The Grigor Artsruni Award is given to the best paper by a young economist under the age of 33, presented at the AEA Annual Meetings.
Grigor Artsruni (1845–1892) was an Armenian journalist, critic, and public intellectual — one of the few Armenians of his era to formally study economics, earning a doctorate in Political Economy and Philosophy from the University of Heidelberg in 1869. In 1872, he founded Mshak, the influential Armenian newspaper that championed liberal economic reform, industrial development, education, and the modernization of Armenian society for nearly five decades. Artsruni is a fitting namesake for an award that supports the next generation of Armenian and Armenia-focused economists.
The award takes the form of a cased commemorative coin in an exhibition panel: a silver coin minted in 1994 to mark the 75th anniversary of the first currency of the Republic of Armenia, known as the Spindle.
2026 Winner
Caterina Soto Vieira (London School of Economics), Home Production in the City
Past Winners
2025 Jessica Mancuso (Collegio Carlo Alberto), Sons of War: The Effect of Conflict on Son Preference (with Giulia Ferrero)
2024 Vladimir Avetian (Université Paris-Dauphine), Ink and Ire: The revolutionary Impact of Russian Literature (with Sultan Mehmood)
2023 Narek Ohanyan (Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Country Portfolios and Optimal Monetary Policy
2022 Rebecca Mari (London School of Economics, Bank of England), SMEs under Water: The Impact of Household Capital Shocks on SMEs’ Investments
2021 Armen Khederlarian (University of Connecticut), Trade Policy Dynamics: Evidence from 50 Years of US-China Trade (with George Alessandria, Shafaat Khan, Kim Ruhl and Joseph Steinberg)
2020 Roberto Sarkisian (Toulouse School of Economics), Screening Teams of Moral and Altruistic Agents
2019 Davit Adunts (CERGE-EI), The Effect of Temporary Parental Absence on the Educational Performance of Children Left Behind
Geghetsik Afunts (CERGE-EI / Charles University in Prague), Out-of-Wedlock Fertility: Changes in Fertility Decisions with Unilateral Divorce Laws
2018 Zurab Abramishvili (ISET, Georgia), An Impact Evaluation of Mass Replacement of School Principals in Georgia
2017 Gayane Barseghyan and Sevag Agop (American University of Armenia), New-Keynesian Phillips Curve in a Small Open Economy under Bertrand Competition and Endogenous Entry
2016 Hovsep Patvakanyan (Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University), Problems of Assessment and Forecasting of Exogenously Driven Inflation: Case of Armenia
Diego Jimenez Hernandez (Stanford University), The Effects of Varying Contract Terms for Consumer Credit with Marginal Borrowers: Evidence from Mexico
Karolina Matikyan and Mane Harutyunyan (Central Bank of Armenia), Trade Shocks and Business Cycles in Emerging Economies
Gayane Petrosyan (ICARE), Feasibility Assessment of Producing Buckwheat through Agricultural Cooperatives in Armenia
2015 Lusine Badalyan (University of Bremen and Jacobs University), Vote Buying or (Political) Business (Cycles) as Usual?
Natalie Nairi Quinn (University of Oxford), The Impact of Agricultural Cooperatives on Livelihoods in Rural Armenia: A Propensity Score Matching Approach
David Adunts (American University of Armenia), Social Norms of Distributive Justice and Kuznets Curve
2014 (sponsored by USAID/FED)
Lilia Aleksanyan (Université Paris 1 – Panthéon Sorbonne), Economic and Financial Determinants of Firm Bankruptcy: Evidence from French Manufacturing Firms
Saba Devdariani (ISET, Georgia), Improving on the ‘Random Path’ Algorithm
Michael Ghukasyan (Yerevan State University), Dynamic Modeling of the Structure of Armenia’s Economy (in Armenian)
2013 (sponsored by USAID/EDMC)
Ashot Nanyan and Mikael Ghukasyan (Yerevan State University), Assessing Effectiveness of Management Activities (in Armenian)
Hayk Kamalyan (Central Bank of Armenia), Non-zero Inflation in Open Economy (in Armenian)
Ana Mazmishvili (ISET, Georgia), Price Transmission Mechanism in Georgian Retail Gasoline Market
Aram Derdzyan (ISET, Georgia), Wheat Price Transmission from the World Market to Armenia
2012 (sponsored by USAID/EDMC)
Vahagn Jerbashian (CERGE-EI), Specific and General Human Capital in an Endogenous Growth Model (with Evangelina Vourvachaki and Sergey Slobodyan)
Zareh Asatryan (University of Freiburg), Partial Fiscal Decentralization and Sub-National Government Fiscal Discipline: Empirical Evidence from OECD Countries
Arevik Mkrtchyan (European University Institute), Mutual Protectionism (with Hinnerk Gnutzmann)
Annie Tortian (Haigazian University), Bilateral Investment Treaties, Foreign Direct Investment, and Financial Development: Evidence from Eurasia