VESA-HEIKKI SOINI
http://economics.sas.upenn.edu/graduate-program/candidates/vesa-heikki-soini
soini@sas.upenn.edu
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
Placement Director: Iourii Manovskii
Placement Director: Andrew Postlewaite
Graduate Student Coordinator: Kelly Quinn
MANOVSKI@ ECON.UPENN.EDU
APOSTLEW@ECON.UPENN.EDU
KQUINN
Office Contact Information
417 McNeil Building, 3718 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19143
Cell phone number: +1 267-252-4408
@ ECON.UPENN.EDU
+1 215-898 6880
+1 215-898-7350
+1 215-898-5691
Home Contact Information
1315 S Chadwick St
Philadelphia, PA 19146
Home phone number: +1 267-252-4408
Personal Information: Male, Citizen of Finland
Undergraduate Studies:
B.Sc & M.Sc, Economics, Helsinki School of Economics, 2006
Masters Level Work:
M.Phil, Economics, University of Oxford, 2009
Graduate Studies:
University of Pennsylvania, 2010 to present
Thesis Title: “Academic Specialization and Misallocation of Skills in the Labor Market”
Expected Completion Date: May 2016
Thesis Committee and References:
Professor Guillermo Ordonez (Primary Advisor)
Room 428 McNeil Building, 3718 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104
+1 215-898-1875 ordonez@econ.upenn.edu
Professor Harold Cole
Room 436 McNeil Building, 3718 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104
+1 215-898-7788 colehl@econ.upenn.edu
Professor Dirk Krueger
Room 517 McNeil Building, 3718 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104
+1 215-573-1424 dkrueger@econ.upenn.edu
Teaching and Research Fields:
Primary fields: Macroeconomics
Secondary fields: Financial Economics, Labor Economics
Teaching Experience:
Spring, 2015
Money Credit and Banking, University of Pennsylvania, teaching assistant to
Professor Harold Cole
Spring, 2014
Intermediate Macroeconomics, University of Pennsylvania, teaching assistant to
Professor Ufuk Akcigit
Fall, 2013
Introduction to Microeconomics, University of Pennsylvania, grader to Rebecca
Stein
Spring, 2013
Spring, 2013
Fall, 2012
Summer 2012
Spring, 2012
Fall, 2011
Macro Modelling, University of Pennsylvania, teaching assistant to Professor
Guillermo Ordonez
Law and Economics, University of Pennsylvania, teaching assistant to Professor
Camilo Garcia-Jimeno
Introduction to Economics, Wharton Business School, recitation instructor to Gizem
Saka
Introduction to Macroeconomics, University of Pennsylvania, instructor
Intermediate Macroeconomics, University of Pennsylvania, teaching assistant to
Professor Ufuk Akcigit
Introduction to Economics, Wharton Business School, recitation instructor to Uri
Spiegel
Research Experience and Other Employment:
2008-2009
Said Business School, University of Oxford, Research Assistant to Tarun Ramadorai
2006-2007
Nokia Corporation, Financial Analyst
2006
Nokia Networks, Business Analyst
2005-2006
Nokia Networks, Business Analyst Trainee
Professional Activities:
2012-2015
Penn Macro Workshop Seminar
2014
Reading Group In Liquidity and Financial Crisis, Wharton Business School
Honors, Scholarships, and Fellowships:
2010-2011
Barbara and Edward Netter "Thanks to Scandinavia" Scholarship
2008
Yrjo Jahnsson Foundation Scholarship
2008
Otto A. Malmin Lahjoitusrahasto
2007
Yrjo Jahnsson Foundation Scholarship
Research Papers:
“Academic Specialization and Misallocation of Skills in the Labor Market” (Job Market Paper)
This paper studies academic specialization and misallocation of skills in the labor market. I combine a discrete
choice model with a general equilibrium macro model to study occupations where occupation-specific human capital
is obtained through university education and people incur considerable upfront costs to work in a particular
occupation. The model embeds a market failure: risk-averse individuals face an incomplete markets problem because
they are not able to purchase insurance against adverse occupation-specific shocks. I compare production efficiency
and utilitarian welfare in competitive equilibrium to the outcomes of two social planning problems: (i) unconstrained
planning problem (ii) “constrained efficient” planning problem. To get quantitative estimates of the importance of
academic specialization, I calibrate the model using data on petroleum, chemical and mechanical engineers. The
output loss caused by the lack of insurance depends on model parameters and can potentially be very large.
“Career Concerns in Teams: Revisiting the Role of Implicit Incentives”
“Team Formation and Learning about Worker-Specific Productivities”
“The Existence of a Unique Solution to the Bellman Equation for Unbounded Return Functions”
“Estimating the Gravity Model with Differentiated and Homogeneous Goods – Evidence for the HomeMarket Effect?” (Master's Thesis)
“The Effect of the Euro on Intra-European Trade” (Undergraduate Thesis)