Research
My research is in macro development, economic geography and family economics, with a focus on structural transformation and spatial mobility.
Family-led Structural Change
Abstract. I study how family networks shape structural transformation during the U.S. transition from 1880 to 1950. Linking full-count censuses across generations and space, I construct extended family networks covering 32 million individuals by 1940. Relatives facilitate entry into their sector, nearby relatives discourage migration and family presence at destination directs subsequent migration, while dependence on inherited sector ties is weaker among workers with more schooling. I embed these mechanisms in a dynamic spatial model in which sector and location choices reshape future family geography. Family connections account for 15.19% of the recovered agriculture-to-manufacturing entry cost in 1880, while redistributing inherited horizontal ties raises the 1950 manufacturing share by 1.18 percentage points. Family ties therefore shape both the pace and geography of structural change.
Unequal Global Convergence
Abstract. We revisit the role of structural transformation in regional convergence using a new global dataset covering more than 1,500 regions in over 90 countries since 1980. Regional convergence declines over time and stalls in the most recent decade despite substantial remaining spatial inequality. This decline is associated with structural transformation toward high-skill services, which are more geographically concentrated than agriculture, manufacturing or other services. A spatial equilibrium model shows how the shift toward high-skill services can reinforce agglomeration and weaken regional convergence.
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The Intergenerational Consequences of a Temporary Shock
Abstract. We exploit a temporary, sector-specific import restriction in Thailand to study the long-run consequences of a short-lived negative demand shock. The shock induces persistent sectoral reallocation, with heterogeneous effects on income, assets and education across households that leave or remain in the affected sector. The results highlight how temporary shocks can generate lasting changes in occupational choices and intergenerational outcomes.
New draft coming soon
Inheriting Geography
Marriage and the Intergenerational Transmission of Spatial Opportunity
Abstract. Marriage joins not only two people but also two spatially distributed families. Using complete-count U.S. censuses from 1880 to 1950 linked into extended family trees, I trace how marriage expands family-connected geography and how these new connections affect location choice. Marriage substantially expands the set of places connected through family, as spouses bring partly distinct family geographies into the union. Comparing siblings who marry different spouses, I find that couples disproportionately settle in destinations added through the spouse. These connections persist across generations: children are more likely to settle in places connected only through the family their parent married into, even when neither parent ever lived there. A parsimonious model uses these responses to quantify how marital merging changes children's spatial opportunity and intergenerational mobility.
Draft coming soon