Congratulations to junior economics major Karina Li on her FitzRandolph Gate Showcase Award. Held annually, Princeton Research Day celebrates the research and creative endeavors of the campus-wide community. The FitzRandolph Gate Award represents the presentation that is considered the “fan favorite” by the Princeton community and is awarded to the presentation with the most votes.

Karina’s presentation covered “The Impact of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis on Private Health Insurance Enrollment for Middle-Income and High-Income Families.” Using nationally representative data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) covering 2000 to 2020, Karina employs “both difference-in-difference and event study models to isolate the effects of the GFC on enrollment trends, while controlling for demographic characteristics. Results show that middle-income families—defined as those in the middle third of the income-to-poverty ratio distribution—experienced significantly greater and more persistent declines in private health insurance enrollment relative to high-income families, especially in the post-crisis period (2010 onward).”

In her presentation, Karina shares that “our current safety nets don’t fully protect the middle income families during economic downturns.” Her findings “underscore the need for targeted policy interventions to protect middle-income households—often overlooked in public assistance frameworks—during future economic crises.”

The FitzRandolph Gate Showcase Award comes with a prize of $1,000. Congratulations again to Karina on her impressive research, presentation, and award.