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John Dunlop Undergraduate Thesis Prize in Business and Government
The John Dunlop Thesis Prize in Business and Government is an annual award for Harvard undergraduates, provided by the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government at the Kennedy School.
Established in 2007, the award is given to the Harvard College graduating senior who writes the best thesis on a challenging public policy issue at the interface of business and government. Papers which examine the business-government interface with respect to regulation, corporate responsibility, energy, the environment, health care, education, technology and human rights are particularly encouraged, however papers on other topics will also be considered. A $500 prize will be provided to the winning entry.
To apply, bring a hard copy of your thesis, readers' comments, CV, and this application form to Jennifer Nash, Belfer 501, HKS, by Friday, May 10, 2013, at noon. Please note the new date!
The prize is named after John T. Dunlop, the Lamont University Professor Emeritus, a widely respected labor economist who served as dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences from 1969 to 1973. An adviser to many U.S. presidents, beginning with Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dunlop was secretary of labor under Gerald Ford, serving from March 1975 to January 1976. In addition to serving as secretary of labor, Dunlop held many other government posts, including: director of the Cost of Living Council, (1973-74), chairman of the Construction Industry Stabilization Committee (1993-95), chair of the Massachusetts Joint Labor- Management Committee for Municipal Police and Firefighters (1977-2003) and Chair of the Commission on Migratory Farm Labor (1984-2003). Dunlop served as the second director of the Center for Business and Government from 1987 to 1991. The Center, renamed in 2005 as the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, focuses on policy issues at the intersection of business and government. Dunlop died in 2003.
2012 honoree:
Trung Nguyen has won for her thesis: “It Is Easy to Be Brave from a Safe Distance: Distance to the SEC and Insider Trading.” In her thesis, Ms. Nguyen examines the effect of geographic distance on the Security Exchange Commission’s (SEC) investigations and on firms’ insider trading practices. She has found that the SEC is more likely to investigate firms that are located nearby, and that firms located at greater distance from the SEC are more likely to engage in insider trading.
Ms. Nguyen is a senior at Harvard College graduating with an A.B in Economics. She has worked as a research assistant to Harvard Professors Belen Villalonga, Beth Simmons, and Michael Stein. She plans to pursue a doctorate in economics.
Congratulations to Nguyen! Read the press release.
Past honorees:
2011
WINNER: Jackson Salovaara, “Coal to Natural Gas Fuel Switching and CO2 Emissions Reduction.”
HONORABLE MENTION: Samuel Barr, “Deliberative Democracy and Corporate Political Advertising.”
2010
WINNER: Daniel Eric Herz-Roiphe, “Is the Price Right? Reexamining the Relationship Between Age and the Value of Statistical Life.”
HONORABLE MENTION: Colin Motley, “The Commercial Paper Funding Facility: Impact and What It Tells US about the Crisis in Commercial Paper from 2007-2009.”
2008
WINNER: Michael Sperling, "The Unintended Consequences of Government Interventions in the Domestic Ethanol Market"
HONORABLE MENTION: David R. Porter, "Making Trade Fair: The Negotiation and Implementation of NAFTA Chapter 20"
2007
WINNER: Pablo M. Tsutsumi, "Domestic Intentions, International Repercussions: An Empirical Study on the Impact of SOX on Latin American ADRs"
HONORABLE MENTION: Elina Tetelbaum, “A Sobering Look at How Minimum Legal Drinking Age Laws Affect Traffic Fatalities”
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