The European Economic Association (EEA), with the UniCredit Foundation, has awarded its Economics Job Market Best Paper Award to Guangbin Jeremy Hong. Hong is a graduate student in the Department of Economics in the Faculty of Arts & Science at the University of Toronto.
The award is open to all PhD candidates or graduates who plan to participate in the European Job Market for Economists in 2023-2024. Truly global in scope, the award is open to students of all nationalities enrolled at all universities. Of the ten papers recognized by the EEA’s scientific committee, Hong’s is the only one written at a Canadian university.
“I’ve had a lot of support from my committee and my colleagues here at U of T,” Hong said. “This award made me recognize just how many opportunities around the world my studies have offered me. It’s such an honour.”
The paper, Two-Sided Sorting of Workers and Firms: Implications for Spatial Inequality and Welfare, examines why both the best firms and the best workers choose to locate in big cities, a phenomenon Hong uses the term “co-locate” to describe. These location choices affect the aggregate productivity of the economy, and everyone’s economic well-being.
“How firms and workers co-locate across cities, and why it matters in terms of earnings inequality and location-based policies, is an extremely timely topic for a job market paper,” said Professor Kevin Lim, a member of Hong’s supervision committee. “The European Economic Association’s recognition of Jeremy’s research confirms its relevance and importance to understanding economic conditions internationally.”
The paper also won the Bank of Canada Graduate Student Paper Award.
“This is well-deserved international recognition of Guangbin Jeremy Hong’s work,” said Professor Ettore Damiano, chair of the Department of Economics. “The success of his job market paper comes as no surprise to his supervision team, but this award is welcome cause for celebration. I am happy to extend my congratulations to Jeremy on behalf of our department.”
The job market paper (JMP) is a unique feature of the economics discipline in which PhD candidates restructure key chapters of their dissertation for academic search committees.