I am a Research Fellow in the QSMS Research Centre at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. My research applies tools from microeconomic theory and statistics to study social problems such as corruption, inequality, and environmental degradation. I particularly enjoy coding and proving things. 

In October I will move to the Brandenburg University of Technology to work on the project MOTION-CB: Modelling Interactions for Sustainable Land Use Transformation - Climate Change and Biodiversity with Charlotte Gerling. This project will combine mechanism design tools with insights from discrete choice experiments to propose cost-effective policies for sustainable landscapes that support biodiversity, climate goals, and rural livelihoods. We are currently looking to hire two PhD students --- please get in touch if you are interested!

In 2022 I was awarded a PhD in Economics from the University of Edinburgh, under the supervision of Andrew Clausen and Ina Taneva. I hold MSc's in Economics (University of Edinburgh) and Mathematics (London School of Economics). Before switching to an academic career, I worked as an Assistant Economist at the Office for National Statistics. Find more details in my CV.

Besides research, I enjoy trail running, rock climbing and foraging.

Research

Works in progress

• Turning Bribes into Lemons: an Optimal Mechanism (with Andrew Clausen, funded by the BME Research Fellowship Programme). Play Scotch Hold'em Poker! Slides.

• Red or Gold (with Andrew Clausen and John Moore, funded by the BME Research Fellowship Programme).

• Coordinated and Results-based Payments for Ecosystem Services (with Charlotte Gerling).

Working Papers

• Efficient, Fair and Stable Agreements for Abating Marine Plastic Pollution (with Sreoshi Banerjee, funded by the Sustainable Development and Technologies National Programme of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences). Code.

• Random-Proposer Deferred Acceptance and Possibility-based Strategy-proofness (with József Pínter and Regina Stangl).

• Two Stage Mechanisms for Matching Students and Supervisors (with Fatma Aslan and Vivien Surman). 

Publications

• Bethlendi A. and Stapenhurst C. (2025) Growth or stability? Using social risk preferences to guide industrial policy. Journal of Economic Policy Reform. Code.

• Beaumont, N., Börger, T., Clark, J., Hanley, N., Johnston, R., Meginnis, K., Stapenhurst, C. and de Vries, F. (2025) Cooperative agreement between countries of the North Atlantic Ocean reduces marine plastic pollution but with unequal economic benefits Nature Communications: Earth and Environment. Code. 

• Abul Naga, R., Stapenhurst, C. and Yalonetzky, G. (2024) Inferring Inequality: Testing for Median-Preserving Spreads in Ordinal Data.  Econometric Reviews. Code: functions, results

• Abul Naga, R., Stapenhurst, C. and Yalonetzky, G. (2020) Asymptotic Versus Bootstrap Inference for Inequality Indices of the Cumulative Distribution Function, Econometrics 8. 

• Abul Naga, R. and Stapenhurst, C. (2015) Estimation of inequality indices of the cumulative distribution function, Economics Letters 130.

Old

• Lemons by Design: Sowing Secrets to Curb Corruption (with Andrew Clausen)

• Forecasting Interest and Inflation with a Bayesian Vector Error Correction Model

• Double Monitoring: A negative result. (Funded by the BME Research Fellowship Programme).

Other

• Reintroducing Wolves to Scotland

Teaching

Introduction to Financial Mathematics (MSc)

• 2023 Take home exam 1

• 2024 Take home exam 2

Pricing and Price Forecasting (MSc)

• Take home exam 1

Other

• Game theory in practice (BME intensive week seminar)

• Economics of Education (GTK open day talk)