Honors

Economics student presenting her research

Complete your Oxy experience with an original research project that demonstrates your economics expertise.

Majors can earn honors by taking in the spring semester of their senior year and by writing and defending, in that class, a thesis that is judged by the department faculty to be of honors quality. Enrollment in is limited to students with GPAs of 3.5 or higher (both overall and within the department). Interested students should consult with their academic advisor and then apply to the department chair in the fall semester of their senior year.

Recent Honors Theses:

2026

  • Sophia Fields: “Easy Credit, Hard Consequences: Evidence on BNPL and Consumer Financial Health”
  • *Eli Saliman: “Empty Homes, Empty Pockets: The Effect of Oakland's Vacant Property Tax on Rents”
  • *Aditi Purandare: “Do Data Centers Raise Electricity Rates? Evidence from Virginia’s Data Center Alley”
  • Matthew Uytioco: “Affordable Housing and Social Distance: Evidence on LIHTC and Neighborhood Demographic Change”
  • Brady Kurad: “Do Markets Believe in “Going Green?” Analyzing the Stock Price Effects of Science Based Targets Initiative Announcements”
  • Haley Jacobson: “Environmental Stress and Financial Returns: A Case Study of Solar Panel Depreciation at Occidental College”
  • August Mitchell: “Surfers as Vanguard Tourists - A Nightlights Analysis of Nicaraguan Coastal Development.”
  • Eugen Andres: “The Hidden Cost of Going Green? Present Bias, Income, and the Distributional Welfare of Energy Defaults”
  • Max Goldman: “Getting a Better Title: The Impact of Mayor Daniel Lurie's Election on San Francisco's Housing Market”
  • Ruggero Botto: “Housing Supply and Rent Growth: Evidence from NYC Metro Area”
  • *Jasmine Chhabria: “Creating a Seat at the Corporate Table: Does Mandating Gender Diversity Improve Financial Performance?”
  • Raymond Arias: “Decriminalization Without Decarceration? Evidence from Oregon’s Measure 110”

*Awarded Best Honors Thesis

  • Andrew Masciarelli: “The Long-Term Costs of Short-Term Rentals: Examining the Growth of Airbnb Markets in Gentrifying Neighborhoods”
  • Lucas Pan: "Innovation Under the America Invents Act: A Synthetic Control Analysis"
  • Liam Schedler: "The Impact of Chinese FDI on Political and Social Stability"
  • Coleman Bellin: "How Corporations React to One-Time Large Economic Shocks: A Case Study on Brazilian Football"
  • Max Stanley: "The Turnover Effect: How Coach Turnover Affects Team Performance"
  • Caroline Agostini: "Understanding the Urban vs. Rural divide in the Education Production Function in the Deep South"
  • Kaili Solverud: "Work Flexibility and Informal Care Provision: The Impact of COVID-19 on Elder Care"
  • Mara Schwob: "Wage Inequality Across Sexual Orientations: A Comparative Analysis of Gay and Straight Workers"
  • Daria Undeland: “Beyond the Target: The Regional Reach of Sanctions on Russia"
  • Ben Szurley: "Bilateral Non-Tariff Measures: The US-China Trade War"
  • *Garren Riley: "Under Pressure: True Daily Doubles, Champion Dominance, and Risk-taking in Jeopardy!”

*Awarded Best Honors Thesis

  • Ezra Polesky: "Beyond the Headlines: Monetary Policy Transmission to Equity Markets"
  • Leonard Tillson:  "The Seven Deadly Sins as Criminal Justice Policy: An Analysis of Georgia’s 1994 Sentencing Law"
  • Francesca Rodoni: "Orchestrating Creativity: A Study of Composer Age and Success in Classical Composition"
  • *Grace Luu: "The Spillover Effects of Hospital Closure on Inpatient Mortality"

*Awarded Best Honors Thesis

  • Radha Arora: “The Effects of Right-to-Work Laws on Wages and Employment”
  • Jakob Barton: “Where Does California Dream of Electric Sheep?: An Economic Analysis of Dual Land Use Lamb Grazing and Solar Photovoltaics in California”
  • Elena Chen: “A Choice Between Roles: Factors Influencing Chinese Females’ Work Participation and A Prediction After Three-Child Policy”
  • Mary Everett Hancock: “The Effects of Rail Expansion on Disabled Employment: Evidence from 15 Years of Rail Expansion”
  • Brian Fong: “Effects of Tobacco-21 on Youth Smokeless Tobacco Use and Sales”
  • *Ansel Jeffries: “The Effects of HOLC “Redlining” Maps on Los Angeles Home Values”
  • Kam Mohebbi: “The Effect of Increased Internet Access on Getting STEM Jobs”
  • Anaise (Nisi) Nugent: “The Effect of Gender on Support for Abortion Legislation"
  • Ruth Schlosser: “When Recessions Come Home”
  • Miles Smith: “A Policy Analysis for a Theoretical Poverty Trap Model”
  • Kelsie Stanley: “Corporate Spending Limits & Conservatism”
  • Sophia The: “What Causes D3 Athletes to Quit Their Sport?”

*Awarded Best Honors Thesis

  • Matty Anzalone: "The Effect of Ending Covid-19 Unemployment Benefits on State Economic Recovery"
  • Will Baltrus: "The Effect of Disinformation on Republican Candidacy Success: Evidence from Cuban American Voters"
  • Sofia Ben Zaken: "The Effects of Greening Schoolyards on Elementary School Student Academic Performance: Standardized Testing Achievement and Behavioral Outcomes"
  • Nathaniel Byram: "EU Influence on Renewable Energy Share: Historical Evidence From the Eastern Bloc"
  • Preston Chong: "The Effect of Statewide High School Financial Literacy Mandates on Future Retirement Contribution Rates"
  • Rayhon Choudhry: "Are Cryptocurrency Markets Driven by Fundamentals-Based Investing? A Theoretical Examination"
  • Will Covino: "Tobacco Surcharges are Restricting Healthcare Access: An Instrumental Variable Analysis"
  • Claire Frohling: "The Short Run Impacts of Hurricanes on Homelessness in the United States Atlantic Hurricane Basin"
  • Julia Koh: "Timing of Video Game Releases within Product Niches: An Analysis of Steam"
  • Eva Ma: "Who Gets Second Chances After Job Loss? The Role of Employer Racial Prejudice"
  • *Luca Van Der Meer: "The Effect of Federal Funds Normalization on Black White Employment Differentials"
  • Benjamin Ventresca: "Emissions and Renewable Energy in Developing Africa"

*Awarded Best Honors Thesis

  • Catlin Hedeman: "The Effects of Increased Access to Mail-In and Absentee Voting due to Covid-19 on Voter Turnout in the 2020 Presidential Election"
  • Kayla Hreczuck: "The Effects of Local Immigration Enforcement on the Mental Health of Hispanic Children and Adolescents"
  • Alexis Martinez: "The Effects of Recreational Marijuana Laws on High School Graduation Rates: One Dimension of Social Costs"
  • Emma Pond: "The Impacts of Paid Family Leave Programs on Mothers' Labor Market Outcomes in New Jersey and Rhode Island"
  • *Mary Zhang: "Costs and Benefits of Statewide Stay-at-Home Orders During the Early Stage of the Covid-19 Pandemic"

*Awarded Best Honors Thesis

  • Hannah Case: "Small Classes and Academic Behavior in Math"
  • Jane Crosby-Schmidt: "Information and Immunizations: An Analysis of Utah's Educational Requirement for Vaccine Exemptions"
  • Annika Moen: "The Impacts of Two-Way Immersion Dual Language Education: Socioeconomic Composition and English Proficiency"
  • Ellen Prince: "Rolling Back Three Strikes: The Impact of Proposition 36 on Incarceration in California"
  • *Nelson Rayl: "Cost of Austerity: Effect of Fiscal Consolidation in Europe Post 2010"
  • Harrison Wakefield: "Unemployment and Suicide: Differing Effects Across United States Counties"

*Awarded Best Honors Thesis

  • Cameron Coe: "Exit Discrimination in a Competitive Labor Market: The Case of NBA Head Coaches"
  • *Andrew McCall: "Hurricane Mitch’s Effect on Nicaraguan Farmers' Agricultural Practices"
  • Claire Organick: "Moms, Money and Mortality: The Impact of Free Primary Education on Child and Maternal Health in Ethiopia"
  • David Wang: "Does Fiscal Space Matter? Its Impact on the Aftermath of Financial Crises"

*Awarded Best Honors Thesis

  • Josh Cohen: "Wind Energy and Emissions Avoided"
  • Jiahe Hou: "The Impact of Microfinance on Poverty Reduction in Rural China"
  • Ieva Marcinkeviciute: "The Trade-Migration Nexus"
  • Andrea Tuemmler: "Modernization Theory: Does Economic Growth Cause Democracy?"
  • *Yiyun (Eva) Wang: "More Guns, Less Crime? The Impact of Gun Restrictions on Violent Crime"

*Awarded Best Honors Thesis

  • Michael Cao: "Education Spending and Student Achievement: A Difference-in-Difference Analysis for the Race to the Top Program"
  • Preston Harry: "The Impact of More Extreme than Expected Temperatures on Environmental Attitudes"
  • *Harrison Luft: "The Industrial Effects of Banking Crises"
  • Charles Pollnow: "Failure in the Long-Term Care Insurance Market: Is There a Substitution Effect for Informal Care?"
  • Eva Schifini: "Health Effects of the California Minimum Wage"

*Awarded Best Honors Thesis

  • Emily Fallick: "The Effect of Cigarette Taxes on Smoking Rates"
  • Brady Fuller: "Revenue Sharing and the Luxury Tax in Major League Baseball"
  • Evan Lubin: "The Effect of Title IX Investigations on Applications at Selective American Universities from 2008 to 2016"
  • *Jessica May: "The Effects of Medicaid Expansion: Mortality of Non-Elderly Adults"
  • Daniel Perez: "Do Tomatoes Lead to Revenue? An Analysis of the Rotten Tomatoes Ratings System"
  • Kyle Yee: "Moneyball 2: Winnings and Its Effect on College Football Revenue"

*Awarded Best Honors Thesis

  • *Cynthia Brzezinski: “Measuring the Impact of School Quality on Residential Home Prices"
  • Cullen Cohane: “Sensitivity of Commodity Prices to Industrial Production Since 1980"
  • Felix Fels: “Investor Sentiment and Sports Events: Do Stock Markets React to Soccer Outcomes During the FIFA World Cup?"
  • AJ Libunao: “Effects of Postgraduate Degrees Across Race and Gender"
  • Julia Ogier: “The Effect of Generic Substitution on Brand-Name Drug Prices"
  • Evan Thompson: “Employment Dynamics and Minimum Wage Legislation: A Recessionary Analysis"

*Awarded Best Honors Thesis

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Phone: (323) 259-1304
econ@oxy.edu