Applied Theory, Inter-Temporal Choice, Experimental Economics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper title: "Bounded Rationality and Lifecycle Consumption" and "A General Equilibrium Model of Decision Makers with Belief Dependent Preferences"
Advisor: John Duffy
First Position: Assistant Professor, School of Business, Manhattan College

Yilan Xu
Primary Fields: Applied Microeconomics, Financial Economics, Urban and Regional Economics, Law and Economics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper title: "Does Mortgage Deregulation Increase Foreclosures? Evidence from Cleveland"
Advisor: Daniel Berkowitz
First Position: Assistant Professor of Consumer Economcs, University of Illinois


2010 - 2011

Shikha Basnet
Primary Fields: Political Economics, Applied Microeconoics, Applied Econometrics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper title: "The War Disease: A Spatial Temporal Analysis of Political Violence"
Advisor: Randy Walsh
First Position: Research Associate, One Earth Future Foundation, Research & Development Department

Lin Cui
Primary Fields: Urban and Regional Economics, Public Economics and Applied Microeconomics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper title: "Foreclosure, Vacancy and Crime"
Advisor: Randy Walsh
First Position: Senior Risk Analyst Manager, Freddie Mac

Natalia Khorunzhina
Primary Fields: Applied Microeconomics, Applied Econometrics, Financial Economics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper title: "Dynamic Structural Model of Household's Stock Market Participation"
Advisors: David N. DeJong and Jean-Francois Richard
First Position: Assistant Professor, Copenhagen Business School

Samah Mazraani
Primary Fields: Macroeconomics (Fiscal Policy, Business Cycles, Growth), Applied Econometrics, International Finance
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper title: "Public Expenditures in an RBC Model: A Likelihood Evaluation of Crowding-in and Crowding-out Effects"
Advisor: David N. DeJong
First Position: Economist, The International Monetary Fund

Michael Menietti
Primary Fields: Experimental Economics, Game Theory, Public Finance
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper title: "Fundraising Goals"
Advisor: Lise Vesterlund
First Position: Harvard/NASA Tournament Lab, Harvard Business School (Post-doc)

Sandra Orozco-Aleman
Primary Fields: Applied Microeconomics, Labor Economics, Applied Econometrics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper title: "Labor Market Effects of Immigration Policy"
Advisors: Daniele Coen-Pirani and Randall Walsh
First Position: Assistant Professor, Mississippi State University.

Jay Schwarz
Primary Fields: Applied Microeconomics (Labor, Public and Regulation), Experimental Economics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper title: "Essays on the Role of Gender and Groups in Economic Decision Making"
Advisors: Lise Vesterlund and Randy Walsh
First Position: Economist, Federal Communications Commission

Jipeng Zhang
Primary Fields: Public Economics, Nonprofit and Industrial Organization, Applied Econometrics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper title: "The Impact of Managerial Capacity and Fundraising Productivity on Donations to Charity"
Advisor: Jean-Francois Richard
First Position: Assistant Professor, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

 

2009 - 2010

Ting Ting Huang
Primary Fields: Financial Economics, International Economics, Econometrics, Quantitative Finance
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper title: "Linear Term Structure Models and Forward Premium Anomaly"
Advisor: Steven Husted
First Position: Assistant Professor, Finance & Development Institute, Nankai University in Tianjin.

Jonathan Lafky
Primary Fields: Microeconomic Theory, Experimental Economics, Game Theory
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper title: "Why Do People Write Reviews? Theory and Evidence on Online Ratings"
Advisor: John Duffy
First Position: Assistant Professor, Lafayette College

Daeyup Lee
Primary Fields: Macroeconomics, International Finance, Nonlinear Dynamical Systems
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper title: "Wealth distribution with wealth-dependent labor income shock, misspecification, and status-seeking"
Advisors: Marla Ripoll and James Feigenbaum
First Position: Economist, Institute for Monetary and Economic Research (IMER), Bank of Korea.

Wooyoung Lim
Primary Fields: Microeconomic Theory, Game Theory, Experimental Economics, Industrial Organization
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper title: "Communication in Bargaining over Decision Rights"
Advisor: Andreas Blume
First Position: Assistant Professor, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Yeol Yong Sung
Primary Fields: Microeconomic Theory, Information Economics, Industrial Organization, Game Theory
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper title: "Costly Certification of Product Quality"
Advisor: Andreas Blume
First Position: Research Associate, Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET).

2008 - 2009

Won-Jea Huh
Primary Fields: Development Economics, Public Economics, Comparative Economic Systems and Transition, Applied Microeconomics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Civil Society, Democracy, and Socioeconomic Development: Evidence from Korea"
Advisor: Daniel Berkowitz
First Position: SK Research Institute

Morimitsu Kurino
Primary Fields: Microeconomics, Game Theory, Matching Market Design
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Credibility, Efficiency, and Stability: A Theory of Dynamic Matching Markets"
Advisor: Andreas Blume, Utku Unver
First Position: Max Planck Institute of Economics, Germany

Ernest Kong-Wah Lai
Primary Fields: Microeconomics, Game Theory, Industrial Organization, Experimental Economics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Expert Advice for Amateurs"
Advisor: Andreas Blume
First Position: Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA

Sunita Mondal
Primary Fields: Labor Economics, Public Policy, Family Economics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Evaluation of Public Policy Programs"
Advisor: Alexis León
First Position: School of Business, Slippery Rock University

Selin Ozturk
Primary Fields: Applied Econometrics, Econometrics, Forecasting, Financial Econometrics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Forecasting Inflation Volatility: A Stochastic Volatility Approach"
Advisor: Jean-François Richard
First Position: Bilgi University, Istanbul

Cesar Rodriquez
Primary Fields:
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Essays on Economic Growth, Financial Integration and Exchange Rates"
Advisor: Marla Ripoll
First Position: Inter-American Development Bank, Washington D.C.

Ahmad Shahidi
Primary Fields: Econometrics Theory, Financial Economics, Applied Econometrics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Adapted Empirical Likelihood Estimator-Penalization Method"
Advisor: Soiliou Namoro
First Position: Prince Mohammad University, Saudi Arabia

Wei Wang
Primary Fields: Health Economics, Health Policy Analysis
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Medical Charges and Provider Ownership in Urban China: An Empirical Analysis"
Advisor: Thomas Rawski
First Position: Center for East Asian Studies, Stanford University

2007 - 2008

Ana Espínola-Arredondo
Primary Fields: Environmental Economics, Game Theory and IO
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Free-riding and cooperation in environmental games"
Advisor: Andreas Blume
First Position: School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University

Dharmarajan Hariharan
Primary Fields: Applied Econometrics, Numerical Methods, Computational Economics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "An Efficient Approach for Analyzing State-Space Representations"
Advisor: David N. DeJong and Jean-François Richard
First Position: Bates White, Washington, DC

Helen Lafferty
Primary Fields: Experimental Economics, Microeconomics, Auction Theory
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Does the English Auction Near Efficiency with Uncertain Valuation Functions? An Experimental Analysis"
Advisor: Andreas Blume
First Position: Economic Analysis Group, US Department of Justice

Félix Muñoz-García
Primary Fields: Microeconomic Theory, Game Theory, Behavioral Economics and Public Economics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "The importance of Foregone Options: generalizing social comparisons in sequential-move games"
Advisor: John Duffy
First Position: School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University

Nabanita Nandi
Primary Fields: Economic Growth, Development Economics, Applied Econometrics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "An Investigation of the Contingent Relationship between Financial Development and Income Inequality"
Advisors: David N. DeJong and Marla Ripoll
First Position: Department of Economics and Finance, School of Business and Economics at SUNY-Plattsburgh

Katherine J. Wick
Primary Fields: Experimental Economics, Public Finance, Applied Microeconomics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Public vs. Private Provision: An Experimental Investigation"
Advisor: John Duffy
First Position: Allegheny College, Meadville, PA

Huan Xie
Primary Fields: Microeconomic Theory, Experimental Economics, Public Finance
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Bargaining with Uncertain Value Distributions"
Advisors: Andreas Blume and Lise Vesterlund
First Position: Department of Economics, Concordia University

2006 - 2007

Martin Burda
Primary Fields: Econometrics (theoretical and applied), Executive Compensation
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Sieve-based Empirical Likelihood under Semiparametric Conditional Moment Restrictions"
Advisor: Mehmet Caner
First Position: Department of Economics, University of Toronto

Yong-Ju Lee
Primary Fields: Networks, Game Theory, Microeconomic Theory, Industrial Organization
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Decentralized Information Sharing in Oligopoly"
Advisor: John Duffy
First Position: Samsung Research Institute of Finance

Yong Sui
Primary Fields: Auction Theory, Game Theory, Microeconomics, Industrial Organization, Experimental Economics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Decentralized Information Sharing in Oligopoly"
Advisor: Andreas Blume
First Position: Department of Economics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Yang Zhao
Primary Fields: Macroeconomics, Monetary Theory, Growth and Development, Chinese Economy
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Decentralized Information Sharing in Oligopoly"
Advisor: Ted Temzelides
First Position: Department of Economics, Xiamen University

2005 - 2006

Ying Fang
Primary Fields: Econometrics, Applied Econometrics, Applied Microeconomics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Estimation and Inference with Weak Instruments and Near Exogeneity"
Advisor: Mehmet Caner
First Position: Department of Economics, Xiamen University

Wayne-Roy Gayle
Primary Fields: Micro-Econometrics, Applied Microeconomics, Labor Economics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Contributions to Structural Modeling and Estimation"
Advisor: Jean-François Richard
First Position: Department of Economics, University of Virginia

Cagri Seda Kumru
Primary Fields: Public Economics, Behavioral Economics, Experimental Economics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Essays on Behavioral Public Economics and Microeconomic Theory"
Advisor: Lise Vesterlund
First Position: Department of Economics, Celal Bayar University

Virginie Masson
Primary Fields: Evolutionary Game Theory, Game Theory, Networks, Experimental Economics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "The Evolution of Coordination Problems in an Asymmetric Environment"
Advisor: Alexander Matros
First Position: School of Economics, University of Adelaide

Yadviga Semikolenova
Primary Fields: Applied Microeconomics, Industry Studies, Economics of Information, Energy Economics, Post-Socialist Transition, Development, Policy Analysis
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Ownership, Privatization and Investment Fads: Theory and Evidence from Russia and the Caspian Region"
Advisor: Daniel Berkowitz
First Position: Division of Economics and Business at the Colorado School of Mines

Hadi Yektas
Primary Fields: Auction Theory, Game Theory, Microeconomic Theory, Industrial
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Essays on Auction Theory"
Advisor: Andreas Blume
First Position: Department of Economics, University of Guelf

2003 - 2004

Chetan Dave
Primary Fields: Macroeconomics, Experimental Economics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Expectations Formation and Capacity Utilization: Empirical Analyses"
Advisor: David N. DeJong
First Position: Virginia Tech (Visiting)

Wei-Li Ding
Primary Fields: Economics of Education, Public Economics, Applied Microeconomics, Chinese Economy
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Three Essays in the Economics of Education"
Advisor: Dennis Epple, Thomas Rawski
First Position: Queen’s University (tenure track)

Li Qi
Primary Fields: Microeconomics, Financial Economics, Experimental Economics, Asian Economies and Transitional Economies, Development & Comparative Economics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Three Essays on China’s Emerging Capital Markets"
Advisor: Thomas Rawski
First Position: Columbia University, East Asian Studies (Post-doc)

Baozhi Qu
Primary Fields: Financial Economics, Corporate Governance and Finance, Development Economics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Tunneling, Investor Protection, and Ownership Concentration"
Advisor: : Daniel Berkowitz
First Position: Dept of Economics and Finance, City University of Hong Kong (tenure track)

Ayla Yilmaz
Primary Fields: Macroeconomics, Economics of Distribution, Computational Economics, Education and Human Capital, Public Economics, Technological Change, International Economics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Three Essays on Distribution on Earnings, Income, and Wealth"
Advisor: John Duffy
First Position: Department of Economics, Indiana University-Purdue University (visiting)

2002 - 2003

George-Levi Gayle
Primary Field: Microeconometrics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Essays in Structural Econometrics"
Advisor: Jean-François Richard
First Position: Carnegie-Mellon University

Kristin Kleinjans
Primary Field: Applied Microeconomics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Social Security Reform and Pension Choice: The Case of Colombia"
Advisor: Carmelo Mesa-Lago
First Position: Rand Post-Doc, then University of Aarhus

2001-2002

Claudia Landeo
Primary Field: Applied Microeconomics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Three Essays on Bargaining Institutions in Labor and Legal Settings"
Advisor: John Duffy
First Position: University of Alberta

Vasiliki Skreta
Primary Field: Mechanism Design
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Essays in Mechanism and Market Design"
Advisor: Phil Reny
First Position: University of Minnesota

2000-2001

Anthony Dukes
Primary Field: Industrial Organization
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "The Economics of Advertising with Inclusion of Media"
Advisor: Esther Gal-Or
First Position: Carnegie Mellon University (Post-Doc), now at Aarhus University

Tatiana Kornienko
Primary Field: Micro/Macro Theory
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Macroeconomic Foundations of Microeconomics: Concern for Status"
Advisor: John Duffy
First Position: University of Manitoba, now at University of Stirling

Steven Lehrer
Primary Field: Applied Microeconometrics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Three Essays in Applied Microeconometrics"
Advisor: John Kagel
First Position: Wharton Business School (U. of Penn., Post-Doc), now at Queen's University

Wei Xiao
Primary Field: Macroeconomics
Dissertation/Job-Market Paper Title: "Indeterminacy in International General-Equilibrium Models"
Advisor: Dean Corbae
First Position: University of New Orleans