Congratulations to our 2025 Jim and Matthew Scarpati Honorary Applied Economics Conference Winners

On Thursday, May 14th 2025, undergraduate and master’s students participated in the Jim and Matthew Scarpati Honorary Applied Economics Conference.

An important and recurring policy question in economics is whether there should be a minimum wage. A number of questions arise about whether such a policy is beneficial or costly to society and how such a policy affects employment, equity and economic well being in the labor market.

During the conference, undergraduate and master’s economics students presented papers on the topic, “Economic consequences, costs, and benefits of minimum wage regulation”; the two best papers won monetary prizes.

1st place: Bennett Schaefer, Economics BS, Law minor

• "The Rising Minimum Wage and its Effect on Income Inequality in New York State" 

2nd place: Faheem Khawar,  Economics/Mathematics BA and Statistics BA, Public Health minor, Computer Science minor

• "Examining Heterogeneous Effects of Minimum Wage of New York State Counties"