Alena F
- Research Program Mentor
PhD candidate at University of Oregon
Expertise
General Economics, Econometrics, Statistics, Microeconomics/Cost-Effectiveness Analysis, Public Economics, Labor Economics, Health Economics, Environmental Economics, Political Economy
Bio
Hi! My name is Alena and I am a first year Economics PhD student at the University of Oregon with focuses in applied microeconometrics and public economics. I am interested in policy issues broadly, but most of my work is concentrated in the fields of health and education. However, I am willing to work with students with a variety of interests, I am passionate about economics in general and its approach to problem solving and research and look forward to the opportunity to get other interested young people excited about the field. For fun, I like to play piano, sing, hike, and do pretty much anything outside. I also really love to travel and, in particular, I enjoy cooking and trying different types of vegetarian foods from around the world. I have a pet leopard gecko named Johnny.Project ideas
Behavioral economics: effects of nudges
Explore a topic that has been fundamental in the disciplines of psychology and behavioral economics: the role of framing and incentives in informing choices. Much of economy theory is founded on the principle that consumers act as rational agents, but behavioral economics explores the validity of this assumption. Set up an experiment, survey, or collect data from online sources to better understand how small changes in language used in advertisements/informational brochures, framing, or the use of positive vs. negative incentives can affect decision making and preference ordering.
Health Outcomes: effects of minimum wage policies
While minimum wage policies are a hot topic in American public policy discussions, economists have primarily focused on their employment effects. Although economists tend to prioritize efficiency concerns, the discipline is evolving to emphasize the importance of other types of outcomes as well. This project would challenge you to model the estimated effect of these outcomes by finding data on minimum wage policies, health outcomes, and control variables and using R, Stata, or another statistical programming tool to explore your results by implementing quantitative methods and generating a written report.