Fellows

Linda Wu is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Stone Centre on Wealth and Income Inequality. She will join the University of Michigan as an Assistant Professor of Economics in Fall 2026. Her main research fields are public finance and labor economics, with a focus on wealth transfers and capital taxation. She holds a PhD in Economics from University College London and is affiliated with the Stone Centre at UCL and the Rockwool Foundation Berlin.

Daniel Araújo is a PhD candidate in Economics at UBC. His research focuses on income inequality and intergenerational mobility, particularly emphasizing the dynamics of modern slavery and the long-term impacts of economic policies. Daniel has published in leading journals such as The Journal of Health Economics and The Journal of Development Economics. His work aims to understand the causes of economic disparities and inform policies promoting economic equity.

Pierre-Loup Beauregard is a PhD candidate in Economics at UBC. His research centers on the complex relationship between spatial and wealth inequality. In his current work, he explores the long-term effects of childhood neighbourhoods on economic outcomes, focusing on the underlying mechanisms that drive these effects. His work relies heavily on large administrative datasets and causal inference methods. The rest of his research agenda spans topics in labour and urban economics. Before joining UBC, he studied at the Université du Québec à Montréal and Queen’s University.

Sara Benetti is a PhD candidate in Economics at UBC. Her research examines how socio-economic shocks shape inequality in culturally diverse communities. Sara’s broader research agenda investigates other historical drivers of minority assimilation in the United States, including frictions across successive waves of immigrant arrivals, immigrant workers’ responses to severe economic shocks, and the role of legal institutions in shaping outcomes for American First Nations. She combines newly digitized historical data with modern empirical methods, adopting a multidisciplinary perspective that draws on insights from across the social sciences. Before joining UBC, she studied at Bocconi University.

Angel Espinoza is a is a PhD candidate in Economics at UBC. His research interests lie at the intersection of labor economics and international trade, with a particular focus on how these fields relate to income and wealth disparities. Angel is particularly interested in conducting research with clear implications for policy making. His current research agenda includes examining the distributional effects of minimum wages and rules of origin in trade agreements, analyzing the impact of union democratization in Mexico, and exploring the effects of trade-driven robot adoption on labor markets. He is also actively engaged in volunteer work, having founded ITAM Construye, an organization in Mexico dedicated to strengthening social cohesion through community service.

Daniel Guzmán is a PhD candidate in Economics at UBC. His research lies at the intersection of labour, macroeconomics, and public finance. His ongoing work examines how an increase in the value-added tax (VAT) on professional service purchases affects firms’ outsourcing decisions, as well as its broader equity and efficiency implications. He previously worked at the Central Bank of Chile and the Inter-American Development Bank. He holds an MA and a BSc in Economics from Universidad de los Andes (Colombia); an MSc in Quantitative Finance; and BSc degrees in Economics and in International Trade & Finance from Universidad del Rosario.

Prerna Kundu is a PhD candidate in Economics at UBC. Her research examines the legal and social determinants of wealth inequality, with a focus on gender and land ownership in India. In her current work, she builds a novel dataset of over 7 million digitized land records to study how inheritance law reforms shape women’s asset ownership. In related work, she is investigating the micro-dynamics of rural land markets, and the role of social norms in women’s economic seclusion. Prerna’s research agenda is shaped by extensive field experience, including her time as a Research Associate at J-PAL South Asia. She is the co-founder of Women in Econ/Policy, an Indian nonprofit advancing mentorship and visibility for women in economics and development.

Sebastian Melo-Martin is a PhD candidate in Economics at UBC. His research explores how firms adjust to trade shocks and how these adjustments shape workers’ earnings inequality across developed and middle-income countries. Sebastian is currently working on understanding the role of labour market institutions, particularly unions, in mediating workers’ wage and employment responses to external demand shocks. His work also examines the spillover effects of major economic transformations, such as the expansion of the lithium sector in Chile, on connected firms and workers throughout production networks. Before joining UBC, he worked at the Chief Economist Office for Latin America and the Caribbean at The World Bank on labour and trade-related research projects. He studied at Universidad de los Andes in Colombia.

Vibhu Pratyush is a PhD candidate in Economics at UBC. His research explores how inequality affects social mobility, human capital attainment and the political economy of development with a particular emphasis on land ownership in rural India. In his current work he examines how land ownership inequality affects intergenerational educational mobility in rural India. In other work he looks at how elite landlord control over local political institutions in rural India impacts the functioning of institutions and its consequences for development. Prior to joining UBC he worked as an economist at McKinsey & Company and the The Economist Group in India and earned his B.A at the University of Delhi.

Xiomara Pulido is a PhD candidate in Economics at UBC. Her research explores how environmental policies and climate shocks shape income and wealth inequality. Her current projects include analyzing the impact of carbon taxes on firms’ decisions and the distributional effects on owners as well as high- and low-skill workers in Canada. She is also studying how temperature shocks affect educational outcomes, such as standardized test performance, access to higher education, and entry into the formal labor market, among students from different income backgrounds in Colombia. She previously worked at the Inter-American Development Bank and holds an MA and a BSc in Economics from Universidad de los Andes (Colombia).

Diana Ricciulli is a PhD candidate in Economics at UBC. Her research examines how wealth inequality shapes tax systems and the effects of taxation on firms, workers, and housing markets. She aims to contribute to the design of tax policies that address inequality without hindering productive activity and economic growth. Diana’s interest in inequality and taxation began with her earlier work on income and regional disparities in Latin America, which continues to inform her current research.

Ratzanyel Rincón is a PhD Candidate in Economics at UBC. His research focuses on studying how labour regulations and public policy affect inequality in the labour market. His current work examines the effects of union democratization, the interaction between wage subsidies and minimum wage policies, and immigrant entrepreneurship. He is also interested in causal inference methods. Before joining the Ph.D. program at UBC, Ratzanyel worked as an economist at Banco de México. He holds a B.S. in Physics and Mathematics from Instituto Politécnico Nacional and an M.A. in Economics from El Colegio de México.

Carla Srebot Roeder is a PhD Candidate in Economics at UBC. Her research examines how labor market institutions influence inequality and worker mobility. Her current work investigates the roots of informality in a developing economy, focusing on how limited outside options and workplace amenities affect labor market power, the gender pay gap, and job mobility. More broadly, she studies how policies and the actions of workplace leaders can reshape labor markets and reduce gender disparities. Together, her projects highlight the interplay between informality, labor regulation, and managerial practices in shaping economic inequality.

Danny Lu is an MA Thesis student in Economics at UBC. His research interests span economic history, political economy, and behavioural economics. Currently, he is completing his Master’s thesis, which examines the historical and cultural roots of contemporary wealth and income inequality within Africa. Before joining UBC, Danny completed his Honours Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Alberta, where he also gained policy experience at the provincial and federal levels of government.

Brian Wall is an MA Thesis student in Economics at UBC and an academic emergency physician with over 15 years of clinical and teaching experience across three Canadian provinces. He combines frontline clinical expertise with economic training to inform health policy and system design. His current research, in partnership with Vancouver Island Health Authority and the BC Ministry of Health, studies how physician compensation, access to primary care, and emergency department crowding shape patient outcomes and equity. Dr. Wall lives in Victoria, BC, with his partner, two young sons, and their dog. 

Shihan Chen is a Master’s student in Economics at UBC.

Dui Davidsson is a Master’s student in Economics at UBC. His main research interests lie in labour, urban, and macroeconomics, with a particular emphasis on the education system. As of now, he plans to study how changes in school choice, learning environment, and educational policy can affect inequalities in academic and market achievements among students. Before joining UBC, Dui completed a Combined Honours Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Philosophy at McMaster University.

Victoria Fernandes is a Master’s student in Economics at UBC. Her research interests centre on macroeconomics, financial economics and environmental economics, with a particular emphasis on inequality and distributional outcomes. She completed her undergraduate degrees at the University of Western Ontario with an Honours Specialization in Economics (Huron University College) and an Honours in Business Administration (Ivey Business School). Prior to joining the MA program, Victoria worked as a research assistant at the Bank of Canada, where she continues to be an external academic consultant.

Roa’a Hamed is a Master’s student in Economics at UBC. Her research interests include economic development and political economy, with a focus on economic reforms. She holds dual Honours degrees in Biomedical Science (University of Guelph) and Economics (University of Waterloo) and a Canada Graduate Research Scholarship for her research proposal decomposing the effects of modern agreements on income inequality. Prior to joining UBC, Roa’a worked as a research analyst in the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.

Harlan Hofmann-Miller is a Master’s student in Economics at UBC. His research interests lie in economic history, the historical roots of inequality, and climate adaptation. He completed an Honours BSc. in Economics at the University of Victoria, where he researched the relationship between housing markets and fertility choices. Prior to joining UBC, Harlan worked as a data analyst in the private sector, consulting for airlines and fintech firms.

Anya Petek is a Master’s student in Economics at UBC. She is interested in labour economics, political economy and inequality. Her undergraduate honours thesis examined the effect of BC’s child care affordability reform on maternal labour force participation and whether some socio-demographic groups benefited more than others. She plans to pursue a career in public policy post-graduation. 

Katherine Townson-Carolan is a Master’s student in Economics at UBC. She recently graduated with an Honours degree in Economics and a Minor in Sociology from McGill University. Her research interests lie in labour, public, and gender economics, with a particular focus on examining gender inequality in the labour market.