Recognizing Emerging Scholars: 2026 Thesis and Dissertation Award Recipients
Original research examining the causes and consequences of inequality has earned six student scholars the 2026 Stone Center Thesis and Dissertation Awards.
Originally launched as an Undergraduate Thesis Award in 2023, the program expanded the following year to recognize graduate dissertations. Previous award recipients have gone on to pursue research at leading institutions such as Stanford and Duke University, with others earning tenure-track faculty appointments. This year’s recipients join the 2023, 2024, and 2025 cohorts, enriching the growing community of emerging researchers working to understand inequality in its many forms.
The 2026 awardees explored a diverse set of topics ranging from housing access and local public finance to criminal justice, technological governance, and beliefs about wealth and opportunity. Their research spans disciplines and methodologies, with each project shedding light on the mechanisms through which inequality is created and sustained. Collectively, the projects reflect the Stone Center’s commitment to inclusive, interdisciplinary research. They advance our understanding of the economic and social forces driving inequality, informing approaches for novel interventions.
Undergraduate Theses Awards
Felix Farb, Arzoo Usgaonkar, and Elayna Whiteman are the 2026 Stone Center Undergraduate Thesis Awardees. Together, their research explored how institutions and social beliefs shape inequality, examining questions of housing rights, local public finance, and the social and psychological foundations of economic opportunity.
Abstract
Illinois and other states sell delinquent property-tax liens through an unusual auction format which implicitly incorporates a price ceiling. This paper asks whether this price ceiling allows private tax buyers to earn systematic surplus at the expense of delinquent taxpayers and municipal governments. Using Cook County tax-lien data, I model liens as contingent cash-flow assets with uncertain outcomes in a risk-neutral asset-pricing framework. I find that liens generate substantial positive net present value for tax buyers, consistent with systematic underpricing under the current auction rules. I further show that a minimal reform aimed only at bringing Illinois into compliance with Tyler v. Hennepin County would reduce, but not eliminate, these excess returns. Finally, I develop a simple interdependent-values auction model showing that the bidding object of a penalty interest rate introduces an additional winner’s-curse channel, because bidders compete over a term that also affects the value of the asset itself. Together, the results imply that a purchase-price auction would better capture lien value for municipalities and reduce distortions inherent in the current system.
Awardee
Felix Farb recently graduated with degrees in Mathematics and Economics. Growing up in Chicago sparked his interest in public finance and local policy. He became interested in delinquent property tax systems and their consequences for financially vulnerable homeowners and communities when working as an intern for the Cook County Treasurer’s Office. Since then, he has worked with researchers in spatial economics, public finance, and industrial organization, developing a particular interest in how economic analysis can inform policy reform. These experiences shaped his thesis, which highlights how tax lien system can reinforce inequalities and how reforms could improve more equitable tax collection. This fall, Felix will join the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a pre-doctoral researcher with Professor Tobias Salz, conducting research in industrial organization, including digital markets and transportation economics. He plans to pursue a PhD in Economics.
Abstract
Judgments about who deserves wealth and social rewards are guided by multiple normative principles, most notably meritocracy (effort and responsibility) and morality (benevolent intentions and concern for others). Although these principles often align, they can conflict when information about how wealth was obtained diverges from information about moral character. Deservingness judgments may also be shaped by social closeness, raising questions about whether evaluative standards are applied consistently across relational contexts. In a primary study (N = 305) and a follow-up study (N = 90), we examined how individuals integrate merit-based information, moral value orientations, and social closeness when evaluating economic deservingness. Participants completed within-subject vignette evaluations in which targets varied by wealth source (hard work, luck, or theft) and moral value orientation (benevolence, security, or hedonism), and additionally evaluated a close friend. The follow-up study varied theft motives. Results showed that wealth source was the strongest determinant of deservingness, with hard work rated highest, followed by luck, and theft lowest. Moral character influenced judgments most when merit was ambiguous (luck) and least when merit was clearly violated (theft). Participants also favored close others, allocating more resources to friends than to equivalent targets. In the follow-up study, necessity-based theft was judged more favorably than enjoyment-based theft, with value differences emerging primarily under necessity. These findings indicate that deservingness judgments reflect systematic, context-dependent trade-offs between merit, moral character, and social relationships.
Awardee
Arzoo Usgaonkar recently graduated from the University of Chicago with a double major in Psychology (with Honors) and Economics. Concurrently, she earned her Master of Arts in the Social Sciences with a concentration in Psychology. During her time at the University, Arzoo conducted research in both the Financial Decision-Making Lab and the Development of Social Cognition Lab. Arzoo’s curiosity about how society determines who is “deserving” of wealth and opportunity largely stems from growing up in Mumbai where she witnessed stark socioeconomic inequalities firsthand. This motivated her research in examining the broader question about whether upward mobility is viewed as a product of merit alone, or whether morality, personal values, and social relationships also shape these judgments. Following graduation, Arzoo will begin her career in consulting in Chicago, where she hopes to help organizations and leaders make thoughtful, effective decisions in complex environments.
Abstract
South Africa’s post-apartheid Constitution enshrined the right to adequate housing in Section 26, creating a legally enforceable obligation for the state to progressively realize this right through legislative and administrative efforts. Thirty years later, the extent to which this commitment has translated into measurable improvements in housing quality, access to basic services, and spatial integration remains evaluated using primarily qualitative methods. This study addresses that gap by conducting a longitudinal analysis of housing outcomes across six waves of national South African census and community survey microdata spanning 1996 to 2022, using household-level weighted linear probability models with province fixed effects to examine trends across racial groups, settlement types, gender, education, and province. The findings reveal genuine but uneven progress. Formal dwelling access and electricity have expanded dramatically over the post-apartheid period, and within-province racial gaps have compressed substantially across most service areas. However, flush toilet access and formal refuse removal remain stagnant for large portions of the population, with former homeland and traditional settlement areas recording access rates that have barely changed in three decades. By 2022, settlement type has displaced race as the dominant predictor of sanitation and refuse outcomes, reflecting the enduring spatial legacy of the bantustans. The migration analysis further documents meaningful but incomplete spatial integration in the early post-apartheid period. Taken together, these findings suggest that South Africa’s constitutional right to housing has succeeded on its own racial terms while failing to address the geographic and institutional structures of apartheid that continue to determine who does and does not have access to housing.
Awardee
Elayna Whiteman graduated from the University of Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Human Rights, and Public Policy Studies. Elayna worked with the Pozen Family Center for Human Rights, where she engaged in a skill-share research project alongside Colombian and South African lawyers. Her thesis project was largely inspired by her work with human rights lawyers at the Pozen Center, where she realized her economics background in approaching human rights concerns could be integral at establishing a “clear empirical picture” of the impacts of apartheid. After graduating, Elayna will be working in political fundraising in Washington, D.C.
Graduate Thesis Award
William Penne is the 2026 Stone Center Graduate Thesis Awardee. His research examined how the rapid expansion of hyperscale data centers is reshaping local governance, community participation, and power in land-use decision-making.
Abstract
The rapid expansion of hyperscale data centers as the infrastructural backbone of artificial intelligence is transforming not only physical landscapes but also patterns of civic governance. This paper examines how the hyperscale development industry shapes the field of contestation through mechanisms of managed participation and institutional alignment around growth. While such projects are often framed as inevitable engines of economic growth, residents experience them as imposed, opaque, and exclusionary forms of development. Drawing on qualitative case studies, I conceptualize hyperscale data centers as locally unwanted land uses (LULUs) embedded within asymmetric governance regimes. I show that hyperscale developers use pre-emptive institutional alignment and reactive litigation strategies to shape the field of legitimacy and contestation around the planning and governance of these projects, overriding democratic and regulatory processes. Mechanisms of procedural hollowing and discursive control constrain contestation, limiting the ability of citizens to participate and challenge these projects in their communities. The result is a governance environment which favors technological development, shaping the field of contestation by leaving limited room for substantive challenge. The paper contributes to broader debates on infrastructure, governance, and democratic participation by demonstrating how emerging digital-industrial forms reproduce and intensify longstanding inequalities in land use decision-making, as hyperscale data centers generate highly visible conflicts that illuminate the shifting terrain of local governance under conditions of global technological expansion.
Awardee
Originally from central Illinois, William Penne received his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and came to the University of Chicago to study in the MAPSS program. William believes education holds immense value and that the mission of academia is for the public good. This mission led William to pursue community work where he heard “stories of local resistance” from those directly impacted by the development of data centers. Working with citizen organizers, William’s research revealed the “almost unanimous influence” the industry has in making decisions with local governments to implement these large-scale projects. For William, the project underscored the importance of examining how institutions shape whose voices are heard when communities confront social and environmental change. William will be working in the city of Chicago as a community organizer while he applies to PhD programs in the fall. He would like to thank the incredible professors and mentors he has been fortunate enough to work with this year that made this thesis possible.
Dissertation Awards
Rachel King and Danielle Nemschoff are the 2026 Stone Center Dissertation Awardees. Their dissertations examined how systems and institutions influence life outcomes, investigating both the consequences of criminal justice policies and the early development of socioeconomic beliefs and attitudes.
Abstract
Socioeconomic inequality is a growing social issue with myriad implications for children’s development. Children are not simply passive recipients of their family’s socioeconomic circumstances; rather, children begin developing a conceptual map of socioeconomic inequality early in life. Across three empirical chapters, this dissertation examines the development of socioeconomic cognition over early to middle childhood. Chapter 1 examines children’s emerging concepts of people experiencing wealth versus poverty across urban-rural divides. Chapter 2 measures children’s beliefs about inequality and the possibility of upward or downward social mobility. Chapter 3 examines adults’ and children’s reasoning about whether, and from whom, children should learn about basic financial literacy, personal finances, and socioeconomic inequality. This dissertation provides a multifaceted examination of children’s early socioeconomic cognition and the mechanisms affecting children’s patterns of socioeconomic cognition over developmental time.
Awardee
Rachel King’s research examines the childhood origins of thinking about social and economic inequality, including implications for oneself, others, and society. Originally from Rockford, Illinois, she received her M.A. in social psychology from Cornell University in 2020 and B.A. in psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2015. Motivated by both scholarly and personal interests, she studied how children develop beliefs about wealth, poverty, and opportunity, and how those beliefs shape the way they understand themselves and the social world around them. Her research shows that children begin noticing and reasoning about inequality much earlier than one might assume, shedding light on the developmental origins of beliefs that later influence attitudes toward fairness, mobility, and economic opportunity. In addition to her research, Rachel is passionate about teaching focused on social and economic topics. Rachel will join the Psychology department at Colby College as an assistant professor this fall, where she will continue her research and teaching focused on socioeconomic issues.
Abstract
This dissertation consists of three papers that use quasi-experimental methods to examine key aspects of the criminal justice system, including incarceration, policing, and sentencing. Chapter 1 examines whether the distance between prison and an incarcerated individual’s home affects in-prison and post-release outcomes, exploiting quasi-random facility assignment. I find that placement farther from home increases prison readmission rates, driven by reduced visitation from family and friends. Using distance as an instrument, I then estimate the causal effect of visitation on recidivism and find that additional visits reduce reoffending. I further provide evidence that improved housing stability is one mechanism underlying this relationship. Chapter 2 evaluates the causal effect of crisis intervention team (CIT) training, a mental health de-escalation method, for police officers on use of force and arrest behavior, leveraging variation in the timing of training across officers. I find no evidence that this training reduces arrests or use of force. Chapter 3 studies a prison diversion program for parents with dependent minor children. There is some suggestive evidence of a short-run increase in offending, consistent with reduced incapacitation, though these effects do not persist overtime and imprecisely estimated.
Awardee
Danielle Nemschoff recently earned her PhD from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. Prior to graduate school, Danielle worked as a research assistant at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. She graduated with academic distinction from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she earned a BA in Economics with a mathematical emphasis. Danielle’s research lies at the intersection of labor and public economics, with a particular focus on the criminal justice system and the experiences of incarcerated individuals and their families. Her interest in this work grew from learning how difficult it can be for incarcerated individuals to maintain connections with loved ones due to barriers such as distance and cost. Her work highlights how administrative policies within the criminal justice system often negatively influence long-term inequality, family stability, and housing outcomes. In summer 2026, she will join the Criminal Justice Administrative Records System (CJARS) at the University of Michigan as a postdoctoral research fellow.
“Growing up in Mumbai, I was constantly exposed to stark disparities in wealth and opportunity, which made me curious about how society decides who is “deserving” of upward mobility. […] Traits like morality, confidence, likability, and personal relationships often seemed to shape who people wanted to support, hire, promote, or invest in. This motivated me to study how people form deservingness judgments.”
–Arzoo Usgaonkar, BA/MA ’26, Stone Center Undergraduate Thesis Awardee
