University of South Florida

TAMPA, Fla. (Sept. 2, 2009) A little more than two weeks into her new position at the University of South Florida, a economics professor receives an international award in recognition of her research on the physical and mental effects of winning the lottery.

Bénédicte Apouey, assistant professor of economics, received the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Award (FEEM Award) at the joint meeting of the European Economic Association and the Econometric Society in Barcelona, Spain on August 25. Formerly known as the Young Economist Award, it was given to the authors of the three best papers presented by young economists at the international meeting. The FEEM Award aims to reward new ideas addressing key economic issues at the European and global scale. 

Co-authored with Andrew Clark, the winning paper is entitled, “Winning Big but Feeling No Better? The Effect of Lottery Prizes on Physical and Mental Health.” Their research suggests that positive income shocks, such as winning the lottery, lead to greater happiness, but might equally trigger risky health behaviors.

“Receiving the FEEM award is a great honor and joy for me. It motivates me to continue my research on income and health and to develop new projects with my colleagues of the economics department at the USF,” said Apouey.

Apouey earned a Ph.D. this spring from the Paris School of Economics, and her research interests include health economics, public economics, and economic policies. She is teaching a course on the economics of health this fall.

The European Economic Association (EEA) and the Econometric Society (ES) are international scientific organizations dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of contemporary economic research, including theoretical, empirical, and policy-relevant contributions. Membership in both the EEA and the ES is open to all interested persons and includes reduced registration fees at the EEA/ESEM meeting. Members of the EEA also receive a subscription to the Journal of the European Economic Association (JEEA), while ES-members receive a subscription to Econometrica.

The University of South Florida is one of the nation's top 63 public research universities and one of 39 community-engaged, four-year public universities as designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. USF was awarded more than $360 million in research contracts and grants in FY 2007/2008. The university offers 224 degree programs at the undergraduate, graduate, specialist and doctoral levels, including the doctor of medicine. The university has a $1.8 billion annual budget, an annual economic impact of $3.2 billion, and serves more than 46,000 students on institutions/campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota-Manatee and Lakeland. USF is a member of the Big East Athletic Conference.

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Story written by Jacqui Cash, Academic Affairs