The Economics Department has selected John Bellows, a first year Ph.D. candidate in Economics from Fort Collins, Colorado, as the recipient of the Shapiro Fellowship for the academic year 2004-2005.

John Bellows graduated with high honors from Dartmouth College, where he studied economics and mathematics. His primary interest is in applied microeconomics, with a focus on health and development. John was attracted to the Economics Ph.D. program at UC Berkeley for one main reason: the valuable training and opportunities made possible by an outstanding faculty. He is most enthusiastic about working with the applied microeconomists at Berkeley such Prof. Ted Miguel and his experiment-based research in Kenya, (you can read about Prof. Miguel's work in the fall 2005 issue of the IBER Bulletin (pdf)) and the work of Prof. Paul Gertler and his analysis of how health shocks affect income. He also looks forward to working with labor economists, including Prof. David Card.

John believes that using empirical and modeling techniques on new data resources could produce important results related to developement and human capital accumulation. His immediate objective is to develop more skills- empirical, mathematical, and theoretical- in order to work effectively on such issues.

During his undergraduate years, John spent a significant amount of time abraod in both foreign study and working assignments. He studied in China at both Beijing Normal University and Harbin Institute of Technology, where he learned to speak Chinede and conducted research concerning trade, agriculture, and political economy. He worked as a research intern for the World Health Organization in New Delhi, India, where he collected and analyzed data on the economic impact of epilepsy on the household. And in Siuna, Nicaragua, John participated in a human development project as part of a cross-cultural edication and service program assisted by international NGOs, the World Bank, and Dartmouth's Engineering and Medical schools.