Welcome

I joined Middlebury as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics and an affiliate of the International Politics and Economics Program in the fall semester of 2008, after completing my dissertation at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. I currently teach courses in Microeconomics at both introductory and intermediate level, Game Theory, Industrial Organization, and Development Economics. A statement of my pedagogical philosophy and course syllabi can be found on the teaching page of this website.My research investigates the related phenomena of discrimination, conflict, and international migration. My dissertation undertook a theoretical analysis of discrimination and policy responses designed to redress the persistent inequalities in group attainment that arise out of it. I have since added an empirical content to this agenda. A recent paper, currently under review, posits a method of distinguishing between  multiple dimensions of gender bias and provides evidence that promoting gender equity in the access to skill investment may well have a greater impact on economic growth than forms of intervention intended to promote participatory equity in the economic or political sphere.

The international migration of skilled labor has been an integral part of my post-dissertation research. A recent project, available as an Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) discussion paper, investigates the impact of financial liberalization on the selection of migrants. We find that an improvement in the quality of domestic financial institutions induced by liberalization increases the volume of skilled migration from an economy. However, a reduction in state presence in the financial sphere has no significant impact on selection. Further, the impact of financial development on the volume of skilled migration is more pronounced for economies at a lower stage of development. Details of these and other projects can be found on the research page of this website.

The causes and consequences of conflict had been a parallel theme in my dissertation and remains a key focus of my current research. A paper that unites my interests in conflict and migration investigates the structure of  migration from societies devastated by civil war. We find that the impact of internal violence on the selection of migrants depends on the precise nature of conflict being experienced: Countries with ethnic conflict experience significantly greater migration of skilled labor than societies at peace. However, countries with nonethnic forms of violence do not exhibit a significantly different structure of migration than more harmonious societies. This paper is forthcoming in the Eastern economic Journal and can be accessed here.