Research

Publications

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1. "Churches as Social Insurance: Oil Risk and Religion in the U.S. South," forthcoming at Journal of Economic History (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.

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

   • Download: Draft (with appendices).​

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

3. "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: All-white sundown towns spread throughout the Western U.S. in the 1900s, led in part by white Southern migrants and causing a "Great Retreat" of Blacks.

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

   • Download: Draft, Supplemental material, Replication files.

   • Summary: Expelling millions of Germans after World War II permanently impaired economic development in the Czech Republic.

5. "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, institutions matter (for migratory response patterns).

6. "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, making citizens better off.

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Working papers

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1. “New Area- and Population-based Geographic Crosswalks for U.S. Counties and Congressional Districts, 1790-2020,” CAGE Working Paper 588 (with Andreas Ferrara and Liyang Zhou).​

   • ​Download: Draft (with appendices), 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.

2. "The Confederate Diaspora"​ (with Samuel Bazzi, Andreas Ferrara, Martin Fiszbein, and Thomas Pearson).

   • Download: Draft (coming soon).​

   • Summary: Former Confederates, especially former slaveholders, migrated into positions of power throughout the country, diffusing Confederate culture in the process.

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Works in progress

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1. "National Identity, Public Goods, and Modern Economic Performance" (with Stergios Skaperdas).

2. "The Origins and Diffusion of Sundown Towns: Uncovering a History of Racial Exclusion" (with Samuel Bazzi, Eric Chyn, Andreas Ferrara, Martin Fiszbein, and Thomas Pearson).