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Elif BaÅŸaran

I am a fifth year PhD candidate in the Department of Economics at Penn State University. My research areas are International Trade, Development, and Labor Economics.

 

My current projects focus on the socio-economic implications of national policies regarding minimum wages, value added taxes, and immigration.

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Research

1. Impact of a Refugee Influx on Native Flight, Rents, and Wages: Evidence from Türkiye 

[job market paper, work in progress]

  • Examining the economic implications of the Syrian refugees influx into Türkiye

  • Incorporating native mobility in a dynamic spatial model with endogenous amenities

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2. Minimum Wages, VAT, and Export Market Participation: The Case of Mexico

[3rd year paper, work in progress]

  • Disentangling the effects of a high minimum wage rise as well as a VAT reduction in the North Border Free Zone of Mexico, on its exports to US during 2016-2021

  • Analyzing the general equilibrium effects of the policy bundle

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3. R&D Collaborations as a Determinant of Assortative Matching [2nd year proposal]

  • Observing the effect of knowledge spillovers between domestic firms within an R&D network, on their trade partner matches abroad

  • Introducing “knowledge capital" to the model as the productivity measure, in order to determine the matches

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4. Unequal Global Convergence [Research Assistantship]

  • Collecting employment data on a sectoral and regional level for 31 countries, from 1980 onwards

  • Data cleaning and interpolation using Stata

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5. On the Economics of International Trademarking [MA thesis, work in progress]

  • Using Melitz trade model as a baseline with the extension of adding country-specific productivities, observing the trademarking patterns internationally

  • Working with the World International Patent Organization (WIPO) trademark data on R

Teaching

Instructor and TA Positions​

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  • Summer Instructor (In-Person): Intermediate Microeconomics - Penn State University

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  • Summer Instructor (World Campus): Labor Economics - Penn State University

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  • Teaching Assistant: Economics of Financial Crisis, Labor Economics, International Economics
    - Penn State University​

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  • Teaching Assistant: Monetary Policy and Financial Markets, Principles of Economics
    - Koç University

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  • Instructor for Koç University Office of Learning and Teaching (KOLT): Intermediate Macroeconomics
    - Koç University

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Teaching Evaluation

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"Elif Basaran is an effective, knowledgeable, and student-centric instructor who fosters a deep understanding of the subject matter while encouraging critical thinking and interpretation. Her ability to remain thorough with the coursework and accommodate her students in a condensed semester illustrates her adaptability and understanding of the classroom dynamic. The way she instructed the material while supplementing students’ questions allowed for a strong foundation to be set for a student to progress confidently through the remainder of their ECON degree path. Her abilities to reframe a students' perspective around the subject matter enabled her class to not only comprehend the concept of the material but also the interpretation of the ideas behind the concepts."

 

"One of the best organizations I've seen from a college professor. Class notes are updated weekly so that students have no issue accessing the notes they may have missed. It becomes very easy to refer back to those class notes to ask questions during office hours, and she answers all questions."

 

"Very good professor. She explains the topic very well. Besides the topic she even explains how to solve the problem mathematically. Flexible office hours. She always welcomes students with questions and assists to reach them to higher grade. Good preparation for the exam. She is the most professional professor I have ever seen."

 

"It was awesome. She provided clear notes and was a great lecturer. She was always able to go the extra mile for students and listen to feedback."

 

"Elif makes the lectures easy to follow and is always understanding when students ask questions in class. She also makes herself very available for office hours and in this time she regularly helps students work through difficulties with the coursework."

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