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July 2015
Sam M. Young
Department of Economics
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive #0508
La Jolla, CA 92093-0508
(408) 887-7255
smyoung@ucsd.edu
http://econweb.ucsd.edu/~smyoung
Education
University of California, San Diego
2010-Present
Ph.D., Economics (in progress)
Fields: Public Economics; Labor Economics; Economics of Education
Committee: Julian Betts; Julie Cullen (chair); Gordon Dahl; Sally Sadoff; Krislert Samphantharak
University of California, Davis
B.A., Economics, with Highest Honors
2008
Academic Honors:
Department Fellowship (first-year), UC San Diego
Phi Beta Kappa
IBM Thomas J. Watson Memorial Scholarship
Finalist, National Merit Scholarship
2010
2008
2005
2005
Supplemental Teaching Training:
Summer Graduate Teaching Scholar, UCSD Center for Teaching Development
The College Classroom, UCSD Center for Teaching Development
2015
2015
Research in Progress
Economics Papers:
- “Do Colleges Favor Students from Lower-Achieving High Schools? Estimates from the University of
California”
-
“The ‘College Prep for All’ Mandate – An Examination of New Graduation Requirements in the Context
of San Diego” (with Julian R. Betts, Andrew C. Zau, and Karen Volz Bachofer)
-
“How Sensitive Are School Value-Added Estimates to Methodology?” (with Julian R. Betts)
Other Work:
- “Why Don’t We Have FIP for Hitters? A Need and Attempt to De-luck Hitter Performance”
 Poster presentation at Saber Seminar 2014
 Submitted to MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference 2014
Experience
Associate-in, University of California, San Diego
 Instructor of record for ECON 3: Principles of Macroeconomics during Summer Session II
Teaching Assistant, University of California, San Diego
ECON 1 Principles of Microeconomics: Fall 2010
ECON 2 Market Imperfections: Winter 2013
ECON 3 Principles of Macroeconomics: Fall 2011
ECON 100A Microeconomics: Winter 2012; Winter 2015
ECON 100C Microeconomics: Spring 2012; Fall 2014
2015
2010-Present
July 2015
ECON 120A Econometrics: Winter 2011
ECON 131 Economics of the Environment: Fall 2012; Fall 2013
ECON 145 Economics of Ocean Resources: Spring 2014
ECON 147 Economics of Education: Winter 2014; Spring 2015
ECON 161 Global Integration of Latin America: Spring 2011; Spring 2013
Graduate Student Researcher for Professor Julian Betts
2012, 2014-2015
 Studied the impact of increased graduation standards on students, using data from San Diego Unified
School District. Found that, through the 2012-13 school year, the new standards appear to have
increased the number of target courses completed by 9th grade, with no evidence adverse side
effects.
 Estimated the value-added of elementary schools in San Diego Unified School District using panel
data on standardized test scores, studying the sensitivity of estimates to the model specification, and
comparing school rankings based on value-added with traditional rankings using simple levels
Instructor, Academic Connections (UCSD Extension)
 Taught Principles of Macroeconomics to students enrolled in a college-level summer course
 Weekly responsibilities included lecture, administering group work and in-class exercises, and
composing and grading quizzes and homework
 Supplemented textbook material with field trips, documentaries, and applications from other
economic subfields to help students gain broader understanding of the subject
2013
Graduate Student Researcher for Professor Gordon Dahl
 Policy project on crime and family violence
 Reviewed literature and cleaned/coded National Crime Victimization Survey data in Stata
 Performed statistical analysis for a working hypothesis on the decline of domestic violence.
Considered both levels and first-differences of violence and hypothesized drivers of violence.
2011
Research Analyst Intern, Equilar
Summer Analyst, Bay Capital Partners
Research Intern, IBM (China Research Lab)
2009
2008
2007
Skills
Computer: Stata; LaTeX; Microsoft Office Suite; internet applications; Matlab; EViews
Languages: English (native); Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Italian (conversational)
Personal & Other
Volunteer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
Hobbies: singing; photography; chess
Other interests: baseball; ice hockey; cinema; theater