Economics Department awards undergraduate research prizes  

Oct. 11, 2023

The Department of Economics in the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University is happy to announce the winners of the 2022-23 Undergraduate Research Prizes.   

The Department awards two prizes: 1) The Peter Sinclair Undergraduate Research Prize for longer research papers, typically those submitted to EC481, our capstone research project course; 2) The Short Undergraduate Research Prize, for shorter papers on any topic in economics.   

This year’s Peter Sinclair Undergraduate Research Prize is awarded to Jillian Armstrong and Jacob Schnittke.  Armstrong’s paper “Are NBA Players or WNBA Players More Underpaid in Relation to their MRP?” explores real-life professional basketball salaries relative to what we would expect from theoretical models in labour economics.  She finds that the average player is significantly underpaid relative to the revenue they generate, and that the pay discrepancy is worse for WNBA players.   

Schnittke’s paper “Degree of Integration Between U.S. and European Natural Gas Price Markets” studies the co-movements in natural gas prices across the U.S. and the U.K. since 2004.  He finds that in the first half of the time period the two were unrelated, but more recently the prices move together.    

Armstrong will graduate this fall with an honours degree in Economics and Financial Management.  Schnittke graduated in June with an honours degree in Economics with research specialization and a minor in mathematics.   

“On behalf of the Economics Department, we would like to congratulate Jillian and Jacob on their excellent research papers and we with them every success in their careers,” said Associate Chair of the Department, Justin Smith. 

Additionally, congratulations to the following runners up for the Peter Sinclair Undergraduate Research Prize: 

• Ahmed Butt – “How Do Unconventional Policies Such As Quantitative Easing/Tightening Affect the Economic Perceptions For Future Growth By Investors Through The Yield Curve”

• Yirui Huang – “How Does Class Size Affect Student Performance During Compulsory Schooling?” 

The Short Undergraduate Paper Prize is awarded to Caleb Enns, a fourth-year student in the Economics and Accounting program, for his paper “Should Ontario Implement a Tax on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages?” In this paper, Enns explores the persistent policy question of whether to tax sugary drinks to improve public health.  After an in-depth examination of the evidence, he concludes that a tax on sugary beverages is warranted. 

Congratulations also to Rhea Sen, runner up for the short paper prize for their paper, “How Elastic Is The Demand For Legal Cannabis Sales When Considering The Illegal Cannabis Market As A Substitute?” 

“As always, we receive many very high quality submissions and, even though they may not have won the prize, the Economics Department congratulates all of our students who submitted papers on their excellent research,” said Smith.