September 2010: First fall meeting of Democracy & Markets Graduate Student Forum

In the spring of 2010, the Tobin Project issued a call for fellowship aplications from students doing work that addresses the intersection between democratic institutions and economic markets. Fellowships were awarded to fourteen students, whose projects ranged from "Policymaking at the U.S. Federal Reserve" to "Farming Families, Farm Policy, and the Business of Southern Agriculture, 1940-1980." Many of the felloship recipients came together in September for the first fall meeting of the Democracy & Markets forum.

At the first meeting, Daniel Shoag (Harvard University, Ph.D. candidate in Economics) presented his dissertation research on the multiplier effect of U.S. government spending on economic growth and employment. Linking the graduate student forum to our policymaker community, the Tobin Project shared this research with Jared Bernstein (Chief Economist, Office of the Vice President), who had expressed interest in the topic during earlier conversations.  

With a focus on building an intellectually engaged and supportive community through recurring gatherings, this seminar builds into an ongoing graduate student forum series, which includes Democracy & Markets fellowship recipients and has brought students from some of the country’s top programs into interdisciplinary conversations over the past year. Participants have praised the program’s idea-generating atmosphere, propelled by the unique opportunity for students to exchange feedback with an interdisciplinary group of peers and to begin building an academic community of their own.

2010 Democracy & Markets fellowship recipients »