Research
I am in the 5th year of an Economics PhD at Cornell University, where I am finishing my dissertation focusing on labour economics.
The Direct and Indirect Effects of Genetics and Education (2025, JMP).
I investigate whether genes associated with education affect labour market outcomes directly or primarily through educational choices, using random genetic inheritance as a natural experiment and developing causal methods that account for human capital decisions rather than assuming genetic determinism.
Draft forthcoming.
Extended Abstract
Recent genetic research has shown that genes matter for education and labour market outcomes, but has little to say on the economic mechanisms beneath these findings. I use plausibly random deviation from parents as a natural experiment for the Education PolyGenic Index (Ed PGI) to estimate causal effects of genes associated with years of education, using data from the UK Biobank. I then decompose these genetic effects into a direct genetic effect and indirect education pathway using a causal mediation framework that allows for selection-into-education, using multiple UK university openings in the 1960s as instruments for higher education attendance. The Ed PGI increases labour market earnings through higher education attendance, with direct genetic effects indistinguishable from zero --- contradicting previous speculation that education-linked genes independently increase intelligence or other labour market traits. Education linked genes are more about returns to higher education, and less about direct genetic effects. These findings reframe social science genetics by shifting focus from asking ''if genes matter'' to ''how genes matter'' --- not as deterministic forces, but as factors that influence human capital decisions within institutional constraints. By using causal methods that explicitly account for individual choice, rather than assuming genetic determinism, this research provides a richer understanding of how biological inheritance, personal agency, and institutional structures interact to shape labour market inequality.Causal Mediation in Natural Experiments (2025).
Applied econometrics paper showing how mediation works (or does not work) in a quasi-experimental/observational setting — and what to do about it.
Working paper here, and slides here.
Extended Abstract
Natural experiments are a cornerstone of applied economics, providing settings for estimating causal effects with a compelling argument for treatment ignorability. Applied researchers often investigate mechanisms behind treatment effects by controlling for a mediator of interest, alluding to Causal Mediation (CM) methods for estimating direct and indirect effects (CM effects). This approach to investigating mechanisms unintentionally assumes the mediator is quasi-randomly assigned --- in addition to quasi-random assignment of the initial treatment. Individuals' choice to take (or refuse) a mediator based on costs and benefits is inconsistent with this assumption, suggesting in-practice estimates of CM effects are biased in natural experiment settings. I solve for these explicit bias terms, which imitate classical selection bias for average causal effects and crowd out inference on direct and indirect effects, and consider an alternative approach to credibly estimate CM effects. The approach uses a control function adjustment, pertinent for when selection-into-mediator is driven by unobserved costs and benefits, and relies on instrumental variation in mediator take-up cost. Simulations confirm that this method corrects for selection bias in conventional CM estimates, providing both parametric and semi-parametric methods. This approach gives applied researchers an alternative method to estimate CM effects when they can only establish a credible argument for quasi-random assignment of the initial treatment, and not a mediator, as is common in natural experiments.Less Funding, More Lecturers, and Fewer Professors (2024).
Empirical economics paper connecting stagnating US higher education funding with substituting professors for lecturers.
Working paper here.
Food Insecurity Among Military Veterans (2025).
Joint with Seungmin Lee (Notre Dame), Chris Barrett, John Hoddinott (Cornell), Matthew Rabbitt (USDA).
Empirical economics project measuring food insecurity among military veterans, using newly crafted data from the PSID to causally measure the impact of military service on food insecurity outcomes.
Draft forthcoming.
Market Interventions in a Large-Scale Virtual Economy (2022).
Joint with Peter Xenopoulos, Claudio Silva (NYU). ArXiv paper here.
Study of large market interventions in an online multiplayer game’s economy, and the causal effects on market activity. Combines insights from applied economics and data science in the study of virtual games.