Alexander Arnon

Director of Business Tax and Economic Analysis

Alexander Arnon came to the Penn Wharton Budget Model with a background in public policy analysis and economic research. Prior to joining Penn, he worked as an analyst at the Congressional Budget Office.

Lysle Boller

Applied Microeconomist

Lysle Boller is an economist with expertise in international corporate taxation. His research interests lie at the intersection of public economics and industrial organization, with a focus on how firms respond to incentives created by the global tax system. Prior to joining PWBM, Lysle worked as a researcher at the Yale School of Management and as an economic consultant for Compass Lexecon.

Lysle received his Ph.D. in economics from Duke University, as well as an M.Sc. in economics from the London School of Economics and a B.A. in mathematics and economics from the University of Virginia.

Jennifer Branscom

Program Manager

Jennifer Branscom is our Program Manager and an educator at heart. She brings experience in professional development and alumni relations to her role at PWBM, along with significant teaching experience. She holds a PhD in Spanish from Temple University, an MA from Middlebury College, and a BA from Penn State University.

Kody Carmody

Application Developer Senior

Kody came to the Penn Wharton Budget Model from the Bipartisan Policy Center, where he worked on higher education, the debt limit, evidence and government data, retirement, and tax policy. Kody received his BA and MPP from the College of William & Mary, where he worked on tax revenue forecasting for the state of Virginia and studied economics, philosophy, and law.

Junlei Chen

Associate Economist

Junlei recently graduated from University of Zurich with a M.A. major in Banking and Finance, minor in Data Science. Prior to joining PWBM, she did applied economic research at University of Zurich as a research assistant. She previously received her B.A. in Risk Management and Insurance from Peking University in China.

Vidisha Chowdhury

Data Analyst

Vidisha specializes in machine learning (ML), data mining and economics. She is a part of the microsimulation team at PWBM and her work focuses on the applications of machine learning in economic modelling and policy research. Vidisha holds an M.S. in Data Analytics and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University, an M.A. in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Delhi. Prior to joining PWBM, she worked as a Data Science for Social Good fellow at the University of Washington and as a Research Associate at the Indian Statistical Institute. Her research supports proactive decision-making through data-based insights. She has worked on issues such as decarbonization in Alaska, mental health outreach and prediction of bill passage.

Jagadeesh Gokhale

Director of Special Projects

Before joining the Penn Wharton Budget Model, Jagadeesh held senior positions at the Cato Institute, the American Enterprise Institute, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

Jagadeesh has (co)authored many studies on fiscal policy covering issues in health care, labor productivity, national saving, life‐insurance, financial planning, and the effect of government policies on intra‐ and inter‐generational resource distributions. His work has appeared in top‐tier academic journals such as the American Economic Review, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Review of Economics and Statistics and in the U.S. Budget’s Analytical Perspectives. Jagadeesh has also testified on policy issues before committees in the U.S. Congress and state legislatures, and has written many articles in popular print and online media such as the Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, American Spectator, and Forbes.

Susan Guthrie

Managing Director

Prior to joining PWBM Susan held leadership roles in the management consulting, tech, and non-profit sectors. She received her PhD in Economics from Harvard University and her BA from the University of California at San Diego

Jon Huntley

Senior Economist

Before joining Penn Wharton Budget Model, Jon was part of the Fiscal Studies Unit at the Congressional Budget Office and specialized in building models to analyze the effects of changes in fiscal policy on the economy. Jon’s academic research focuses on household finance and how household savings and consumption decisions are affected by economic frictions. His research on how tax-deferred retirement savings accounts encourage households to spend out of anticipated changes to income such as tax rebates has been published in the American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics. Jon received his Ph.D. in economics from Northwestern University and his B.S. in mathematics and economics from Duke University.

Yunye Jiang

Senior Application Developer

Yunye Jiang is a Senior Application Developer with a background in quantitative finance. Prior to joining Penn Wharton Budget Model, He worked as a quantitative analyst in private equity. His work there consisted of collecting data, establishing databases and building models to determine effective trading strategies, as well as conducting operable judgment. Yunye earned his M.A.in Applied Mathematics and Computational Science from the University of Pennsylvania. His academic research focuses on the predictability of futures prices and the cause-effect relationship between stock and forex markets.

Junghoon Lee

Director of Engineering and Data

Junghoon was trained in numerical methods and mathematical optimization and has a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He has worked in a pharmaceutical company, an insurtech startup, and an energy startup over the last 15 years as a modeler, a data scientist, and a software engineer. He is interested in building data-driven software products that are well designed and maintainable over time.

Lorraine Luo

Data Analyst

Lorraine joins Penn Wharton Budget Model with a M.S. in Social Policy from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in Economics from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. She previously did her internships at consulting and tech companies. Her research at PWBM focuses on business tax.

Aidan O'Connell

Data Analyst

Aidan graduated from the College of William & Mary with a BA in public policy and economics in the spring of 2022. At PWBM, he works on applied policy analysis and projects related to the Microsimulation Model. His research interests lie at the intersection of development, urban, and environmental economics; as an undergrad he assisted in academic research on topics ranging from the political economy of patronage to the transmission of urban shocks through migrant networks. He has also conducted independent research estimating the effect of new public infrastructure on the spatial distribution of crime in Medellín, Colombia. Prior to joining PWBM, Aidan spent two summers singing professional a cappella. He enjoys cooking, lifting, and badminton.

Ed Murphy

Senior Policy Analyst

Ed Murphy is a policy expert whose work focuses on analyzing developments in federal fiscal policy. At PWBM, he is responsible for producing models of federal spending and contributing to analyses of policy proposals. Prior to joining PWBM, he spent seven years with the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, where he created blogs, analyses, and graphics that summarized fiscal and economic policy issues for a general audience, and also managed a portfolio of grants to think tanks working on fiscal and economic policy research. He holds a Master of Public Policy with a concentration in public budgeting and finance from the Edward J. Bloustein School at Rutgers University.

Brendan Novak

Senior Policy Analyst

Brendan Novak is a researcher interested in the intersection of data science, economics, and public policy. He joins PWBM from the Center for Social Innovation at the University of Virginia, where he helped oversee projects that leverage big data and innovative methods to deliver insights on improving welfare. He holds a B.A. in Economics and a Master of Public Policy from the University of Virginia.

Simon Palenchar

Senior Application Developer

Simon Palenchar came to PWBM as a recent college graduate, who attended Radford University and Salisbury University where he played on the varsity baseball team. Simon earned his B.S. in computer science at Salisbury University.

Mariko Paulson

Senior Front End Developer

Mariko Paulson joins The Penn Wharton Budget Model with a background in economics. Prior to joining PWBM, she managed billing and payroll for a local home care provider whose primary focus was individuals on the Pennsylvania Waiver Program. Mari graduated cum laude from Smith College with a B.A. in Economics and a minor in Mathematics. While in college, she was captain of the Smith College Rugby Football Club for two consecutive competitive seasons. Mariko was previously PWBM’s Program Coordinator before shifting focus to web development.

Felix Reichling

Senior Economist

Felix Reichling comes to the Penn Wharton Budget Model with a background in public policy analysis and macroeconomic research. Before joining Penn, Felix was Chief of the Fiscal Policy Analysis Unit in the Congressional Budget Office’s Macroeconomic Analysis Divisions, where he was responsible for leading a staff of about seven PhD economists in conducting research, model development, and producing CBO publications on how changes in fiscal policy affect the economy and how those changes feed back into the budget (dynamic scoring). Prior to coming to CBO, Felix worked as an economic consultant.

Felix’s academic research includes a study on optimal annuities purchasing decisions that was published in the American Economic Review (together with Kent Smetters) and received the 2016 TIAA Paul A. Samuelson Award For Outstanding Scholarly Writing on Lifelong Financial Security. More information and links to his other academic research and his CBO publications can be found at his personal webpage .

Felix earned his Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University, where he also earned a M.A. in Economics, a M.S. in Management Science and Engineering, and a B.A. with Honors in Economics and a minor in Math.

Felipe Ruiz Mazin

Economist

Felipe is an economist specializing in international macroeconomics, demographics, and time-series econometrics. His research interests focus on the interactions between population changes and global economic trends. Felipe holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.A. in economics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, and a B.A. in economics from Fundação Getulio Vargas. Prior to his current role, Felipe held teaching positions at the University of Pennsylvania and was part of the macro research team at Opportunity Asset Management, where he focused on economic data analysis and forecasting.

Seul Ki (Sophie) Shin

Economist

Sophie Shin holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. Her areas of expertise are Empirical Microeconomics, Search and Matching Theory, Labor Economics, Family Economics, and Demography. Sophie's scholarly research papers can be found on her personal webpage .

Xiaoyue Sun

Senior Data Analyst

Xiaoyue Sun came to the Penn Wharton Budget Model with a master's degree in International Economics and Finance from Brandeis University International Business School. Her study at Brandeis has been focused on economic research and computer science. Her research experience focuses on Chinese R&D expenditure and bilateral trade agreement. She also has a keen interested in marketing consulting and has undertaken two marketing consulting projects.

Cate Taylor

Nonresident Fellow

Cathy comes to the Penn Wharton Budget Model with a background in public policy, innovation, and corporate impact. Before joining Penn, she was a Fortune 500 executive, an entrepreneur, and she served as the National Security Council’s Director for International Finance Policy. Her research focuses on the economic and societal efficacy of enterprises’ Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives and the relationship between enterprises’ impact initiatives and public policy.

Cathy is a Simon & Shuster public policy author and has appeared regularly as a policy analyst, including on CNN, CNBC, and Fox News. She was a White House Fellow and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Cathy earned a B.A. from Duke University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Ayush Tharval

Data Analyst

Ayush Tharval graduated from the University of North Carolina with a B.S. in Economics, B.A. in Political Science, and minor in Data Science. At PWBM, he works on migration flows and emigration research for the Microsimulation model, as well as other economic data analysis. His research interests include labor, public, and demographic economics. Prior to joining PWBM, Ayush co-led an economics student organization called Fed Challenge at UNC. He also conducted independent research examining the parental labor supply benefit from K-12 school reopenings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jesús Villero

Applied Microeconomist

Jesús is an applied microeconomist with research interests in labor and development economics, focusing on education, family, and gender issues. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University and an M.A. in economics from Georgetown University (ILADES program). While at Georgia State, he worked as a graduate research assistant with the Georgia Policy Labs, an interdisciplinary research group primarily studying K-12 education in Georgia. Before that, he was a research associate at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), where he worked on financial inclusion projects. For more information about his work, please visit his personal website.

Youran Wu

Senior Data Analyst

Youran joins Penn Wharton Budget Model as a recent graduate from Columbia University with a master’s degree in Economics. She has a sound theoretical grounding and practical experience in the fields of development economics and public finance. Her research interest includes macroeconomics research and policy analysis, with a focus on development and labor.

Jinjing Yang

Research Data Analyst

Jinjing Yang joins the Penn Wharton Budget Model with a background in financial engineering. Prior to joining PWBM, she was an engineering analyst at Goldman Sachs Asset Management Division. She graduated from Columbia University with a MS in Financial Engineering.

Yueyao Zhang

Quality Assurance Engineer

Yueyao Zhang recently graduated from University of Southern California with a M.S degree in Analytics. Her major focuses on data analytics, data visualization and machine learning. Prior to joining Penn Wharton Budget Model, she started her own business for international trading in China. Yueyao earned her M.A in Economics at Boston University with a minor in Math.

PWBM Sponsored PhD Students

Click here to view our current job opportunities.

Have a question for the PWBM Team? Contact us through our website.