Harvard Economics Honors Ruru Hoong and Justin Katz with Distinguished Graduate Research Awards
The Harvard Economics Graduate Instruction Committee has recognized two members of the Class of 2026 for their outstanding scholarly achievements, awarding the David A. Wells Prize in Economics to Ruru Hoong and the Padma Desai Prize in Economics to Justin Katz.
These annual awards honor exceptional graduate student research and recognize contributions that advance economic knowledge through originality, rigor, and impact.
Ruru Hoong Receives David A. Wells Prize in Economics
Ruru Hoong has been awarded the 2026 David A. Wells Prize in Economics for best dissertation. Presented annually, the prize recognizes the best publishable work embodying the results of original investigation and includes a $500 award. By receiving this honor, Hoong joins a distinguished group of scholars whose research has made lasting contributions to the field of economics.
Hoong earned her PhD in Economics from Harvard University and her PhD in Business Economics from Harvard Business School in May 2026. This summer, she will join the MIT Sloan School of Management as an Assistant Professor.
Her research spans artificial intelligence, digital economics, privacy, and social media, with a focus on the optimal design and integration of emerging digital technologies and the rigorous evaluation of their impacts. Her work examines how differences in user decision-making processes, tasks, and organizational structures shape outcomes for individuals and firms.
Prior to beginning graduate studies, Hoong worked at BCG London, the World Bank, Singapore's Ministry of Finance and Education, and GIC. She earned her undergraduate degree from Stanford University in 2019.
Justin Katz Receives Padma Desai Prize in Economics
The Graduate Instruction Committee has selected Justin Katz as the recipient of the 2026 Padma Desai Prize in Economics. Awarded annually for exemplary graduate student research, the prize recognizes outstanding scholarly achievement and carries a $5,000 award. Katz joins a distinguished group of past recipients whose work has advanced the frontiers of economic research.
Katz recently earned his PhD in Business Economics from Harvard University. His research examines institutional and behavioral frictions in consumer debt management and their implications for market equilibrium, fiscal and monetary policy, and lender competition, with a particular focus on mortgage and housing markets.
In 2024, Katz received the John R. Meyer Dissertation Fellowship from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. He is also an NBER Graduate Fellow in Consumer Financial Management, a Graduate Research Fellow at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, and a member of the Harvard Kennedy School's Reimagining the Economy project.
Before graduate school, Katz worked at the National Bureau of Economic Research, Microsoft Research, and McKinsey. He earned a BA in Economics and Mathematics from Yale University.
In July 2026, Katz will join the Boston College Carroll School of Management as an Assistant Professor of Finance.
Celebrating Excellence in Graduate Research
The David A. Wells Prize and the Padma Desai Prize are among the department's most prestigious graduate student honors, recognizing research that exemplifies intellectual curiosity, methodological rigor, and the potential to influence both academic scholarship and public policy.
The Department of Economics congratulates Ruru Hoong and Justin Katz on these well-deserved recognitions and wishes them continued success as they begin the next stage of their academic careers.