Paper by Thomas-Franz ’20 Wins Economics Department Prize

A paper written by Kaitlyn Thomas-Franz ’20 was the recipient of the 2018–19 Lebergott-Lovell Prize for the best paper written for a course that uses empirical techniques to analyze an economic problem.

Thomas-Franz wrote the paper “The 1918 Influenza Epidemic and U.S. Female Labor Force Participation” while she was taking Macroeconomic Analysis during the spring 2019 semester. The class was taught by Gillian Brunet, assistant professor of economics.

Honorable mentions included Qiyuan Zheng ’20 for a paper titled “FPI in Emerging Markets: Does the Equity Home Bias Theory Extend?” and Dominic Oliver ’19 for a paper titled “The Determinants of Zoning Regulation.”

Zheng wrote the paper while taking Econometrics during the spring 2019 semester. The class was taught by Anthony Keats, assistant professor of economics.

Oliver wrote his paper while taking Macroeconomic Policy during the spring 2019 semester. The class was taught by Gillian Brunet.

Stanley Lebergott and Michael Lovell, the prize’s namesakes, both held the title of Chester D. Hubbard Professor of Economics and Social Science.

Faculty nominated five papers for the prize.

The committee consisted of Keats, Karl David Boulware, and Abigail Hornstein.