Akash Thakkar is an economics and Plan II honors senior from Austin, Texas. In this Q&A, read more about how his passion for economics research came to be and how he’s implementing it in the real world through a charitable giving app.
Economics
Why the most popular candidate in a close election will probably lose
The Presidential elections of 2000 and 2016 were controversial, in part, because it seemed like the wrong person won. In 2000, Republican George W. Bush defeated Democrat Al Gore by 5 electoral votes after losing the popular vote by about 540,000. And in 2016, Republican Donald Trump garnered 27 more electoral votes than Democrat Hillary […]
Living Amid History: A Q&A with 2019 British Marshall Scholar Laura Hallas
Laura Hallas, a Plan II honors, economics and health and society senior at The University of Texas at Austin, is the recipient of a 2019 British Marshall Scholarship. The Marshall scholarship will fund Hallas’ graduate education at both the University of Oxford, where she will pursue a Master of Science in Evidence-Based Social Intervention and […]
Economics Junior’s Snapchat Geofilter Business Takes Off
In the spring of 2015, Andrew Lee attended a UT Austin lecture by Evan Spiegel, the founder and CEO of Snapchat, sponsored by the campus organization and professional business fraternity, Delta Sigma Pi. The experience made a major impression on the then-college freshman, and in a few short years, Lee’s own company would be collaborating […]
Economics Student Takes the Road Less Traveled to Campus
Tyler DiGiovanni, an economics senior with a Spanish minor, isn’t your typical undergraduate student. At 27, he’s lived abroad, transferred schools, taken time off to create a new company and reevaluated his path countless times. All of that led him to the UT Austin economics program. Prior to college, DiGiovanni spent 2008-10 living Buenos Aires, […]
Polish Economic Architect Hosts UT Austin Student in Warsaw
Studying abroad exposes liberal arts students to a variety of peoples and cultures, and in the case of Hector Cantu, it landed him 3 months as a research assistant at a Polish think tank led by a legendary economist. Cantu, a UT Austin economics senior from Monterrey, Mexico, spent his summer in Warsaw meeting with […]
Student-Run Economics Journal Spotlights Undergrad Research
Undergraduate research work in economics, mathematics, international relations, finance and public policy is being recognized through a research journal founded by students at The University of Texas at Austin. The Developing Economist‘s inaugural issue was published in the spring, but the process of creating it began much earlier. Members of UT Austin chapter of Omicron […]
A Stack of Books
Recently the dean’s office asked liberal arts faculty to provide copies of the books they had authored over the years for a collection to be exhibited in the Gebauer Building. To comply with this request I began making a stack on my office desk. My stack grew to 13 books, including two I had edited […]
Liberal Arts Honors Student Awarded Truman Scholarship
Jordan Metoyer, a Liberal Arts Honors junior majoring in urban studies and economics at The University of Texas at Austin, has been awarded a prestigious Harry S. Truman Scholarship. Metoyer was one of 62 scholars from among 629 candidates nominated by 293 colleges and universities. Recipients must have outstanding leadership potential and communication skills, be […]
In Memoriam: Spring 2011
Norval Glenn, professor emeritus of sociology, who taught for 47 years at the university, died Feb. 15. He was 77 years old. A prominent scholar of family sociology, Glenn wrote extensively on marriage and divorce, aging and the life course, and methods and survey data analysis. In 2008, he co-directed the first nationally representative sample […]
In Brief: Fall 2010
The Play’s the Thing To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the English Department’s Shakespeare at Winedale program, alumni reunited this summer and performed scenes from several of the Bard’s plays. Among them was Kathryn Blackbird, class of 1984 and 1986. She used a mirror in the century-old hay barn near the idyllic country town of […]
Research Briefs: Spring 2010
The Not so Missing Link Scientists have discovered the key to understanding human evolution,” booms a typical movie-trailer voice in a History Channel documentary. “The chain is no longer missing a link.” Unfortunately, the scientists behind this documentary ignored 20 years of research, according to University of Texas anthropologist Chris Kirk. Last year, an article […]
Q&A: Unemployment and the U.S. Economy
This Labor Day, while the country is still dealing with tough economic times, we sat down with University of Texas economist Daniel Hamermesh, to get his take on unemployment and if and when to expect an economic recovery. Who or what determines when the economy has recovered? The National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge […]