Chris Precourt received a letter of recommendation from his Economics Capstone professor, Andrew Gill. The professor praised Chris for his strong analytical and quantitative skills as well as his excellent writing and oral communication abilities. Chris performed excellently in the Capstone class, receiving an A for his paper analyzing the effect of changes to the NBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement on player salaries. Professor Gill was so impressed that he invited Chris to present his research at an academic conference. The professor also noted Chris' wonderful personal qualities and character.

1.
Mihaylo College of Business and Economics
Department of Economics
P.O. Box 6848, Fullerton, CA 92834-6848 / T 657-278-2228 / F 657-278-3097
THE CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY
Bakersfield / Channel Islands / Chico / Dominguez Hills / East Bay / Fresno / Fullerton / Humboldt / Long Beach / Los Angeles / Maritime Academy
Monterey Bay / Northridge / Pomona / Sacramento / San Bernardino / San Diego / San Francisco / San Jose / San Luis Obispo / San Marcos / Sonoma / Stanislaus
July 12, 2014
To Whom It May Concern:
I am very pleased to write to you on behalf of Mr. Chris Precourt. His great strengths are that
he is analytically and quantitatively very strong and that he possesses excellent writing and
oral communication skills. I give him my highest recommendation.
Chris was a student in my Economics Capstone class taught during the Spring 2014 semester.
The Capstone class is where students are required to bring together their knowledge and
analytical methods acquired during their time in the major to answer real-world economic
questions. I taught the class from a research perspective, with an emphasis on the use of
quantitative methods to answer economic questions that have relevance to public policy.
Students were required to access economic literature and economic data, interpret results
from the economic literature, analyze economic data, and write a comprehensive report
summarizing their research findings. In addition, students were required to make a thirty-
minute presentation on a journal article from the scholarly literature related to their research
topic.
Chris’s performance on every aspect of my class was excellent, and he received a solid A for
the course. He wrote a very interesting paper looking at the effect of changes to the
Collective Bargaining Agreement in the National Basketball Association on the importance
of local area characteristics, such on market size, on players’ salaries. I emphasize that Chris
came up with this topic on his own, and worked independently to summarize the scholarly
literature, collect his data, develop the economic theory, analyze his data, and interpret his
results. I was so impressed by the quality of Chris’s work that he was one of four students
from the class that I invited to present his research findings in a special session on
undergraduate research organized by one of my colleagues at the Western Economic
Association Annual meetings. This is a regional conference where PhD economists present
and discuss their research findings. Unfortunately, Chris had prior family obligations in
Georgia and was unable stay on campus to work on preparing for the conference.
Chris also has wonderful personal qualities. He is very polite, respectful, and mature. I am
very pleased to recommend him to you.
Please feel free to contact me if you should have any questions about Chris. I can be reached
at agill@fullerton.edu or 657-278-3076.
Sincerely,
Andrew M. Gill
Professor of Economics

2.
Mihaylo College of Business and Economics
Department of Economics
P.O. Box 6848, Fullerton, CA 92834-6848 / T 657-278-2228 / F 657-278-3097
THE CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY
Bakersfield / Channel Islands / Chico / Dominguez Hills / East Bay / Fresno / Fullerton / Humboldt / Long Beach / Los Angeles / Maritime Academy
Monterey Bay / Northridge / Pomona / Sacramento / San Bernardino / San Diego / San Francisco / San Jose / San Luis Obispo / San Marcos / Sonoma / Stanislaus