Undergraduate Research Competition Awards

The Association of Private Enterprise Education (APEE), in partnership with Liberty Fund, Inc., hosts the APEE Undergraduate Research Competition at its annual meeting. Faculty members sponsor their undergraduate students to present their research in a poster session that takes place in conjunction with an all-conference reception.

Students present research on topics in economics, political science, history, philosophy, sociology, law and other themes related to the APEE mission including political economy, private enterprise, entrepreneurship, and economic education. Since 2022, a jury composed of APEE members has selected the top three presentations for awards. Conference attendees are invited to vote for a Members’ Choice award. Awards are presented at the APEE Annual Business Meeting.

Past Recipients

2025

First Place
“Graduated vs. Flat Personal Income Taxes: State-level Estimates on Output”
Diana Esters (Western Carolina University)

Second Place
“Bureaucratization of Development: Causes and Consequences of Land Use Regulation on the Expansion of Informal Housing in Guatemala”
Marimaite Rayo (Universidad Francisco Marroquín)

Third Place
“From Covenants to Cohabitation: Economic and Policy Influences on Marriage Types and Stability”
Molly Bleichrod t (Creighton University)

Members’ Choice
“Liberalism is Sick: Does It Suffer from Democracy?”
Sofía Muadi Pérez (Universidad Francisco Marroquín)

2024

First Place
“Corruption and its Effects on Entrepreneurship and Economic Development”
Sharon Cousineau (Ottawa University)

Second Place
“Labor Market Institutions and Their Impact on Foreign-Born Employment”
Daniel Bragen (Susquehanna University)

Third Place
“Every Student Succeeds Act: Examining Graduation Rates, School Performance Indicators, and Educational Spending”
Camila Aponte (Florida State University)

Members’ Choice
“Navigating Uncertainty: Unveiling the Role of Imitation and Adaptation in Economic Decision-Making within Free Markets”
José Miguel Calderón (Universidad Francisco Marroquín)

2023

First Place
“Toward a More Effective Approach to Fraud Detection in External Audits”
Lauren Dumar (Samford University)

Second Place
“The Effects of Openness to International Trade: The Case of 19th Century Japan”
Luis Jimenez (Mercer University)

Third Place
“The U.S. Congress: Trading Just Inside the Line”
Gabriel Parke (Palm Beach Atlantic University)

Members’ Choice
“Inefficient Institutions in Guatemala”
Guillermo López Lubina (Universidad Francisco Marroquín)

2022

First Place
“China’s One Belt, One Road Initiative: International Political and Economic Freedom”
Catherine Buchanan (Samford University)

Second Place
“The Effects of Sober Homes on Property Values in Palm Beach County”
Mae Baltz (Florida State University)

Third Place
“Social Capital, Institutions, and Geographic Mobility in the United States”
Sydney Rennich (Samford University)

Members’ Choice
“Uncertainty and Politics: How the Lack of Certainty Motivates the Political Actor to Act in a Fair Way”
Leonel Regalado (Universidad Francisco Marroquín)

2021

First Place
“Zoning and Housing Supply”
Noah Dankner (Florida State University)

Second Place
“The Next Holler Over: An Economic Analysis of Appalachia and an Anecdotal Book on One Appalachian Family”
Audrey Sullivan (Ball State University)

Third Place
“Using Synthetic Controls to Estimate the Effect of China’s Post-Maoist Economic Restructuring on GDP per Capita”
Colin Lynch (Mercer University)

Honorable Mention
“Paradoxical Entrepreneurship”
Benjamin Bies (Hillsdale College)

2019

First Place
“The Economics of the Mom Blog: How Innovation and Public Policy Impact Home-Based Businesses”
Rebekah Yeagley (Utah State University)

Second Place
“Occupational Licensing and Recividism in the United States”
Victorio Nastasi (Florida State University)

Third Place
“University Pharmaceutical Innovation: Characterizing University-Driven Research Patents”
Molly Myers (Creighton University); and

“An Analysis of the Impact, Efficiency, and Alternatives to the CAFE Regulation”
Joshua Brooks and Joseph Bartch (The University of North Carolina at Pembroke)

2018

First Place
“Is Bitcoin Money?”
Peter Hazlett (Kenyon College)

Second Place
“Federal Reserve Policy and the Intraday Impact of economic Re-leases on the U.S. Equity Markets: 2000-2015”
Ryan Coughlin (Creighton University)

Third Place
“PESTLE: An External Analysis of Google in China”
Seychelle Hercules (Wesleyan University)

2017

First Place
“Currency Project”
Keri Lawson (Southern Methodist University)

Second Place
“Analyzing the Demand for Charter Schools”
Clara Jace (Creighton University)

Third Place
“Farming the Oceans: Opportunities and Regulatory Challenges for U.S. Marine Aquaculture Development”
Arthur Wardle (Utah State University)

2016

First Place
“Private and Public Methods of Managing Water in Utah”
Brian Isom and Grant Patty (Utah State University)

Second Place
“Whither the Liberal Arts? An Investigation of the Reutrn to a Liberal Arts Degree”
Margaret Tracey and O’Shane Morgan (Stonehill College)

Third Place
“The Controversy of Indian Labor Law”
Petra Besenhard (Florida Gulf Coast University)

2015

First Place
“Impediments to Business Developments in the Navajo Nation”
Sierra Hoffer, Zach Hopkins, and Devin Stein (Utah State University)

Second Place
“Incomes the Senate”
Hayley Conklin (Stonehill College)

Third Place
“An Analysis of Preventive Healthcare through the Perspective of Behavioral Economics”
Eunice Famodimu (State University of New York at Purchase)

2014

First Place
“Occupational Licensing and Gender Distribution”
Lindsey McBride and Grant Patty (Utah State University)

Second Place
“The Black Market Economies in Liberated Cities during World War II”
Garrett Gollehon (Ohio State University)

Third Place
“Housing”
Tyana Seyedkazemi (San José State University); and

“Why the Affordable Care Act Might Not Be So Affordable”
Abby Herzberg (Utah State University)

2013

First Place
“Micro-Hydro: Federal Regulation and the DeWitt Pipeline Project”
Megan Hansen (Utah State University)

Second Place
“Piracy as a Common Pool Resource: A Case Study of Online Pirate Communities Avoiding Tragedy”
Colin Harris (Florida State University)

Third Place
“Keeping Politics Personal: Toward a Praxeological Approach to International Political Economy”
Amanda Achtman (University of Calgary)

2012

First Place
“The Viability of Property Rights Institutions in Favelas: An Application of Elinor Ostrom’s CPS Institutional Framework”
Kjersten Adams (Utah State University)

Second Place
“Institutional Rhetoric as an Engine for Economic Growth”
Ian Engdahl (Rhodes College)

Third Place
“Catholic Schools, Competition, and Public School Quality”
Juliana F. Carattini and Rachel B. Sederberg (Stonehill College)

2011

First Place
“Freer Markets, Fewer Surprises: The Role of Asymmetric Informaiton in Illegal Prostitution Markets”
Alexander Cartwright (Hampden-Sydney College)

Second Place
“Better Off Informal: A Public Choice Comparison of Informal and Formal Institutions”
Liya Palagashvili (George Mason University)

Third Place
“Economic Freedom and Immigration from Mexican to U.S. States” (co-authored with Nathan Ashby)
Avilia Bueno and Deborah Martinez-Villarreal (The University of Texas at El Paso)