Assistant Professor of Economics, IIES

I am a political economist studying the efficient provision of public goods, the role of governance, and the development of state capacity. My work speaks to issues in local public finance in the U.S., the economic history of the state, and the provision of public goods in a development context. My CV is here, email: david.schonholzer@yale.edu 

Working Papers

​Creative Destruction in the European State System: 1000-1850​
with Eric Weese

​​Do School Facilities Matter? Measuring the Effects of Capital Expenditures on Student and Neighborhood Outcomes​
with Julien Lafortune

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

The Origin of the Incentive Compatible State: Environmental Circumscription
Swiss National Science Foundation Fellowship​ ​ ​

The Impact of Monitoring Technologies on Contracts and Employee Behavior: Experimental Evidence from Kenya’s Transit Industry
with Erin Kelley and Gregory Lane
​PEDL Exploratory Research Grant, PEDL Major Research, DIL Innovate Grant
Media Coverage: NextBillion, Business Daily Africa
Latest AEA RCT Registry Revision: April 2017 
Website: smartmatatu.com​​

Selected Research in Progress

​Local Government Boundary Discontinuities Across U.S. Metropolitan Areas
with Tomas Monarrez

The Origins of Sociopolitical Complexity
with Ernesto Dal Bó and Kirsten Vacca
Swiss National Science Foundation Fellowship, Social Science Matrix Prospecting Team Award​ ​

Teacher Rotation and Student Outcomes: Experimental Evidence from Uganda
with Isabelle Cohen, Fred Finan, Ernesto Dal Bó and Kizito Omala​
EASST Research Grant Competition Grant​, IGC Grant

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