About Me
I am an associate professor in the department of economics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
My research focuses on regional development in the United States. I am also interested in the effects of regulation and industrial policy. My curriculum vitae is available here.
I am visiting the Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy at Chapman University during 2023-24.
Work in Progress
"How Important Are Cultural Frictions for Internal Migration? Evidence from the Nineteenth Century United States," with Erik Kimbrough and Nicole Saito.
"Did War Mobilization Cause Regional Development?" with Dongkyu Yang.
"The Urban Wage Premium in Historical Perspective," with Kyle Butts and Carl Kitchens. [link]
"Economic Geography and Air Pollution Regulation in the United States," with Alex Hollingsworth, Carl Kitchens, and Ivan Rudik. Revisions requested at JPE: Micro. [link]
Teaching
I am currently teaching US economic history (Econ 373 at Chapman). The course covers the Colonial period to the present. The syllabus is available here.
Publications
"Highways and Globalization," with Carl Kitchens and Sergey Nigai, International Economic Review, 2023. [link, VoxEU column]
"Globalization and the Spread of Industrialization in Canada, 1871-1891," with Ian Keay, Explorations in Economic History, 2022. [link]
"Spillover Effects of IP Protection in the Interwar Aircraft Industry," with Walker Hanlon, Economic Journal, 2022. [link, VoxEU column]
"Specification and Structure in Economic History," Explorations in Economic History, 2020. [link]
"National Policy for Regional Development: Historical Evidence from Appalachian Highways," with Carl Kitchens, Review of Economics & Statistics, 2020. [link, note]
"Two World Wars in American Economic History," with Price V. Fishback, Oxford Handbook of American Economic History, 2018. [link]
"Shakeout in the Early Airframe Industry," with Andrew Smyth. Economic History Review, 2018. [link]
"Revisiting the Great Compression," with Greg Niemesh, Historical Methods, 2018. [link]
"Entry and Pricing on Broadway,” with Maggie Jones and Mario Samano, Applied Economics Letters, 2018. [link]
"World War II and the Industrialization of the American South," Journal of Economic History, 2017. [link, VoxEU column, data]
"Ownership and the Price of Residential Electricity: Evidence from the United States, 1935-1940," with Carl Kitchens, Explorations in Economic History, 2017. [link]
"Bubbles, Crashes and Endogenous Uncertainty in Linked Asset and Product Markets," with Erik O. Kimbrough, International Economic Review, 2016. [link]
"'You’re in the Army Now': The Impact of World War II on Women’s Education, Work, and Family," Journal of Economic History, 2014. [link, data]
"Go West Young Man: Self-Selection and Endogenous Property Rights," with Bart J. Wilson, Southern Economic Journal, 2013. [link]
"The Ecological and Civil Mainsprings of Property: An Experimental Economic History of Whalers' Rules of Capture," with Bart J. Wilson, Karl Schurter, and Andrew Smyth, Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 2012. [link]