Graduate Student Support

Sasakawa Fellowships

Approximately six Sasakawa Fellowship Awards will be made each year to the most promising 3rd and 4th year economics PhD students in development economics. The fellowship awards will be allocated by the Sasakawa Committee, which will meet each year in May to determine the recipients of these fellowships in the following academic year.  These awards will be in the form of a full or partial tuition award to the Yale Graduate School, plus up to $2000 in funds for the purchase of data or other justified expenses related to the student's dissertation research.  The Sasakawa Fellows will receive priority in the allocation of office space for graduate students in the Economic Growth Center.  Recipients of these awards who are in their third year may request they be deferred to their fourth year, but they should expect their candidacy in the later year will be reevaluated as part of the competitive pool in that subsequent year. There are no applications for these awards.

Sasakawa Research Awards

Approximately four grants for research in economic development will be awarded each year. The award competition is open to all department graduate students in their third or subsequent year.  Applications for these awards will be accepted until April 1 and October 1 of each year, and winners announced as soon thereafter as possible.  The Sasakawa research proposal should include no more than a two-page (1,000 words) statement of the research question, methods of analysis, data sources, and time frame for the research.  A budget will also be required, which may include living expenses, travel expenses, costs of data collection or purchase, and other justified research expenses. Applicants should also apply for an external grant for any research costs in excess of $10,000 (to SSRC, NSF, NIH, YCIAS, etc.), and include a copy of this grant application with the Sasakawa research application. A committee of faculty of the Economic Growth Center will meet twice a year to make these allocations as funds permit.

Past Research Award Recipients

October 2006
Madiha Afzal, $700 for support of project on “Understanding Politician Incentives: Evidence from Returns to Luck in Indian and Pakistani Elections.”
Pinar Keskin, $4,500 for support of project on “Reallocating Water from Agriculture in Tamil Nadu, India.”
Daniel Rosenblum, $9,500 for support of project on “Evaluating Health Insurance and Health Education in Rural India.”

April 2008
Reena Badiani, $10,184 for support of project on “Temporary Migration and the Risk Portfolio of Agrarian Technologies Employed.”
Prashant Bharadwaj, $3,000 for support of project on “Sterilization, Fertility, and Household Outcomes.”
Adrián G. de la Garza, $9,000 for support of project on “The Reemergence of Bond Markets in Emerging Economies.”