Merve Demirel Derebaşoğlu and Ömer Faruk Akbal, two recent PhD graduates from the Department of Economics, attained second and third place respectively in the 2022 Best PhD Dissertation competition held by the Turkish Economic Association (Türkiye Ekonomi Kurumu).
Dr. Demirel Derebaşoğlu’s thesis, “Three Essays on the Effects of Education Policies on Education and Labor Market Outcomes in Turkey” (supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Çağla Ökten), examines the impact of recent changes in education policies on education and labor market outcomes in Turkey. Dr. Demirel Derebaşoğlu is currently working as a consultant with the World Bank, Ankara.
Dr. Akbal’s thesis, “Nonlinearities in Macroeconomic Policy” (supervisor: Asst. Prof. Sang Seok Lee), explores nonlinear approaches in large-scale macroeconomic models, with a particular focus on monetary policy, and analyzes the effectiveness of nonlinear applications. Dr. Akbal is currently working as an economist with the International Monetary Fund, Washington DC.
