David Schönholzer
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Assistant Professor of Economics, IIES

I study the role of governance, preferences, and state capacity in the efficient provision of public goods. My work lies primarily in local public finance, with further interests in development, economic history, and political economy. I frequently combine big spatial data with both reduced-form and structural microeconomic methods.
  • 2019-: Stockholm University, Institute for International Economic Studies, Assistant Professor
  • 2018/19: Yale University, Cowles Foundation Postdoc
  • 2018: UC Berkeley, Ph.D. in Economics
    • Dissertation: "Essays on State Capacity and Local Public Goods"
    • Public Policy Research Award, National Tax Association Dissertation Award 
My CV is here, email: david.schonholzer@iies.su.se

Working Papers

Monitoring in Small Firms: Experimental Evidence from Kenyan Public Transit
with Erin Kelley and Gregory Lane
Revise and resubmit at the American Economic Review

The Origin of the Incentive Compatible State: Environmental Circumscription
Reject and resubmit at the Review of Economic Studies
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​​Measuring Preferences for Local Governments

​Creative Destruction in the European State System: 1000-1850​
with Eric Weese
Data from Centennia Research Edition

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​Valuing Local Public Goods using Municipal Annexations​
with Calvin Zhang
Lincoln Institute C. Lowell Harriss Fellowship

Publications

​Dividing Lines: Racial Segregation Across Local Government Boundaries
with Tomas Monarrez
Forthcoming at the ​Journal of Economic Literature


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


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

School Capital Expenditure Rules, Student Outcomes, and Real Estate Capitalization
with Barbara Biasi and Julien Lafortune
Spencer Foundation Research Grant


The Value of Safe Driving: Evidence from Kenya’s Public Transport Sector
with Erin Kelley and Gregory Lane
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Weiss Family Program Fund Grant, Development Economics Challenge Grant, T-TRIID Grant

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​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
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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."
  • Research
  • Teaching
  • Contact