Sarah Palor Sylvester

Sarah Palor Sylvester

Sarah Palor Sylvester

Graduate Lecturer

Experimental Economics, Cryptocurrencies, Decentralized Finance

Sarah Sylvester is a fifth-year Ph.D. student, currently on the job market. She is an ICES research assistant and Mercatus PhD Fellow at George Mason University. Her research specializes in Decentralized Finance (DeFi) mechanisms and understanding the composition and motivation of using DeFi tools including Automated Market Makers and cryptocurrencies.

Current Research

Current research focuses on decentralized exchanges, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain technology with a specific emphasis on Automated Market Makers and willingness to own cryptocurrencies.

Selected Publications

Working Paper. Cryptocurrencies: Experiments on Individual Attitudes and Perceptions, with Johanna Mollerstrom

Working Paper. Analyzing Arbitrage Behavior in Automated Market Makers, with Kevin McCabe, Nalin Bhatt, and Aleksander Psurek

Working Paper. The Adaptive Rationality of Markets, with Kevin McCabe, Stephen Kunath, and Aleksander Psurek

Working Paper. The Efficiency of Escrow Mechanisms on Online Exchange, with Kevin McCabe and Nalin Bhatt

Grants and Fellowships

Mercatus Center Graduate Student Summer Research Fellowship, 2023

Agoric Summer Research Grant, 2022 

Mercatus Center Graduate Student Summer Research Fellowship, 2022

Mercatus PhD Fellow 2019-present

Graduate Research Assistant with ICES 2019-present

Courses Taught

  1. Graduate Lecturer for LAW 108: Economics for Lawyers (LLM, online). Fall 2023, Summer 2023
  2. Graduate Lecturer ECON 308: Managerial Economics/Strategy (undergraduate, in-person). Spring 2023
  3. Co-taught ECON 895: Computational Methods for Economists (undergraduate and graduate, hybrid) with Dr. Kevin McCabe. Fall 2021
  4. Mentor and Graduate Lecturer for IFREE/CeLab Workshop. Led a group of undergraduate students in a research project on cryptocurrency trading mechanisms, teaching research skills and computational, experimental economics. Summer 2020 and Summer 2021. With Dr. Kevin McCabe. Workshop overview found here: https://medium.com/agoric/kevin-mccabe-on-the-inner-workings-of-computational-microeconomics-27caf66e20f6

                                          

Education

George Mason University, Ph.D. Economics, 2019-present. Expected date of graduation: May 2024

George Mason University, M.A. Economics, 2021

University of Arizona, B.A. Mathematics and Economics, 2015-2019

Recent Presentations

April 2023. APEE Conference Presentation, Cancún, Mexico

November 2022. ESA North American Meeting 2022, Santa Barbara, CA

October 2022.  UCSB-Econ DeFi Seminar Series Presentation, Virtual 

April 2022. APEE Conference Oral Presentation, Las Vegas, NV

April 2021. APEE Conference Oral Presentation, , Fort Lauderdale, FL