Eight students presented research mentored by economics faculty out of total of the seventeen undergraduates from the department of Economics who were involved in the symposium. Nine economics double majors were sponsored by faculty from other UW departments e.g. psychology, political sciences, illustrating the diversity of disciplinary interest among our majors.
Our budding economists presenting had the option of an oral presentation, which five chose, while three opted for a poster presentation in the confine of the beautiful Mary Gate Hall. One of the oral presentations session, moderated by George Lovell, featured three of our students discussing topics as diverse as the impact of disruption of the Washington State Ferry on business in the San Juan Islands, the effect of the fluctuation of the Yen/dollar exchange rate on agricultural exports from Washington State, and the cultural entertainment industry exchanges between Korea and China: these were exciting presentations followed by animated discussions.
The three posters exhibited were quite elaborate. Our students explained to interested passers-by how the inflows of Ukrainian, mainly women, refugees into Poland affected the Polish labor market, discussed the impact, or unfortunately the lack of impact, that a state sponsored tutoring program in Ohio had on academic outcome after Covid, and finally how massive technology layoffs in 2021-22 affected employment in other industries in these geographical tech centers.
The econ undergraduates made very professional presentations, illustrating their outstanding contribution to research at an early stage of their education as economists. The department is proud of their achievement.