2027 Jim and Matthew Scarpati Honorary Applied Economics Conference Registration

The Jim and Matthew Scarpati Applied Economics Conference, generously supported by a financial gift from Lynn Scarpati, is an economics research conference for undergraduate and master’s students organized and administered by faculty in the UB Economics department. The conference provides students with an opportunity to propose, develop, and present original economic research projects with the support of UB Economics faculty. In addition to developing practical research and presentation skills that are valuable on the job market, students can use their project as part of earning course credit for Eco 498 or 598, Undergraduate or Master’s Independent Research, respectively, and are eligible to earn one of several monetary prizes.

Monetary prizes include $250 proposal prizes to up to 8 students who submit excellent preliminary proposals for the research topic and intended analysis during the Fall 2026 semester, and a first-place prize of at least $1500 and a second-place prize of at least $1000 to students who present at the conference itself in May 13, 2027. Additionally monetary prizes may be awarded at the discretion of the conference committee.

Topics: Students may choose the topic of the paper and presentation, subject to the approval of the conference committee. We encourage students to seek feedback from committee members prior to choosing the topic and intended method of analysis of their paper.

Students are encouraged but not required to submit a paper that they are preparing for credit in an Undergraduate or MA/MS Research course (ECO 498 or ECO 598) under the supervision of a member of the economics department faculty. This allows students to participate in the conference while their paper earns a grade in an ECO 498 or ECO 598 course. Grades earned in such cases are assigned by the supervising faculty and are independent from performance at the conference.

Proposals and proposal prizes: Students may submit a proposal of their paper topic and intended method of analysis by 11:59pm on November 22, 2026, for review by the committee. A proposal is a 400–600-word document (approximately 2 pages double-spaced, not including tables, graphs, or figures) which explains the research topic and the type of analysis planned to address it. The committee will review proposals and will accept no more than 12 for presentation at the conference in May 2027.

To be acceptable to the committee, proposals must meaningfully address the following questions:

o What economic issue or policy will be the topic of the paper/presentation?

o Why and how is this issue or policy relevant?

o Why is the issue or policy important?

o What type of economic method do you plan to use to analyze this issue or policy? The analysis must involve an approach that is consistent with economic methodology, i.e., theoretical or empirical economic models and analyses, qualitative analysis, or review.

• October 7, 7pm: general interest meeting on Zoom. Additional interest meetings may be held in October depending on student availability.
• November 22, 11:59pm: deadline for proposals to be eligible for proposal prizes.
• November 29, 11:59pm: committee decision on proposal prizes, to be announced soon after.
• February 2, March 2, April 6, May 4, 5pm-7pm in Fronczak 424: conference committee help sessions. Members of the Scarpati Conference Committee will attend to provide support to participants or prospective participants of the conference.
• Thursday, May 13, 9am-4pm: Scarpati Conference presentations and reception. Conference date, times, and location are tentative and will be finalized during the Spring 2027 semester.