Meet Fabian Leal

Fabian joined the Initiative in July 2023, after receiving his Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Summa Cum Laude, and a Bachelor of Arts in Geography, from the University of Florida.

His honors thesis, “Studying Determinants of the Gender Wage Gap,” modeled the effects of human capital determinants, occupation, and household characteristics on wages, using individual-level Current Population Survey data.

While an undergraduate, Fabian also followed the Advanced Track of the AEA Summer Training Program at Howard University (2022). There, he performed macro-level analysis of labor force participation and unemployment rate disaggregates by race/ethnicity, using time-series methodologies with more than twenty years of data. This has since formed the basis of a working paper with co-authors Dr. Neil Ericsson and Kaythari Maw: “Jointly Modeling Labor Force Participation and Unemployment Rates by Race.”

Invited to present research with his co-authors at the George Washington University Economic Forecasting Seminar in December 2022, Fabian also kicked off his PhDEI fellowship by presenting this research at the Initiative’s 10th Anniversary Summer Research Workshop, at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Fabian is motivated to share his knowledge and experiences in order to mentor others. As Vice President of the University Economics Society at Gainesville, he advised underclassmen interested in higher-level economics coursework and career pathways, and developed the Society’s newsletter to reach 100+ recipients.

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Entrance Interview: Economics in His Own Words

  As a Venezuelan American, my upbringing draws my interest toward the mechanisms that contribute to economic insecurity and poverty. It has always been very present in my mind that my parents made the sacrifice of leaving Venezuela for the sake of the opportunities that would be afforded to me in the United States, and I have often found myself asking why such a stark contrast exists between the fortunes of my native and naturalized homelands.

“My family experiences drove a passion for economics, which I found early in my college career. In economics, I seek a line of scholarship through which I can make a positive impact on the world. Economics as a science has the power to improve almost every aspect of the human condition, and I aim to contribute to it.”
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Why the Excellence Initiative?

  I chose to join the PhD Excellence Initiative because it offers an unparalleled support system that believes in and fosters my potential. Throughout my academic journey, I have set my sights on goals improbable for a Venezuelan immigrant with no preexisting affiliations to academia. The mentorship provided by Dr. Henry and this program supplies advice and encouragement that I often lacked in my earliest days of exploring economics as a profession.

Knowing the rigors that earning a PhD entails, I view my fellowship as the perfect stepping stone. Taking graduate-level courses at Stanford will elevate my academic preparation, and the program will offer the opportunity to refine my quantitative and technical skills in order to become a better researcher and to further define my own research interests.”

Fabian’s long-term career goals lie within academia, where he hopes to become a professor at a top research university. He seeks to accomplish cutting-edge research that will enable well informed policy decisions to benefit our world. He is particularly interested in a research agenda that can incorporate spatial outlooks into the field of labor economics.