Research

Working papers

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1. "The Confederate Diaspora"​ (with Samuel Bazzi, Andreas Ferrara, Martin Fiszbein, and Thomas Pearson), Accepted at the Review of Economic Studies.

   • Download: Draft (with appendices).​

   • Summary: Former Confederate elites moved West after the Civil War, migrating into positions of power and shaping the trajectory of American culture.

2. "Coordinating Political Investment."​​

   • Download: Draft (coming soon).

   • Summary: Presidential election results serve as coordination devices for allocating political resources, helping explain the Democratic Party's mid-century transformation.​​​​​​​

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Publications

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1. "Political Foundations of Racial Violence in the Post-Reconstruction South​" (with Jhacova Williams), Forthcoming at the Quarterly Journal of Economics.

   • Download: Draft, Supplemental material.​

   • Summary: Racial violence in the post-Reconstruction U.S. South was closely tied to the local political performance of the Democratic Party.

2. "National Identity, Public Goods, and Modern Economic Development," Journal of Comparative Economics, 2025, 53, 412–32 (with Stergios Skaperdas).

   • Download: Draft (with appendices).​

   • Summary: National identities promote a consensus between elites and the masses behind taxes and public goods that boost the national economic status, further galvanizing national pride.

3. “New Area- and Population-based Geographic Crosswalks for U.S. Counties and Congressional Districts, 1790-2020,” Historical Methods, 2024, 57, 67–79 (with Andreas Ferrara and Liyang Zhou).

   • ​Download: Draft, Supplemental material, Crosswalks and replication files.​

   • Summary: We develop new geographic crosswalks for the U.S. based on relative population size, which account for heterogeneities in urbanization within counties.

4. "The Other Great Migration: Southern Whites and the New Right​," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2023, 138, 1577–1647 (with Samuel Bazzi, Andreas Ferrara, Martin Fiszbein, and Thomas Pearson).​

   • Download: Draft, Supplemental material, Replication files.

   • Summary: Mass migration out of the U.S. South during the early 20th century catalyzed major shifts in national policy coalitions.​

5. "Churches as Social Insurance: Oil Risk and Religion in the U.S. South," Journal of Economic History, 2023, 83, 786–832 (with Andreas Ferrara).​

   • Download: Draft, Supplemental material, Replication files.

   • Summary: Religious communities grew throughout the U.S. South in the early 20th century as a form of social insurance against oil volatility.​

6. "Sundown Towns and Racial Exclusion: The Southern White Diaspora and the 'Great Retreat'," American Economic Association: Papers and Proceedings, 2022, 112, 234–8 (with Samuel Bazzi, Andreas Ferrara, Martin Fiszbein, and Thomas Pearson).

   • Download: Draft, Replication files.

   • Summary: Racially-exclusive ``sundown towns'' spread throughout the central and western U.S. in the 1900s, leading to a "Great Retreat" of Black Americans.

7. "The Economic Legacy of Expulsion: Lessons from Post-war Czechoslovakia," The Economic Journal, 2021, 131, 2233–71.

   • Download: Draft, Supplemental material, Replication files.

   • Summary: Czechoslovakia's expulsion of millions of ethnic Germans after World War II permanently impaired local economic development.

8. "Shocks and the Spatial Distribution of Economic Activity: The Role of Institutions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2021, 183, 791–810.

   • Download: Draft, Supplemental material, Replication files.

   • Summary: When it comes to whether or not historical shocks have persistent effects, the quality of institutions matters for migratory responses.

9. "Education and Propaganda: Tradeoffs to Public Education Provision in Nondemocracies," Journal of Public Economics, 2018, 160, 66–81.

   • Download: Draft, Supplemental material, Replication files.

   • Summary: The use of propaganda in educational content can induce nondemocracies to invest more in education, ultimately making citizens better off.​​

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Selected work in progress

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1. "The Geography of Demographic Composition in the United States" (with Samuel Bazzi, Eric Chyn, Andreas Ferrara, Martin Fiszbein, and Thomas Pearson), funded by the National Science Foundation​ and the Russell Sage Foundation.

2. "State Capacity and Identity: Assimilation vs. Resistance of Tribal Rimlands" (with Stergios Skaperdas).

3. "Economic Integration and Identity in the Age of the Erie Canal" (with Thomas Pearson).

4. "Redestruction: The Violent Roots of Local Underdevelopment in the U.S. South" (with Brian Beach, Andreas Ferrara, and Bruno Kömel).