Maria Jose De La Cruz
Biography: Maria is a first-generation queer Latina student from Fresno, California. Maria will be the first in her extended and immediate family to have a bachelor’s degree next year. She has two younger siblings and as the eldest daughter going to a top university was her biggest dream. Getting to UCLA was a life-changing experience for her, where she learned more about herself and her passions. Maria has had many opportunities at UCLA. One passion of hers is to help others achieve their goals and learn more about their own passions. Her dream job is to become a teacher and to help others find the best version of themselves.
Future Plans: Currently, Maria is at UCLA pursuing her degree in Education and Social Transformation and Economics with a minor Accounting. Her dream job is to become a teacher in either accounting or at the K-12 level, or both. After graduating, Maria will first continue her work in the accounting world as an auditor. She will strive to obtain her CPA license as she will be eligible for it as soon as she graduates. Eventually, she will go back to school for her double master’s in Education and Accounting and start teaching at a university and/or at a K-12 school. She will fulfill her dreams as an educator who helps other students achieve their dreams.
What this scholarship means to me: Getting this scholarship will have a significant impact on my academic and personal growth. In terms of money, it will release a big weight, letting me concentrate more on my studies instead of stressing about how I’m going to pay for tuition and other costs, especially since I pay for college on my own. With this funding, I will be able to buy necessary supplies, participate more in my extracurricular activities, and potentially cut down on the number of hours I work part-time, which would free up more time for me to devote to my senior capstone requirement and complete my educational career at UCLA. Additionally, it shows that my efforts and commitment have been acknowledged, which gives me more confidence and inspires me to aim for even higher academic and personal accomplishments.
More importantly, this scholarship means a great deal to me personally. As someone whose life has always been impacted by financial difficulties, this scholarship means more than just a cash prize. It represents possibility and hope; especially as a first-generation student from immigrant parents. It gives me confidence that I am headed in the right direction and that I can achieve my goals. With this scholarship, I am more motivated than ever to succeed academically and eventually give back to my community by assisting others in realizing and accomplishing their passions in the same way that this scholarship is helping me in achieving mine.
UCLA Graduate Student Huihuang Zhu is the 2024 recipient of the Treiman Fellowship
UCLA Professor Martin Hackmann wins the Warren C. Scoville Distinguished Teaching Award for Winter 2024
UCLA Professor Martin Hackmann has won the Warren C. Scoville Distinguished Teaching Award for Winter 2024 for his course Econ131: Economics of Health and Healthcare. The course focuses on the economic analysis of the U.S. medical care sector, a major industry with $4.5 trillion in spending, accounting for 17% of GDP. It delves into the economics of health care, focusing on the production and financing of medical services. Key topics include health insurance, asymmetric information, hospital competition, physician roles in patient choices, and government interventions. Emphasizing both theory and evidence, the course covers seminal theoretical models and empirical landmark studies that test key predictions and present crucial facts for public debate. The course covers health care demand, socioeconomic health disparities, the physician labor market, the hospital industry, insurance demand, adverse selection, moral hazard, pharmaceuticals, innovation, technology’s impact on health care costs, and significant health programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and employer-sponsored insurance. Professor Hackman’s profile can be found here.
UCLA Professor Bernardo Silveira guest editor of the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
The Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization has invited UCLA Professor Bernardo Silveira to be a guest editor for the issue on ‘Conflict, Distribution, and Efficiency in Bargaining’. Details about the issue can be found here.
Former UCLA Graduate Student Fernanda Rojas-Ampuero Wins the 2024 Dorothy Thomas Award
Former UCLA Graduate Student Fernanda Rojas-Ampuero, now a Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Wisconsin, won the Population Association of America’s highly competitive 2024 Dorothy Thomas Award for best graduate student paper. Her paper, entitled “Sent Away: The Long-Term Effects of Slum Clearance on Children and Families,” documents how Chile’s mandated slum-clearance programs between 1979-1985 had large, negative long-run effects on children and parents. Displaced children earned 14% less as adults, achieved 0.64 fewer years of education, and were more likely to work in informal jobs. Displaced parents had higher mortality rates and died at younger ages. While at UCLA, Fernanda was a recipient of CCPR’s Treiman award, and received her Ph.D. in economics in 2022. Her dissertation was advised by Professors Dora Costa (chair), Adriana Lleras-Muney, and Michela Giorcelli.
UCLA graduate student Nate Barlow wins the Economic History Early Stage Dissertation Grant
Nate Barlow, a graduate student in the UCLA economics department has won the Economic History Early Stage Dissertation Grant for his project on reparations paid to Japanese internees. The grant is awarded to the most promising dissertations in economic history.
UCLA Professors Board and Meyer-ter-Vehn receive AEJ Best Paper Award
UCLA Professors Simon Board and Moritz Meyer-ter-Vehn received the American Economic Journal (AEJ) Best Paper Award for their paper ‘A Reputational Theory of Firm Dynamics’ published in the American Economic Journal: Microeconomics in 2022. The annual AEJ Best Paper Award is given to the best paper published in each of the American Economic Journals: Applied Economics, Economic Policy, Macroeconomics, and Microeconomics over the last three years.
The announcement can be found here.
The paper here.
UCLA Professor Martha Bailey Elected a Fellow of the Cliometric Society
Professor Martha Bailey was elected a fellow of the cliometric society. Fellows must have published contributions to economic history that are markedly original and have significantly advanced the frontiers of knowledge.
A complete list of Fellows can be found here.
