Disa M. Hynsjö was a Ph.D. candidate in economics at Yale University. She passed away in July 2021 because of complications from a rare, sudden, and brief illness. She was at work on a remarkable set of projects, including the distribution of family income; the effects of children and partners on the careers of women; the long-term effects of “redlining” of U.S. neighborhoods in the 1930s; and the effects of technical change on the demand for and return to skill. Hynsjö would have finished her Ph.D. in May 2022, and she had a very promising career ahead of her.
Expert Type: Grantee
Jonathan Borowsky
Jonathan Borowsky is a researcher in the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota. His research interests focus on applying models and methods from his training in economics to understand questions related to early childhood care and education policy. Borowsky was an OPRE Child Care Policy Research Scholar in 2019–2020. His dissertation research used administrative data from Minnesota’s CCDF program to study the role of local variation in child care supply in the child care decisions of families receiving child care subsidies. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Minnesota, his J.D. from Harvard Law School, his M. Ec. in economics from The University of New South Wales, and his A.B. in economics from Amherst College.
Wendy Morrison
Wendy Morrison is a Ph.D. candidate in economics at Columbia University starting her fourth year. Her research focuses on how household and worker heterogeneity affect the transmission of monetary and fiscal policy. Her dissertation studies how monetary policy stimulates labor income unequally across occupations, making labor markets less effective at transmitting monetary stimulus. Morrison earned her B.A. from the University of Virginia and her M.Sc. in economics from the London School of Economics.
German Gutiérrez
German Gutierrez is a Ph.D. candidate in finance at New York University Stern School of Business. His research interests are in macroeconomics and corporate finance, with a focus on market power of large firms. His dissertation studies the evolution, market power, and optimal regulation of Amazon.com Inc. using a mixture of theoretical models and empirical analysis. He holds a B.S. and M.Eng. degrees in operations research engineering from Cornell University and an M.Phil. in finance from NYU Stern.
Cherrie Bucknor
Cherrie Nicole Bucknor is a Ph.D. student in sociology at Harvard University. Her research broadly examines the causes and consequences of economic and racial inequality in wealth, income, and the labor market. Her current projects examine how racial disparities in extended-family wealth contribute to disparities in the transition to homeownership, as well as the impact of right-to-work laws on Black workers. Bucknor has previously worked as a research associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, where she conducted research on the labor market experiences of poor and otherwise-marginalized workers and the benefits of union representation. Her work is supported by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies and the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. Bucknor holds a B.A. in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Public Administration from American University.
Daniele Caratelli
Daniele Caratelli is a research economist at the U.S. Treasury Office of Financial Research. His research focuses on macroeconomics, specifically on monetary economics and labor macroeconomics. Caratelli holds bachelor’s degrees with honors in mathematics and economics from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University.
Kritika Goel
Kritika Goel is a Ph.D. Candidate in economics at Boston College. Her research interests are in firm conduct and antitrust issues, specifically in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry. Her dissertation focuses on the effects of price discrimination by medical device manufacturers on product entry, consumer welfare, and the take-up of better technologies. She received her B.A and M.A in economics from the University of Delhi.
Binyamin Kleinman Orleansky
Benny Kleinman Orleansky is a Ph.D. candidate in economics at Princeton University. His research interests are macroeconomics, international trade, and economic geography. His dissertation investigates the spatial consequences of the recent increase in the scale of firms, focusing on its impact on regional disparities and segregation. His other research projects include the study of how changes in international economic exposure affect political relationships between countries, and the dynamics of regional spillovers of economic shocks. He earned his B.A. degrees in economics and Middle Eastern studies at the University of Haifa and a M.A. in economics at Tel Aviv University.
Brandon Alston
Brandon Alston is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology at Northwestern University with graduate certificates in African American studies and teaching and learning. His research examines how surveillance systems operate across poor Black neighborhoods, prisons, and probation programs. Alston’s research has been supported by the Social Science Research Council, the Institute for Research on Poverty, and the Institute for Citizens and Scholars. He has been recognized as a National Academies of Sciences Ford predoctoral fellow and an American Bar Foundation doctoral fellow. In 2021, Alston was inducted into the Edward Bouchet Graduate Honor Society. He has received awards from national and regional professional associations, including the American Sociological Association, Midwest Sociological Society, and the Association of Black Sociologists. He previously earned a Master of Science in management from Wake Forest University Business School, where he was a corporate fellow. In addition, he received a Bachelor of Arts in sociology and religion (with distinction) from Haverford College, where he received the Mellon Mays Fellowship.
Ihsaan Bassier
Ihsaan Bassier is a postdoctoral research economist working with Alan Manning at the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is interested in labor and political economy, with the goal of understanding the labor market as grounded in power, institutions, and developing country contexts. Bassier is also a researcher at the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit at the University of Cape Town and has worked with the South African government on social grants relief policy in response to COVID-19. He holds a B.Sc. in mathematics and statistics from the University of Cape Town and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.