Research

Publications

"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.
"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.
"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.
"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.
"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).
"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.

Working papers

“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.
"The Confederate Diaspora" (with Samuel Bazzi, Andreas Ferrara, Martin Fiszbein, and Thomas Pearson).
- Download: Abstract, Draft (coming soon).
- Summary: Former Confederates, especially former slaveholders, migrated into positions of power throughout the country, diffusing Confederate culture in the process.
"National Identity, Public Goods, and Modern Economic Development" (with Stergios Skaperdas).
- Download: Draft (with appendices).
- Summary: In modern states, national identity facilitates consensuses between elites and the masses behind taxes and public goods that boost the national status.

Works in progress

"The Political Economy of Lynchings: Lessons from the Post-Reconstruction South" (with Jhacova Williams).
"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).
"National Identity, Labor Productivity, and Capital Accumulation" (with Stergios Skaperdas).