Elif Başaran
I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Economics at Penn State University. My research areas are Development, International Trade, and Labor Economics.
My current projects focus on the socio-economic implications of national policies regarding immigration, minimum wages, and value added taxes.
I am on the 2025-2026 Job Market.
Research
Refugees, Amenities, and the Skill Premium [Job Market Paper]
This paper examines how intra-national native migration patterns and region-specific welfare respond to large inflows of immigrants. Leveraging the case of Turkiye, which experienced a substantial influx of Syrian refugees following the 2011 Syrian Civil War, I first provide reduced-form evidence on the effects of the influx on local labor markets and housing rents across skill groups. I then document an increase in native outmigration from refugee-concentrated areas, particularly among the high-skilled, alongside a significant deterioration in local amenities. These changes disproportionately burden the low-skilled natives, deepening pre-existing disparities between skill groups. Finally, to quantify the role of amenity changes in shaping native outmigration, I develop a dynamic spatial general equilibrium model in which amenities evolve endogenously and affect natives’ migration decisions through estimated, skill-specific amenity taste parameters. The model highlights amenity deterioration as a key mechanism behind native flight, and shows how differential mobility and amenity preferences reinforce rising skill premiums. It also provides a basis for counterfactual experiments that explore the effects of refugee reallocation policies and targeted subsidies. These demonstrate the potential for policy interventions to reduce regional distributional gaps and welfare losses.
Minimum Wages, VAT, and Export Market Participation: The Case of Mexico [Third Year Paper]
This study disentangles the effects of a minimum wage increase and a value added tax reduction on Mexico’s export participation. Using a Difference-in-Differences design and firm-level microdata, I estimate the impact of this policy bundle on exports, focusing on U.S.-Mexico trade. The paper highlights the interplay between labor costs and tax incentives in shaping international competitiveness.
Teaching
Instructor and TA Positions
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Instructor (In-Person): Intermediate Microeconomics - Penn State University
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Instructor (World Campus): Labor Economics - Penn State University
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Teaching Assistant: Economics of Financial Crisis, Labor Economics, International Economics
- Penn State University
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Teaching Assistant: Monetary Policy and Financial Markets, Principles of Economics
- Koç University
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Instructor for Koç University Office of Learning and Teaching (KOLT): Intermediate Macroeconomics
- Koç University
Teaching Evaluations
"Elif Basaran is an effective, knowledgeable, and student-centric instructor who fosters a deep understanding of the subject matter while encouraging critical thinking and interpretation. Her ability to remain thorough with the coursework and accommodate her students in a condensed semester illustrates her adaptability and understanding of the classroom dynamic. The way she instructed the material while supplementing students’ questions allowed for a strong foundation to be set for a student to progress confidently through the remainder of their ECON degree path. Her abilities to reframe a students' perspective around the subject matter enabled her class to not only comprehend the concept of the material but also the interpretation of the ideas behind the concepts."
"One of the best organizations I've seen from a college professor. Class notes are updated weekly so that students have no issue accessing the notes they may have missed. It becomes very easy to refer back to those class notes to ask questions during office hours, and she answers all questions."
"Very good professor. She explains the topic very well. Besides the topic she even explains how to solve the problem mathematically. Flexible office hours. She always welcomes students with questions and assists to reach them to higher grade. Good preparation for the exam. She is the most professional professor I have ever seen."
"It was awesome. She provided clear notes and was a great lecturer. She was always able to go the extra mile for students and listen to feedback."
"Elif makes the lectures easy to follow and is always understanding when students ask questions in class. She also makes herself very available for office hours and in this time she regularly helps students work through difficulties with the coursework."