2026 Economics Newsletter

Department of Economics with Columbian College seal. Professor Remi Jedwab teaches a class in front of a whiteboard

Message from the Chair
Department Spotlights
Faculty Kudos
Alumni Class Notes

Message from the Chair

Dear GW Department of Economics Alumni,

Welcome to the 2026 GW Department of Economics newsletter! It is my honor to write my first chair's letter, having taken the baton from Professor Stephen Smith, whose six years of dedicated leadership built a strong foundation for the road ahead.

This past year has been one of exciting momentum. Our Center for Economic Research (CER), now under the direction of Professor Tomas Williams, continues to grow, with active programs in AI economics, forecasting, applied microeconomics, trade and development and macro-international research. Our weekly workshop series and co-sponsored conferences, including events with partners across the D.C. area, keep our faculty and students at the forefront of the field.

In addition to our research programs, our faculty continue to publish in top journals and shape economic policy, and our students and alumni are achieving remarkable things as you can see from some of the highlights in this newsletter.

I'm also thrilled to announce the Fred Joutz Technology Lab, made possible by the generosity of our donors. Featuring hot-desk setups and dedicated computing resources, the lab gives students a productive home base in the department and a place to collaborate with peers. We hope you'll join us for the official unveiling on April 27th—details available on the event website.

Finally, I want to invite you to stay connected with our growing community. Please follow the GW Department of Economics LinkedIn page and join our GW Economics Alumni LinkedIn group to keep up with department news, reconnect with classmates and engage with our network of alumni worldwide.

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at events throughout the year. Our next gathering, an Economics Fireside Chat with Amazon Science, promises to be an interesting one. We hope you can join us!

Thank you for your continued support, and please stay in touch.

Warm regards,

Tara M. Sinclair
Chair, Department of Economics

Department Spotlights

Spencer Ma Wins Undergraduate Paper Award

Senior economics and data science major Spencer Ma won the 2025 Best Undergraduate Paper Award from the International Atlantic Economic Society for his paper “Skilled Immigration and Business Diversity: Evidence from the H-1B Lottery.”

The award recognizes outstanding undergraduate research from students around the world. Ma received a $1,000 prize, a commemorative plaque and an invitation to publish his research in the Atlantic Economic Journal. He was featured in GW Today.

The IAES Best Undergraduate Paper Award highlights exceptional research by undergraduate economists globally and provides finalists the opportunity to present their work to an international academic audience.

In Memoriam: Professor Joseph J. Cordes

It is with great sadness that the George Washington University Department of Economics mourns the passing of Professor Joseph Cordes, a distinguished economist, teacher and mentor who served the university community for five decades.

Joining GW in 1975, Professor Cordes served in faculty roles across the Department of Economics, the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration and the Elliott School of International Affairs. His scholarship in public economics, tax and budget policy, and the nonprofit sector connected academic research with real-world policymaking, including service at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Congressional Budget Office.

Remembered for his intellectual rigor, leadership and generosity as a mentor, Professor Cordes made a lasting impact on generations of students and colleagues. He was remembered in GW Today.

We extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and former students. He touched many lives and will be deeply missed.

We share with sadness the passing of Robert S. Goldfarb, Emeritus Professor of Economics and former chair of the CCAS Economics Department.

Faculty Kudos

Maggie Chen and Ebad Ebadi, PhD ‘22, co-authored the paper “Good from Far, Far from Good: The Impacts of the 2016 Female Labor Reform in Iran” in the Journal of Development Economics.

Barry Chiswick co-authored the paper “Effects of the Minimum Wage on Employment of Young Adults with Cognitive Disabilities” for the National Bureau of Economic Research. It was featured by NPR’s Planet Money as a highlight of the American Economic Association 2026 Annual Meeting.

Alessandra Fenizia and Nicholas Li co-authored a paper in the Economic Journal titled “The (In)effectiveness of Targeted Payroll Tax Reductions.”

Elira Kuka was awarded a $199,992 grant from the Russell Sage Foundation to study how application assistance affects the receipt of unemployment benefits.

Tanner Regan co-authored a paper in the Economic Journal titled “Illuminating the Global South.”

Roberto Samaniego and Xiaohan Ma, PhD ’16, co-authored a paper in the Journal of Money Credit and Banking titled “Estimating the Ideas' Production Function Using Macro-Economic Persistence.”

Christopher Sleet joined the GW Economics Department as a full professor. His research is at the intersection of public and macroeconomics and he was previously on faculty at the University of Rochester and Carnegie Mellon.

Stephen Smith authored Economic Development (with Michael Todaro), which will published its 14th edition in June 2026. Their book is widely considered the leading textbook in the field of development economics.

Tomas Williams co-authored a paper in the Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization titled “Drug money and bank lending: the unintended consequences of anti-money laundering policies.”

Anthony Yezer wrote the book Economics of Crime and Enforcement, which is now in its second edition.

Alumni Class Notes

Melda Akan, MS ’26, earned the distinction of Highest Honors for achieving the highest cumulative GPA in her coursework towards earning her master’s in applied economics.
Matthew Allen, BA ’23, is a legislative aide in the Senate handling banking and economic policy, having previously worked at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He will be attending Columbia Law School in fall 2027.
Menaja Bhamare, BA '25, will start LSE’s MSc in Development Management (Applied Development Economics) programme in the fall of 2026.
Sanjay Gupta, BS ’98, relocated from London to New York and joined private equity firm New State Capital as an investment partner. He is leading a niche investment strategy at New State.
Monica Huddleston, BA ’75, retired from management at SBC (now AT&T) in 2000 and served two terms as mayor of Greendale, Mo. He spends much of his time volunteering.
Charlene Kalenkoski, BS ’96, MPhil ’99, was profiled by Mount St. Joseph University, where she is the dean of the School of Business & Communication.
Ari Kasper, BS ’11, is an associate general counsel with WPS Health Solutions.
Won Jun Lee, BA ’09, is senior foreign counsel at Joowon LLC, which has produced national minister-level officers and legislators in South Korea, and is also serving on ABA ILS committees as vice-chair (CBRE) and steering member (ECES).
Gerald Miller, MA ’89, after decades of travel for work, enjoys traveling with his family from their home in Pennsylvania to experience other countries and cultures. However, he is still not fully retired; he’s currently helping one of his sons establish and grow a financial services business.
Jorge Ordenes, BA ’82, has written more than 900 articles in Spanish which were published in magazines and newspapers in Bolivia and other countries. Jorge gave more than 900 conferences and published seven books.
Kiran Rimal, MS ’23, became a NABE Scholar, Class of 2025-26, and is now a research analyst at the International Monetary Fund in the Fiscal Affairs Department, where he works on tax policy issues for countries in Central Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Francophone Africa.
Tim Riordan, BA ’14, was promoted to manager of sports programming at SiriusXM. He produces shows on the Fantasy Sports Radio channel and has been with the company since his internship in 2013.
Virginia Robano, PhD ’12, is leading research on AI in education and gender equity in STEM as senior policy advisor at Ceibal in Uruguay. She is also developing frameworks for measuring digital capital, including the strategic redesign of Uruguay's micro:bit program for 2025-2030.
Ahmed Rostom, PhD '15, became Egypt’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development in February 2026.
Paige Terryberry, MS ’17, is a senior research fellow at the Foundation for Government Accountability and published an opinion piece in the Washington Post in 2026 titled “Trump is right. Food stamps shouldn’t pay for soda.”
Greg Zarelli, BA ’77, is eternally grateful to GW for a very good undergraduate education and for helping me get into an excellent graduate program on assistantship. He had a successful career as an economist in the airline industry then ended up going to med school.
Hannah Zawacki, BS ’17, celebrated her wedding in October 2025 to her husband Paul, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Hannah started a new position as a senior marketing manager at Exact Sciences, focused on their precision oncology portfolio.