The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics (BFI) is pleased to announce the graduate school decisions of this year’s outgoing predoctoral research professionals. The Predoctoral Research in Economics program (PREP) at BFI serves as a bridge between college and graduate school for students interested in empirical economics. The program offers unique research and professional training opportunities at the University of Chicago.

“On behalf of BFI, we can’t wait to see the success and contributions to the field that each of these emerging scholars will achieve,” said Michael Greenstone, the Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics and director of the Becker Friedman Institute. “Without exception, they have all been a pleasure to host and will be missed as members of the economics community here at the University of Chicago.”

The highly competitive program provides young researchers who have completed their bachelor’s degrees the opportunity to gain hands-on research experience in a full-time work environment under the guidance of University of Chicago faculty and researchers. This year’s departing class are moving on to the next step in their careers with the backing of a strong support network of professors and postdoctoral scholars who helped advance their research skills, knowledge base and career paths.

To learn more or apply for the BFI Predoctoral Research in Economics Program, click here.

DEPARTING PREDOC GRADUATE PROGRAM DECISIONS

Zhen Xie
Faculty Advisor: Guillaume Pouliot
PhD Institution: Department of Economics, Northwestern University

Santiago Lacouture
Faculty Advisor: Magne Mogstad
PhD Institution: Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics, University of Chicago

Brian Livingston
Faculty Advisor: Greg Kaplan
PhD Institution: Department of Economics, Northwestern University

Ilan Wolff
Faculty Advisor: Derek Neal
PhD Institution: Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Sebastian Hernandez
Faculty Advisor: Chris Blattman
PhD Institution: Department of Political Science, Yale University

Atom Vayalinkal
Faculty Advisor: John List
PhD Institution: Department of Economics, University of Toronto

Timothy Schwieg
Faculty Advisor: Ali Hortacsu
PhD Institution: Booth School of Business, University of Chicago; Marketing

Quentin Batista
Faculty Advisor: Lars Peter Hansen
PhD Institution: Booth School of Business, University of Chicago; Joint Program in Financial Economics

Andrew (Jiaming) Wang
Faculty Advisor: Lars Peter Hansen
PhD Institution: London School of Economics; Finance

Han Xu
Faculty Advisor: Lars Peter Hansen
PhD Institution: Anderson School of Management, UCLA; Finance

Menglu Xu
Faculty Advisor: Brent Neiman
PhD Institution: Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley

Alison Zhao
Faculty Advisor: Leo Bursztyn
PhD Institution: Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University; Managerial Economics & Strategy

Jiada Ye
Faculty Advisor: Manasi Deshpande
PhD Institution: Department of Economics, New York University

Ariel Listo
Faculty Advisor: Magne Mogstad
PhD Institution: University of Maryland

Mingjie Zhu
Faculty Advisors: Jonathan Dingel, Felix Tintelnot
PhD Institution: Pennsylvania State University

Kazuatsu Shimizu
Faculty Advisors: Chang-Tai Hsieh, Erik Hurst
PhD Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

EPIC

Ian Pitman
Faculty Advisor: Michael Greenstone
PhD Institution: Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics, University of Chicago

Alice Schmitz
Faculty Advisor: Michael Greenstone
PhD Institution: Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley

Lixi Wang
Faculty Advisors: Thomas Covert, Ryan Kellogg
PhD Institution: Department of Economics, University of Maryland

Ivan Higuera
Faculty Advisors: Michael Greenstone, Amir Jina
PhD Institution: School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences, Stanford University

Sushant Banjara
Faculty Advisor: Eyal Frank
PhD Institution: Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago

Tianyu Luo
Faculty Advisor: Koichiro Ito
PhD Institution: Department of Economics, Columbia University