Five of Dartmouth's senior economics majors ventured to Washington, D.C., over the weekend to participate in the Carroll Round economic conference on international economics at Georgetown University.
Lidia Barabash, Kevin Goldstein, Nathan Saperia, James Liao and Michael Haase were selected to participate in the conference based on papers from their international economics class. The conference aimed to "enhance the quality of academic life" for the students, according to Nancy Marion, the economics 49 professor who taught the seniors this winter.
Only 40 to 50 international economics students from around the country were selected for Round, based on their research.
"Papers were judged on the originality of the concept and the quality of research," Marion said.
"We're very overrepresented at this conference," she added. "It's very good publicity for Dartmouth"
While at the conference, the five students met with several distinguished economists.
"The coolest thing we did," according to Goldstein, was "meeting with [Federal Reserve governor] Bernake, in the very boardroom where the Open Market Committee meets."
Goldstein also said he appreciated being treated as an equal by the economists, rather than getting "the canned spiel."
Barabash, whose paper focused on market reform in former Soviet nations, cited meeting professor Maurice Obstfeld, who wrote the international economics textbook Dartmouth uses, as the highlight of the Round.
Students also enjoyed meeting graduate students in economics.
Barabash said she particularly enjoyed meeting University of Chicago graduate students, considering the university has one of the top economics programs in the world.
"You don't meet many people going into academic economics at Dartmouth," said Saperia, whose paper examined whether deposit insurance in developing countries increases the likelihood of banking panics.
Saperia will be going into consulting after graduation but plans to eventually get a graduate degree in economics. Participation in the Round will probably enhance job prospects for Saperia and other participants.
"It certainly sets you apart," Marion said. "It's a very selective conference."
Economists William Easterly and Edwin Truman also spoke at the conference.
Dartmouth has participated in the conference for the last two years, and sent two students last year. The annual conference was started four years ago.
The papers were all empirically researched. Students used data sets available from the Berry Library, the World Bank and previous papers.
Goldstein, whose paper confirmed previous research indicating that political freedom -- and not GDP -- was the primary determinant in a country's production of terrorism, says that he would like to work in Washington in applied security policy.
"[Selection for the conference] has reinforced the students' interest in economics," said Marion.
Liao, who was unavailable for comment, investigated corruption in developing countries and its effect on foreign direct investment.
Haase's paper examined whether terms of trade volatility reduced investments in developing countries. He was also unavailable for comment.
The conference was held from April 21 to April 24, and all Dartmouth student expenses were paid for, mainly by the Dickey Center.
