Ph.D. Spotlights

Stefan Avdjiev (Economics Ph.D., 2009)

Stefan Avdjiev received his Ph.D. in Economics from SMU in 2009. During his time at SMU, he won the Melody Rice Memorial Award in Economics, a Dean’s Dissertation Fellowship, and the Outstanding Graduate Student Teacher Award. Upon the completion of his Ph.D. from SMU, he was hired as an Economist in the Monetary and Economic Department of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Currently, he is a Senior Economist and Deputy Head of International Banking and Financial Statistics at the BIS. He has conducted research in macroeconomics, asset pricing and international finance. His current research is primarily focused on issues related to international capital flows and financial stability. He has published in various Economics and Finance peer-reviewed journals, such as Review of Economic Dynamics, Economic Policy, Review of Finance and International Journal of Central Banking.

Le Wang(Economics Ph.D., 2006)

Le Wang received his Ph.D in Economics from SMU in 2006. He is currently Chong K. Liew Chair in Economics and Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Oklahoma, as well as a research fellow at IZA, Germany, and a special-term professor at Jinan University, China. He also serves as an Associate Editor of Econometric Reviews and Editorial Member of Journal of Labor Research. Prior to joining OU, he has held positions at the University of Alabama, the University of New Hampshire, and the University of Minnesota. He was a Women and Public Policy Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School.

Le’s research focuses on questions in Econometrics and the subfields of microeconomics – Labor and Demographic Economics,  Development Economics, and Public Economics. His work has been published in journals such as Journal of Econometrics, Journal of Applied Econometrics, Econometrics Journal, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics.