Honours student Jaycee Tolentino is this year’s recipient of the best undergraduate research paper award from the Bank of Canada and the Canadian Economics Association.
“This is truly an honour,” said Tolentino. “I am extremely grateful for the invaluable guidance of my advisors, professors Claudio Ferraz and Marit Rehavi, as well as for the support from all my friends and family.”
Jaycee Tolentino
Tolentino was one of ten students to present his paper in a CEA virtual poster session last month. The Bank of Canada sponsored award comes with a $500 prize.
Tolentino’s paper focused on whether natural disaster relief was vulnerable to politicization in the United States. He found that presidents between 1966 to 2016 use emergency federal assistance to attempt to flip seats in competitive congressional districts.
“This paper scrutinizes the incentives and actions of politicians, which I think is a crucial step in keeping government accountable,” said Tolentino.
Tolentino is set to graduate from UBC next year and plans to pursue graduate studies.
To learn more about Tolentino’s paper, visit our online Honours Poster Session here.
Click the video below to hear Jaycee describe his research.
