Economics Club
The Carolina Economics Club (CEC) creates opportunities for students to explore economics outside their traditional coursework through fun, tangible, and impactful programming. The Executive Board, along with club advisor, Dr. Rita Balaban, works to coordinate events that enable their peers to discuss and debate about how economics affects our lives by exposing them to the frontiers of economic research and reasoning. The CEC also aims to foster a strong network of students and alumni through networking events and Case Competitions.
The major events that the Club coordinates include a speaker series which features well-known economists, authors, and researchers as well as professors and professionals. This series also includes panel discussions in which speakers share their perspectives and discuss or debate with others on a focused topic relating to economics such as Minimum Wage, Bush Tax Cuts, U.S. Financial Crisis, Euro crisis, Fiscal and Monetary Policy, and other research and policy-oriented topics. Additionally, the club coordinates informal exchanges of information among undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty about UNC’s Economics curriculum, current events, and career and research opportunities for Economics majors. This includes coordination of Panel Events with UNC ECON faculty and other organizations both in the Economics Department and the Kenan-Flagler Business School. The Club also conducts semester-based Case Competitions which aim to apply both theoretical and empirical economic reasoning into the real world via a collaborative team environment and a judge panel of both faculty and external consulting firms. Finally, the Club, through their career and social-oriented programming, has worked to engage a broader cross-section of the student body by coordinating events that are more interactive. For instance, we have brought keynote speakers to assist economics majors with career decisions, fostered networking opportunities with companies like Northwestern Mutual, PWC, and Deloitte, along with resume workshops to better prepare Tar Heels in the job market.
Altogether, through this curated mix of academic, social, and career-oriented programming, the CEC intends to introduce more students to economics by presenting topics in a more accessible and fun way. Simultaneously, the CEC also simultaneously aims to increase awareness on campus to ultimately to benefit more students during and after their time at UNC.
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Executive Board:
President – Wid Alsadoon (‘23) wid@live.unc.edu
Vice President – Anthony Hui (‘24) ajhui@email.unc.edu
Programming Officer – Daniel Wei (‘25) dwei1@unc.edu
Social Media Chair – Nadine Boussif (‘25) nboussif@unc.edu
Faculty Advisor – Dr. Chris Handy chandy@unc.edu
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To learn more about the Club, please email one of the Executive Board members with their contact information below and we will try our best to answer your questions and enquiries.
Importantly, you can also join our GBM GroupMe here, which disseminates key announcements and opportunities throughout the year, including both our academic, social, and career-oriented programming.
We also have a spotlighted Instagram account that showcases our programming throughout the year.
Lastly, for networking with both current ECON majors and UNC ECON alumni, please send a request to join our growing LinkedIn Group.
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In the past, the Club has hosted lectures by the following speakers:
Yoram Baumon, Stand-up economist
David Gardner, The Motley Fool
Dr. Larry Bartels, Vanderbilt University
Dr. Robert Frank, Cornell University
Dr. Dan Ariely, Duke University
Dr. Rachel Kranton, Duke University
Congressman David Price
Dr. Tyler Cowen, George Mason University
Mr. James Surowiecki, Columnist, New Yorker
Dr. Deirdre McCloskey, University of Illinois at Chicago
Dr. Alan Taylor, University of Virginia