Karin Li
PhD student
Karin is a PhD student in Finance at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business whose research interests lie in a broad range of financial and economic questions. Prior to joining the PhD program she worked with Prof. Ulrike Malmendier on joint research and as a research assistant. In parallel, Karin has also worked in the insurance industry for many years, most recently in risk management. She holds an M.Sc. in Economics from the University of Munich and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Management from the Universität der Bundeswehr München.
Clint Hamilton
PhD student
Clint is a PhD candidate in Finance at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, focusing on research in Behavioral Finance and Economics. He previously obtained a B.A. in Economics and Applied Mathematics and, subsequently, earned an M.S. in Business Administration at Berkeley. Clint has worked as a pre-doctoral fellow and later as a graduate student researcher under Professor Ulrike Malmendier. His research has touched on behavioral corporate finance with a focus on executive compensation and decision-making and household finance with an emphasis on political polarization and household beliefs. Before starting his PhD, Clint attended the Open Source Macroeconomics Laboratory, where he learned advanced computational and high-performance computing techniques. Outside of his research, Clint is dedicated to diversity and equity, mentoring students and speaking to student groups about the path to academia in finance and economics.
Charlie Rafkin
Postdoctoral Scholar
Charlie Rafkin is a behavioral and public economist, whose focus includes poverty, low-income housing markets, and transfer programs. He received his PhD in economics from MIT in 2024. His research often incorporates ideas from psychology and sociology to examine how non-classical forces affect policy efficacy and social welfare.
Luisa Cefala
Incoming Postdoctoral Scholar
Luisa Cefala is a behavioral and development economist whose research focuses on labor topics, mainly in low-income countries. She received her PhD at UC Berkeley in 2023 with a dissertation titled, “Labor Contracting Frictions in Rural Burundi as a Constraint to Technology Take-Up.”
Pietro Risso
Pre-Doctoral Scholar
Pietro serves as a pre-doctoral fellow at the Haas School of Business. He earned a BA in Economics and Society, graduating summa cum laude from Sciences Po, Paris (’22), and later completed a BA in Economics with honors at the University of California, Berkeley (’24). Before assuming his current role, Pietro contributed as a research assistant at UC Berkeley, focusing on how job loss impacts health outcomes, collaborating with Professor Benjamin Schoefer and MIT PhD Candidate Shakked Noy. Pietro’s academic interests span across behavioral economics, labor economics, and public economics.
Chazel Hakim
Pre-Doctoral Scholar
Chazel is a pre-doctoral fellow at the Haas School of Business. He graduated with a BA in Applied Mathematics and Economics from UC Berkeley, where he worked with various professors on papers spanning behavioral, public, and development economics. More broadly, Chazel is interested in the intersection between psychology, economics, and inequality. He enjoys swimming in his free time.
Qianyi Liu
Scholar
Qianyi Liu is a first-year PhD student at the Department of Economics. His research interests revolve around applying insights from psychology and behavioral economics to inform public policies, economic development, and poverty. He is the first recipient of a doctoral summer research appointment sponsored by the Center.