Interests and agenda

I am interested in the fields of international economics, economic geography, urban economics, and development economics.

I organize my work into two main agendas:

• Geography and scale externalities, which examines how the long-run distribution of economic activity across space is determined by scale externalities.
• Geography and family, which investigates how family structure and gender roles affect outcomes across space.

A recurring theme in my research is the study of spatial frictions (trade and commute costs), though this is not an exclusive focus.

Working papers

1. (Job Market Paper) Highways, Commuting and Trade: Unpacking Suburban Growth
   [Draft here]
2. Transit Infrastructure, Couples' Commuting Choices, and Gender Earnings Inequality
   [Draft here]
   Submitted
   *“Honorable Mention” for Best Student Paper Prize, Urban Economic Association, Milan 2023
   * Project financed by grant from CAF - Development Bank of Latin America
   * Presented in: 2024 AREUEA-ASSA Winter Meeting, 2024 Seminario de Microeconomia Aplicada (MAP), 17th North American Meeting of the Urban Economics Association, 12th European Meeting of the Urban Economics Association, 98th Conference of the Western Economic Association International, 2022 LACEA’s Urban Economics Network Meetings
3. Skill Allocation and Urban Amenities in the Developing World (with Andrii Parkhomenko, and Jorge de la Roca )
   [Preliminary draft here]
   * Presented in: 2024 AREUEA-ASSA Winter Meeting, 2023 Conference on Urban and Regional Economics (CURE), 17th North American Meeting of the Urban Economics Association, 12th European Meeting of the Urban Economics Association
4. Trade in Appliances, Household Production, and Labor Force Participation (draft coming soon) (with Pamela Medina, and Sebastian Sotelo )
   In preparation for the Journal of International Economics special issue on Trade and Uneven Economic Development
   * Project financed by grant from Gender and the Economy Initiative, and STEG Research Grant
   * Presented in: WB and JIE's Trade and Uneven Development Conference, 2023 Seminario de Microeconomia Aplicada (MAP), 2022 Annual Meeting of the LACEA-LAMES
5. Initial Conditions, Size, and the Biggest Push in US History (draft coming soon) (with Dominick Bartelme, and Zhimin Li )
   * Presented in: 17th North American Meeting of the Urban Economics Association

Published and accepted papers

1. The Direct and Indirect Effects of Messages on Tax Compliance: Experimental Evidence from Peru With Juan Francisco Castro, Arlette Beltrán, and Gustavo Yamada
   [Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 203 (2022): 483-518]
2. Does Trade Liberalization Foster Intimate Partner Violence? With Alberto Chong
   [Economic Development and Cultural Change 72.2 (2024): 563-602.]
3. Computers and Discretion: Evidence from Two Natural Field Experiments With Alberto Chong, and Mónica Yáñez-Pagans
   [Economic Development and Cultural Change 71.1 (2022): 63-109.]
4. I Read the News Today, oh Boy: The Effect of Crime News Coverage on Crime Perception With Santiago Medina, Gustavo Yamada, Pablo Lavado, Miguel Núñez, Hugo Alatrista, and Juandiego Morzán
   [World Development 136 (2020): 105111]