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Assistant Professor of Economics, USCI study how public goods such as schools, roads, public safety, or public transit can be provided efficiently. I also investigate how states evolved to provide these services. My work lies primarily in public economics and political economy, with further interests in development, urban, and history. I frequently combine big spatial data with both reduced-form and structural microeconomic methods.
I am an Assistant Professor at the Economics Department at the University of Southern California. I am also a member of NBER, CESifo and CEGA. I completed my PhD in Economics at UC Berkeley in 2018. My CV is here. Contact: [email protected]. USC Department of Economics, Kaprielian Hall Office 306C, 3620 S Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90089 |
Working Papers
Shattered Metropolis: The Great Migration and the Fragmentation of Political Jurisdictions
with Jamie McCasland, Tomas Monarrez, and Everett Stamm
Information and Strategy in Lemon Markets: Improving Safety in Informal Transit
with Erin Kelley and Gregory Lane
Measuring Preferences for Local Governments
Environmental Circumscription and the Origins of the State
with Pieter François
Revision requested, Review of Economic Studies
Shapefile of archaeological sites in the Atlas of World Archaeology available here
Additional data from Seshat: Global History Databank
Creative Destruction in the European State System: 1000-1850
with Eric Weese
Revision requested, Review of Economic Studies
Data from Centennia Research Edition
Media coverage: Works in Progress
Valuing Local Public Goods using Municipal Annexations
with Calvin Zhang
Lincoln Institute C. Lowell Harriss Fellowship
with Jamie McCasland, Tomas Monarrez, and Everett Stamm
Information and Strategy in Lemon Markets: Improving Safety in Informal Transit
with Erin Kelley and Gregory Lane
Measuring Preferences for Local Governments
Environmental Circumscription and the Origins of the State
with Pieter François
Revision requested, Review of Economic Studies
Shapefile of archaeological sites in the Atlas of World Archaeology available here
Additional data from Seshat: Global History Databank
Creative Destruction in the European State System: 1000-1850
with Eric Weese
Revision requested, Review of Economic Studies
Data from Centennia Research Edition
Media coverage: Works in Progress
Valuing Local Public Goods using Municipal Annexations
with Calvin Zhang
Lincoln Institute C. Lowell Harriss Fellowship
Publications
What Works and For Whom? Effectiveness and Efficiency of School Capital Investments Across the U.S.
with Barbara Biasi and Julien Lafortune
Spencer Foundation Research Grant
Media coverage: EducationWeek, FutureEd, Yale Insights
Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2025, Vol. TBD
Monitoring in Small Firms: Experimental Evidence from Kenyan Public Transit
with Erin Kelley and Gregory Lane
American Economic Review, 2024, Vol.114(10), 3119-60
Online appendix
Replication package
Dividing Lines: Racial Segregation Across Local Government Boundaries
with Tomas Monarrez
Journal of Economic Literature, 2023, Vol. 61(3), 863-887
Online appendix and replication package
The Impact of School Facility Investments on Students and Homeowners: Evidence from Los Angeles
with Julien Lafortune
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2022, Vol. 14(3), 254-289
Online appendix and replication package
Ethnic Violence Across Space
with Hannes Mueller and Dominic Rohner
The Economic Journal, 2021, Vol. 132, p. 709-740
Replication package
School Capital Expenditure Rules and Distribution
with Barbara Biasi and Julien Lafortune
American Economic Association: Papers & Proceedings, 2021, Vol. 111, p. 450-454
with Barbara Biasi and Julien Lafortune
Spencer Foundation Research Grant
Media coverage: EducationWeek, FutureEd, Yale Insights
Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2025, Vol. TBD
Monitoring in Small Firms: Experimental Evidence from Kenyan Public Transit
with Erin Kelley and Gregory Lane
American Economic Review, 2024, Vol.114(10), 3119-60
Online appendix
Replication package
Dividing Lines: Racial Segregation Across Local Government Boundaries
with Tomas Monarrez
Journal of Economic Literature, 2023, Vol. 61(3), 863-887
Online appendix and replication package
The Impact of School Facility Investments on Students and Homeowners: Evidence from Los Angeles
with Julien Lafortune
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2022, Vol. 14(3), 254-289
Online appendix and replication package
Ethnic Violence Across Space
with Hannes Mueller and Dominic Rohner
The Economic Journal, 2021, Vol. 132, p. 709-740
Replication package
School Capital Expenditure Rules and Distribution
with Barbara Biasi and Julien Lafortune
American Economic Association: Papers & Proceedings, 2021, Vol. 111, p. 450-454
Selected Research in Progress
Supermajority Requirements and Voter Preferences in U.S. School Capital Investments
with Barbara Biasi and Julien Lafortune
Access to Public Goods within and across Local Governments: Machine-Learning Road Quality with Google Street View
with Andrea Vallebueno
Incentivizing Safety with Driver Subsidies in Informal Transit
with Erin Kelley and Gregory Lane
The Effect of School Redistricting on Housing Markets
with Tomas Monarrez
Institutional Origins and Evolution Through the Lens of Historical State Lineages
with Mattias Folkestad
The Long-run Consequences of Zoning on Racial Wealth Gaps
with Matthias Hoelzlein
with Barbara Biasi and Julien Lafortune
Access to Public Goods within and across Local Governments: Machine-Learning Road Quality with Google Street View
with Andrea Vallebueno
Incentivizing Safety with Driver Subsidies in Informal Transit
with Erin Kelley and Gregory Lane
The Effect of School Redistricting on Housing Markets
with Tomas Monarrez
Institutional Origins and Evolution Through the Lens of Historical State Lineages
with Mattias Folkestad
The Long-run Consequences of Zoning on Racial Wealth Gaps
with Matthias Hoelzlein
Image credit: part of the frontispiece of Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes; engraving by Abraham Bosse. "The skill of making, and maintaining Common-wealths, consisteth in certain Rules, as doth Arithmetique and Geometry."