University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

Department of Economics Placement Director

4-101 Hanson Hall Fatih Guvenen
1925 Fourth Street South (612) 625-0767
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 guvenen@umn.edu
U.S.A. Placement Coordinator
Catherine Bach
(612) 625-6353 (612) 625-6859
(612) 624-0209 FAX c-bach@umn.edu

Curriculum Vitae
Fall 2018

SORA LEE

Personal Data
Address Contact Information
4-101 Hanson Hall Cell: (612) 702-2081
1925 Fourth Street South E-mail: leex6993@umn.edu
Minneapolis, MN 55455 URL: sora-lee.weebly.com

Citizenship: Republic of Korea (F-1 Visa)

Major Fields of Concentration

Macroeconomics, International Economics

Education
Degree Field Institution Year
PhD Economics University of Minnesota (expected) 2019
MA Economics Ewha Womans University (Korea) 2013
BA Economics Ewha Womans University (Korea) 2011

Dissertation
Title: “Essays in International Economics”
Dissertation Advisor: Professor Timothy Kehoe and Professor Manuel Amador
Expected Completion: Summer 2019

References

Professor Timothy Kehoe (612) 625-1589 Department of Economics

(612) 204-5533 University of Minnesota
tkehoe@umn.edu University of Minnesota
4-101 Hanson Hall
Professor Manuel Amador (612) 624-4060 1925 Fourth Street South
(612) 204-5781 Minneapolis, MN 55455
amador@umn.edu

Professor Hannes Malmberg (612) 301-7109

pmalmber@umn.edu

Dr. Simran Sahi (612) 625-6353

ssahi@umn.edu

Professor Colleen Meyers (612) 625-3312 Center for Educational Innovation

meyer002@umn.edu University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN 55455
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Lee
Page 2

Honors and Awards

Summer 2018 Graduate Research Partnership Program Fellowship, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis,
Minnesota
Spring 2018 Distinguished Instructor, Department of Economics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis,
Minnesota
2014 - 2015 Distinguished Teaching Assistant, Department of Economics, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, Minnesota
2013 - 2014 The Samuel Kortum Fellowship, Department of Economics, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, Minnesota
2011 - 2013 Helen Kim 21C Scholarship, Ewha Womens University, Seoul, Korea
2011 Ada Kim Award, Ewha Womens University, Seoul, Korea

Teaching Experience
Fall 2016 - Instructor, Department of Economics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
present Taught Principles of Microeconomics, Principles of Econometrics, and Intermediate
Macroeconomics.
2014 - 2016 Teaching Assistant, Department of Economics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis,
Minnesota. Led recitation sections for Principles of Microeconomics and Intermediate
Microeconomics.
2011 - 2012 Teaching Assistant, Ewha Woman’s University, Seoul, South Korea. Led recitations for
Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, and Financial Economics.

Research Experience

Spring 2017 Research Assistant, Department of Economics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis,

Minnesota. Research assistant to Manuel Amador.
2011 - 2013 Research Assistant, Department of Economics, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea.
Research assistant to Kiseok Hong.

Publication

“Testing for Habit Formation Theory and Relative Income Hypothesis by Using Subjective Well-Being,”
with Kiseok Hong, Journal of Social Science 38(3), 2012: 1-27.

Work in Progress

“Growth, Export Externalities, and Accumulation of Foreign Reserves,” job market paper
“Sovereign Spreads Movements in Emerging Economies: Terms of Trade Matter,” with Jorge Mondragon

Computer Skills

Fortran, MATLAB, STATA, LaTeX

Languages

English (fluent), Korean (native)

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Lee
Page 3

Abstract

“Growth, Export Externalities, and Accumulation of Foreign Reserves,” job market paper

Previous papers have argued that countries accumulate foreign reserves in order to deteriorate terms of trade to
increase welfare. On the other hand, the optimal tariff theory argues that tariffs can increase the welfare of a country
by improving its terms of trade. This paper provides a plausible explanation for the different foreign reserves policies
regarding terms of trade. I build an endogenous growth model of a small open economy with technological spillovers
generated from exports. Internalizing the growth effects from these externalities, the government decides whether to
accumulate foreign reserves or to borrow from abroad. This paper finds that when the export externalities are large
enough, it is optimal to hold positive foreign reserves to achieve faster growth through terms of trade deterioration.
However, when the export externalities are small, the combined effects from the consumption smoothing motivation
and better terms of trade outweigh the growth effects of exports, so the government holds negative foreign reserves.