Undergraduate Awards

The Economics Department awards four prizes annually:

1. The Tate Whitman Prize in Economics
2. The Jack and Lewis Greenhut Prize
3. The George Benston and Richard Muth Prize for Excellence in Economics
4. Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Assistant

This award is for the ability to present clear, cogent analysis of complex issues, extraordinary personal integrity, and wise leadership in the classroom and department.

2024 Recipient is Fareed Khan

Fareed's nomination for The W. Tate Whitman Prize in Economics recognizes his exemplary qualities in analytic clarity, personal integrity, and leadership. According to his thesis advisor, Maria Arbatskaya, "He has shown good character, proven leadership, and exceptional presentation skills."

Fareed's Honors thesis focused on a timely and policy-relevant topic. The recent FTC case involving The Bountiful Company has underscored the need for clear policy guidelines regarding the creation and presentation of product variants on e-commerce platforms such as Amazon. His thesis, titled “Understanding Review Hijacking on Amazon Through Variation Listings: The ABCD’s of The Bountiful Company,” offers evidence of the incentives Amazon provides to its sellers in creating variation listings. This research could assist the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) actions against companies such as Bountiful, which have been implicated in online review manipulation through variation listings. Fareed's research shows a deep understanding of the institutional details, a comprehensive examination of economic and legal arguments, and skillful use of Python to collect and analyze data using the Keepa API. He conducted OLS, GLS, and Lasso estimations to explore the effects of the number of product variations on the best seller rank, a primary performance metric for sellers.

In the words of his thesis adviser, "I was particularly impressed by Fareed's exceptional presentation skills, which surpassed any I have witnessed before. Other committee members also held a high opinion of his ability to articulate and explain his research findings clearly. Additionally, Fareed demonstrated exceptional leadership qualities throughout his research journey. He actively engaged with knowledgeable individuals, including those at the FTC, and brought together a diverse group of community members from marketing, economics, and religion to contribute to his research. Moreover, he involved a group of students who actively participated and asked questions during his defense, showing his ability to inspire and lead."

Fareed’s impressive resume further affirms his strong leadership capabilities, which are evident from his roles as a Moderator, Chair, Senior Advisor, and Analyst for various groups both on and off the Emory campus.

Congratulations to Fareed Khan!

This prize is awarded to a graduating senior who has demonstrated the highest degree of excellence in classwork, research, and scholarly activities.

2024 Recipient is Joshua Jacobs

Josh’s thesis evaluates whether membership in the president’s 568 group---a group of elite institutions participating in needs-blind admissions---affected net tuition for title IV students at these institutions. He finds evidence that once a university exits the 568 group, net tuition for title IV students declined differentially relative to schools that remained in the 568 group. His analysis was limited by the availability of data, so he was not able to see whether the decline in net costs was driven by broad changes to tuition at these universities, broad changes to student aid, or a redistribution from high to low income students. Altogether, his work indicates that there is need for more work in this area, especially in light of the recent lawsuits against 568 group members.

In the words of his thesis adviser, Maggie Jones, "I enjoyed Josh’s curiosity for and true excitement over economic theory. It was clear that he was genuinely passionate about how economic modelling can be used to describe the world."

After graduation, Josh will be joining the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas as a research assistant and then plans to apply to graduate programs in the coming years.

Congratulations to Joshua Jacobs!

This award celebrates the spirit of both Prof. George Benston and Prof. Richard Muth, whose strong commitment to research and reputation for excellence helped facilitate Emory’s change to becoming the world class research institution it is today. In their honor, we give this award to the student who demonstrates exemplary intellectual curiosity, passion, and skill in economic analysis.

2024 Recipient is Varun Saxena

Throughout his undergraduate studies at Emory, Varun has demonstrated tremendous passion and intellectual curiosity for economics.  He has been very successful in his coursework and has shown the ability to apply his acquired knowledge towards engaging research.  For his senior honors thesis, Varun studied the economic factors influencing sports team valuations.  His research project involved merging many diverse data sources.  The empirical analysis included the application of advanced empirical approaches, including machine learning techniques. Varun found that team performance, particularly championships won, substantially increases team valuations.  Throughout his senior honors thesis project, Varun displayed research independence, as well as excellent analytical and coding skills.  In the words of his senior honors thesis adviser, “Varun shows great intellectual promise and has a bright future ahead.  The strong analytical skills he has developed as an economics student at Emory will serve him well in his future pursuits.” 

Congratulations to Varun Saxena!

This award recognizes undergraduate students who have served as exceptional teaching assistants in our Economics classes.

2024 Recipient is Daniel Bell

Daniel Bell was the undergraduate TA for the over 150 students who took Prof. Hugo Mialon's Econ 101 (Principles of Microeconomics) class last Fall. According to Prof. Mialon, "Daniel is the best undergraduate TA I have ever had in all my years at Emory. He took the initiative to hold review sessions every weekend, accepted ad hoc meetings during week nights for students who were struggling, and in course evaluations, several students raved about the extra help that he provided them. His performance was so extraordinary that I asked him to train several other undergraduate students to be TAs for my class next Fall."

Congratulations to Daniel Bell!