FORD SCHOLARS ECON DEPARTMENT SUMMER 2018 PROJECTS

1. FORD SCHOLARS ECON DEPARTMENT SUMMER 2018 PROJECTS Gender Differences in Firm Profits in Ghana Prof. GisellaKagy (gikagy@vassar.edu) Return Migration and Local Labor Markets in Mexico Prof. Sarah Pearlman (sapearlman@vassar.edu) Exploring the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017: Will a Repatriation Tax Holiday Work This Time? Prof. Esteban Argudo (eargudo@vassar.edu) Exploring Spatial Differences in Income Inequality Across America Prof. Dustin Frye (dufrye@vassar.edu)

2. Project: Gender Differences in Firms Profits in Ghana • Professor: • GisellaKagy • Details: • Businesses owned by women in Ghana tend to have lower profits than those owned by men. This summer we will investigate why this is. • What will we do? • Read academic articles about how businesses perform in the Ghanaian context • Use data to explore how businesses owned by men and women are different • Who can apply? • Anyone! All class years and majors are invited to apply • What skills do I need? • Comfortable using Microsoft Excel and Word • Knowledge of a programing language (any one will work) is helpful, but not required • How do I apply? • Online (https://ford.vassar.edu/) by Feb 19th

3. project: Return Migration and Local Labor Markets in MexicoProfessor: sarahpearlman • Since the Great Recession in 2008 Mexican migration to the U.S. has fallen dramatically • This project will look at the impact of this on Mexican labor markets • Will Involve: • Reading and summarizing relevant literature • Working with Mexican datasets that measure migration and labor market outcomes • Requirement: Have taken Econometrics • Benefit: Great way to learn more about how to do empirical analysis! • Questions? Email sapearlman@vassar.edu

4. Exploring the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017: Will a Repatriation Tax Holiday Work This Time? The Project • Corporations will pay a tax rate of 8.5%-15.5% instead of 35% when bringing overseas profits back to the U.S. • We will look at whether or not this tax cut is likely to increase investment, output, wages, and employment in the U.S. What will you do? • Read and summarize relevant academic research articles. • Work with datasets ranging from surveys to corporation-level data. • Apply empirical techniques to analyze data. Professor: Esteban Argudo Who can apply? • ANYONE! • The position doesn’t require you to be an Econ major/correlate. • You just need to be • Willing to learn about economic research techniques. • Able to critically analyze data. • Interested in reading academic research articles. • Extremely beneficial if you are familiar with • Any programming language. • Statistics/Econometrics. Source: Bloomberg

5. Project: Exploring Spatial Differences in Income Inequality Across America • Professor: Dustin Frye • Project Description: Income inequality varies substantially across locations in the United States. This project will try to understand how these spatial patterns developed over the 20th century. Darker => More unequal

6. Project Activities: Building county-level dataset of wages, employment, and inequality from 1950 to present. Use data to explore sources of spatial distribution. • Who Can Apply: Everyone! Position doesn’t require specific courses or being an econ major. • Preferred Skills: Excel (necessary) and familiarity additional programming language (Stata, R, or Python). • How to Apply: Apply at https://ford.vassar.edu/ by Feb 19th.

7. APPLY ONLINE AT: DEADLINE: https://ford.vassar.edu/ QUESTIONS: JUST email the professor associated with your project(S) of INTEREST ! Monday Feb. 19 by 5pm