Economics Spotlighted Student: Kelly Brown '19
Kelly Brown's '19 thesis looks at NAFTA’s impact on the internal migration patterns in Mexico. She was motivated to write this thesis because of NAFTA's relevance to the current political climate.
While participating in a University of Pennsylvania high school soccer camp, a great forum for recruiting college talent, Haverford women’s soccer coach, Jamie Schneck, reached out to Kelly Brown ’19. Jamie invited her to a campus visit and an overnight with the team. The team’s embrace convinced Kelly to apply Early Decision. Haverford fit all her wants in a college: friendliness, congeniality, a small liberal arts environment, and the opportunity to play soccer.
With an older brother who had majored in economics, Kelly was familiar with the discipline. At her Columbus, Ohio hometown high school, she was drawn to psychology, economics, and behavioral patterns in business. Blending these interests and strengths, Kelly will graduate with a major in economics, and a minor in Neuroscience.
Kelly’s favorite classes in economics include Professor Matthew Incantalupo’s Statistical Methods in Economics and Professor Saleha Jilani’s Junior Research Seminar on Advanced International Trade. She is currently enjoying the thesis process, working closely with her advisor, Professor Jilani.
Her thesis looks at NAFTA’s impact on the internal migration patterns in Mexico. She was motivated to write this thesis because of NAFTA's relevance to the current political climate. Kelly is expanding on earlier literature that found that internal migration in Mexico between 1990-2010 was driven by growing income disparities between Mexican states. She argues that NAFTA is at least partly responsible for the recent unbalanced economic growth in Mexico, and consequently the current migration flows, because of its positive impact on their manufacturing sector and negative effect on their agricultural sector.
Kelly has enriched her education with travel abroad, internships and summer jobs. Spring semester of her junior year, Kelly attended the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) in Prague, Czech Republic enrolling in a variety of courses in economics, architecture, and Czech language. She took time to travel around Europe visiting Croatia, Germany, Denmark and Ireland, with the conclusion (and memories!) of the trip being “incredible” and the “best time of my life”.
The summer after her freshman year she lived on campus and worked for Penn Environment in their marketing and development departments. After her sophomore year she spent the summer working for Main Line Health in Radnor, PA. In addition to expanding her marketing and development skills, she worked in their Human Resources Department. Although it was a great experience, she learned that she wanted to pursue different interests in her career.
Last summer, Kelly joined alumnus Christopher Richards ’18 at Susquehanna International Group (SIG), in Bala Cynwyd, PA. In the role of buy side equity research analyst, Kelly focused on the tech and bio-tech sectors. She compiled data on companies and events influencing investments. Kelly worked alongside traders, and other research analysts, aiding them in making better trade decisions.
Kelly is excited to return to SIG after graduation as a fulltime employee. After she has completed the entry-level training, she will continue her work as a research analyst, staying in Philadelphia, with the possibility of transferring to Chicago or New York.
Kelly is involved in numerous non-curricular activities on campus, in addition to varsity soccer, where she has played all four years as an outside back. She has also served as an Honor Code Orienteer and as sub-committee head for the Senior Gift Association. In addition, she co-founded the club Redefine Her Street, a ‘women helping women’ organization focused on supporting “women who want to explore careers in finance and consulting.”
