Recently, Jacob Hochard '11 and Svetoslav Semov '11 presented their ongoing economics Honors research at the 37th Eastern Economic Association (EEA) Annual Conference in New York, NY.

Jacob Hochard '11: "I presented the paper titled "The effect of electricity transmission grid access on domestic electricity prices: An empirical analysis of selected European nations".  I began working on this paper last summer as a research assistant to Prof. Rimvydas Baltaduonis.  Since then, the paper evolved into my undergraduate Honors Thesis, which I will be defending in late April, 2011.  The findings of this paper are that the transmission grid interconnectedness across Europe remains fragmented and that consumers are facing increased electricity prices resulting from nations' restricted access to this common infrastructure.  The conference was a great culminating opportunity to present this work and also to receive external feedback on my research before my Honors Thesis defense.  The EEA event also provided an avenue for undergraduate researchers from a wide range of liberal arts colleges and local universities to showcase their knowledge and understanding of economics topics and their aptitude to apply that knowledge.  In this respect, I gained confidence in the training that the Economics Department at Gettysburg College has provided me with and in my own capabilities as an aspiring economist."

Svetoslav Semov '11: "Jake and I participated in Undergraduate Student Research sessions sponsored by Issues in Political Economy. I presented the paper that I am writing for my Honors Thesis: "Monetary and Fiscal Policies in Financial Crises". This was a great practice for the actual presentation of my Honors Thesis at the end of the spring semester. Also, it was interesting to see what students at other colleges and universities were working on. Finally, we saw paper presentations of the actual EEA members. For example, I attended a couple of talks on financial crises. During one of them, I heard for the first time of Michal Kalecki, a Polish economist, who is considered to have had much of the same ideas stated in the General Theory of Keynes prior to Keynes himself. But those were published in Polish and French and therefore, they went unrecognized. I also saw a talk by a Canadian professor, who claimed to have "invented" quantitative easing in the modern era - after Keynes."