Student Research

The economics department encourages majors to consider independent research projects as part of their major program. Each year, the most promising independent studies are considered for departmental honors.

2023 Honors Projects

Emma Bomfim

Emma Bomfim ’23

"Infant and Maternal Health Outcomes following Improved Substance Use Disorder Treatment for Pregnant Women"

In response to the issue of maternal substance use disorder (SUD), 19 states funded SUD treatment programs targeted to pregnant women to make treatment more accessible and specialized. Using a difference-in-difference empirical framework and data from the National Vital Statistics System Natality and Mortality files, I investigate the effects of these programs on infant and maternal health outcomes. My results indicate that programs led to an increase in gestational age (0.1 percent increase) and decrease in the incidence of preterm births (1.6 percent decrease). Using quantile regressions, I find that programs have the largest impacts on groups that have the highest share of adverse health outcomes. I explore heterogeneity in treatment effects and find that programs have the greatest impact on mothers with less than a high school education: programs cause an increase in gestational age (0.2 percent) and a decrease in the incidence of preterm births (3.3 percent). For this subgroup, I also find suggestive evidence of a decrease in the incidence of low-birthweight births (3.7 percent) and an increase in prenatal care usage (3.4 percent). My results provide strong evidence that targeted SUD treatment programs improve birth outcomes. 

Plans after graduation:  I will be joining the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington D.C. as an Economics Research Assistant with the Research and Statistics Division. After a few years with the Board, I hope to pursue a PhD in economics. 

Anna Constantine headshot

Anna Constantine ’23

"An Alternative Perspective on Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs): Underpricing in the “No Target” Phase"

Special Purpose Acquisition Companies marked a restructuring of the often-fraudulent 1980s blank check company, an entity gathering funds to merge or acquire another business entity. Based on the Special Purpose Acquisition Company structure, “the stock price should be greater than or equal to the pro-rata trust value, discounted from the SPAC’s expiration date, at all times prior to the shareholder vote date.” In this study, I research the “no target” phase of the Special Purpose Acquisition Company’s lifecycle to evaluate whether there is a difference between their trust value and their market capitalization. Based on previous research, we know that there is a discount to trust value prior to 2009; however, I postulate the decoupling of the SPAC merger approval vote and the vote for investors to redeem may eliminate this discount. Using a first difference regression to establish the premium to the average trust value of 1,057 Special Purpose Acquisition Companies traded between 2005 and 2022, we find that both the period before 2010 and after 2010 trades at a negative premium, or discount. Because the decoupling of the merger vote and the redemption vote did not eliminate the negative premium to trust value, I postulate that the structure of SPAC redemptions, modeled as a call option with decaying time value, may be responsible for this mispricing. I also draw opportunities for future research to investigate if the embedding of a call option into the SPAC redemption structure discourages shareholders from desiring merger outcomes early in the SPAC lifecycle. 

Plans after graduation: I will be working in Healthcare Investment Banking at TD Cowen in New York City. 

Past Honors Projects