Postdoctoral Researchers

Current Postdoctoral Researchers

Dr. Debashrita Mohapatra


Research Areas: Empirical Industrial Organization, Applied Microeconomics

Education: Ph.D. Economics, KU Leuven, 2022


Debashrita's research focus on the economic implications of mergers and acquisitions. She studies the evolution of market power in the automobile industry and network structures. Debashrita works with Dr. Steinbach and Dr. Lopez at the University of Connecticut on a research project focused on the evolving retail food market structure in the United States. A particular focus of this work relates to the role of mergers & acquisitions and their implications for consumer welfare and market structure.


 Click here for Google Scholar, here for her resume, and here for her webpage.

Dr. Armen Khederlarian


Research Areas: International Economics, Development, and Macroeconomics

Education: Ph.D. Economics, University of Rochester, 2021

Armen's research emphasizes the dynamic aspect of international trade and its implications for analyzing trade patterns and the welfare effects of trade policy. Because most quantitative trade models are static, they abstract from the rich, dynamic nature of real-world trade activities. Firms are forward-looking in the models I use when deciding their imports as they face various non-tariff barriers and hold inventories. My research finds that incorporating the dynamics of such models into the empirical analysis of trade policies can significantly alter commonly accepted results and provide helpful information for understanding trade. He will join Hunter College (CUNY) in New York as an Assistant Professor in August 2023.

Click here for Google Scholar, here for his resume, and here for his webpage.

Dr. Stepan Gordeev


Research Areas: Macroeconomics, Economic Development, and Growth

Education: Ph.D. Economics, University of Rochester, 2022

Stepan's research focuses on exploring the idiosyncrasies in the production behavior of individual firms and households in micro-level data, using economic theory to understand this behavior, and tracing out its implications for the development path of the economy. His dissertation research proposes nutrition demand as a mechanism that can explain which goods the subsistence farmers in low-income countries choose to consume and produce, and that ultimately contributes to keeping the aggregate agricultural productivity low.


​Click here for Google Scholar, here for his resume, and here for his webpage.

Incoming Postdoctoral Scholars

Dongin (Eric) Kim


Research Areas: International Economics, Agricultural Policy Evaluation

Education: M.Sc. Management Engineering, KAIST, 2013


Dongin is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Connecticut. His research focuses on the impact of international trade and investment policies on economic outcomes. He developed a novel dataset on foreign direct investment to distinguish between vertical and horizontal investment activities. He has presented several working papers at international conferences. His research is supported by a USDA-NIFA-EWD award for 2021-2024. This research measures the impact of global trade shocks on U.S. agriculture. Dongin will join the Steinbach Research Group as a Postdoctoral Scholar in August 2023.

Click here for Google Scholar, here for his resume, and here for his webpage.

Carlos Zurita


Research Areas: International Trade, Industrial Organization

Education: M.Sc. Economics, University of New South Wales


Carlos is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University. His research focuses on the gravity model of trade and the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement. Carlos will join the Steinbach Research Group as a Postdoctoral Scholar in August 2023.

Click here for Google Scholar and here for his resume.

Postdoctoral Alumni

Prof. Dr. Mingyang Li


Research Areas: Empirical Industrial Organization, Productivity Analysis

Education: Ph.D. Economics, Binghampton University, State University of New York


Mingyang Li is an Assistant Professor at the Department of International Economics and Trade at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Binghamton University, State University of New York. Before joining Huazhong University, Mingyang Li was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Steinbach Research Group at the University of Connecticut from 2021 to 2022. His research focuses on empirical industrial organization in the context of productivity analysis and international economics. He is particularly interested in semi/nonparametric estimation methods and topics, including manufacturing, subsidies, and institutions.

Click here for Google Scholar, here for his resume, and here for his webpage.