For Students
This is a resource hub for students (primarily undergraduates taking economics courses at UC Davis) who are interested in learning more about research opportunities and the path to graduate studies. There is lots of material on the internet; my goal here is to curate some quality, relevant material in the hope that it is a useful starting point.
If you are interested in learning more about research and/or how to prepare for graduate school, I am happy to meet - please feel free to come up to me after class or reach out via email.
Opportunities in the Managerial Economics major at UC Davis
- Student Café
- An opportunity to connect with other undergraduates interested in economics in and outside the classroom and learn from faculty and graduate students about their research.
- I am a co-coordinator for Spring Quarter 2026 and Fall Quarter 2026!
- Applied Economics Research Course
- A five-week course mentoring students on independent research. Emphasis on designing a research question, working with data, and applying econometric techniques.
- A great chance to see if you like doing research. I will be a co-instructor in Summer 2026!
Considering a PhD?
- Greg Mankiw’s “Advice for aspiring economists”
- Noah Smith’s post on “Is an economics PhD still a great deal?”
- Tatyana Deryugina’s “Should you get a PhD?”
- If you are considering a PhD, you should strongly consider a pre-doctoral program. These are programs where you work on research under the supervision of a prominent economist, building research skills while providing them the information they need to write you a strong letter of recommendation to a graduate program.
Applying to PhD programs?
- Chris Blattman’s “Writing Your Statement of Purpose”
- A comprehensive list of resources from the Economics Mentoring Program