Jeta Rudi: A young committed student of developmental economics

By: Kosovo Diaspora    January 19, 2013

Jeta Rudi is an excellent example of a young devoted Kosovar student abroad that is making remarkable achievements with her education, research, and work in the United States.

Jeta Rudi is currently pursuing her PhD studies in the field of Applied Economics at University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. She plans to concentrate on the subfields of Development Economics and Consumer Behavior & Household Economics. Jeta currently works as a Research Assistant at Minnesota Population Center (MPC) where she integrates individuals’ time use data from different periods of time and from eight different North American and European countries, under the ATUS-X project.

Jeta was born in Gjakovë, in 1988 and completed her education through high school in her hometown. Jeta moved to the U.S. to pursue higher education at the age of 18, where she had been awarded a full tuition and room and board scholarship from Berea College in Kentucky.

At Berea College she double-majored in Economics and Mathematics and graduated in 2010 with magna cum laude honors. While at Berea College, Jeta worked part-time at the Campus Life Department as a Student Financial Manager and at the Mathematics Department as a Teaching Assistant. She spent her summers conducting economic research at Virginia Tech University and at Berea College. She also received numerous academic awards including: Joel Dean Scholarship in Economics (2010), Olive Russell Fellowship (2010), Navy V-12/V-5 Memorial Scholarship (2009), as well as the Best Undergraduate Paper Award from Kentucky Economic Association (2009).

Upon graduating from Berea College, Jeta moved to Virginia to pursue her Master’s degree in the field of Agricultural and Applied Economics at Virginia Tech University. Her Master’s thesis research consisted of two studies. The first study analyzes the determinants of survival in the U.S. market of fresh fruit and vegetable imports. The second study investigates time allocation in home food production for households participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the United States. Her complete Master’s thesis can be found here.

Jeta has engaged in several economic research studies and is a coauthor of a number of published and working papers. She has presented her research in various conferences in the United States, including the annual meetings of: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association and Southern Agricultural Economics Association. Throughout her academic career, Jeta has been inducted into several academic honor societies, including: Golden Key International (2011), Gamma Sigma Delta (2011), Pi Mu Epsilon (2010) and Phi Kappa Phi (2009). In addition to Economics, Jeta is passionate about Mathematics, Philosophy, Politics, and Albanian Literature. Two of her co-authored journal articles are outlined below:

Kuminoff, Nicolai V., Congwen Zhang, and Jeta Rudi. 2010. “Are Travelers Willing to Pay a Premium to Stay at a “Green” Hotel? Evidence from an Internal Meta-Analysis of Hedonic Price Premia.” Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 39 (3), 468-484.

Badirwang, Keeletlhoko Faith, Gertrude Nakakeeto, Jeta Rudi and Daniel B. Taylor. “Nutrition in Central Uganda – An Estimation of a Minimum Cost Healthy Diet.” Presented at the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association 2011 Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA. Available here.