Research

Publications

How the Other Half Died: Immigration and Mortality in US Cities. Joint with Philipp Ager, Casper Worm Hansen, and Huiren Tan. Forthcoming, Review of Economic Studies.

Organizational Frictions and Increasing Returns to Automation: Lessons from AT&T in the Twentieth Century. Joint with Daniel Gross. Accepted, Management Science.

Racial Inequality in the Prime of Life: Infectious Disease Mortality in U.S. Cities, 1906-1933. 2023. Joint with Aja Antoine-Jones, Lauren Hoehn-Velasco, Christopher Muller, and Elizabeth Wrigley-Field. Social Science History 47(3):491-504.

Capital Destruction and Economic Growth: The Effects of Sherman’s March, 1850-1920. 2022. Joint with James Lee and Filippo Mezzanotti. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 14(4):301-42.

Racial Disparities in Mortality During the 1918 Influenza Pandemic in United States Cities. 2022. Joint with Martin Eiermann, Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, Jonas Helgertz, Elaine Hernandez, and Courtney E. Boen. Demography 59(5):1953-1979.

  • Awarded the 2023 Evolution, Biology and Society Section’s Best Article Award

1918 Every Year: Racial Inequality in Infectious Mortality, 1906–1942. 2022. Joint with Lauren Hoehn-Velasco, Christopher Muller, and Elizabeth Wrigley-Field. American Economic Association: Papers & Proceedings 112:199-204.

Automated Linking of Historical Data. 2021. Joint with Ran Abramitzky, Leah Boustan, Katherine Eriksson, and Santiago Perez. Journal of Economic Literature 59(3):865-918.

Childhood cross-ethnic exposure predicts political behavior seven decades later: Evidence from linked administrative data. 2021. Joint with Jacob Brown, Ryan Enos, and Soumyajit Mazumder. Science Advances 7(24).

The Return to Education in the Mid-20th Century: Evidence from Twins. 2020. Joint with Huiren Tan. Journal of Economic History 80(4):1101-1142.

Regional and Racial Inequality in Infectious Disease Mortality in U.S. Cities, 1900–1948. 2019. Joint with Christopher Muller and Elizabeth Wrigley-Field. Demography 56(4):1371-1388.

Multiple Measures of Historical Intergenerational Mobility: Iowa 1915 to 1940. 2018. Economic Journal 128(612):F446-F481.

Tenancy, Marriage, and the Boll Weevil Infestation, 1892-1930. 2017. Joint with Deirdre Bloome and Christopher Muller. Demography 54(3):1029-1049.

Racial inequality in the annual risk of Tuberculosis infection in the United States, 1910-1933. 2017. Joint with Jon Zelner and Christopher Muller. Epidemiology and Infection 145(9):1797-1840.

The Majority-Party Disadvantage: Revising Theories of Legislative Organization. 2017. Joint with Alexander Fouirnaies and Andrew B. Hall. Quarterly Journal of Political Science 12(3):269-300.

Lead Exposure and Violent Crime in the Early Twentieth Century. 2016. Joint with Christopher Muller. Explorations in Economic History 62:51-86.

  • Awarded the 2017 Larry Neal Prize for the best article in Explorations in Economic History

How Legislators Respond To Localized Economic Shocks. 2015. Joint with Andrew B. Hall. Journal of Politics 77(4):1012-1030.

The Vicious Cycle: Fundraising and Perceived Viability in US Presidential Primaries. 2013. Joint with Cameron A. Shelton. Quarterly Journal of Political Science 8(1):1-40.

Working Papers

Answering the Call of Automation: How the Labor Market Adjusted to the Mechanization of Telephone Operation. Joint with Daniel Gross. Conditionally Accepted at Quarterly Journal of Economics.

‘Descended from Immigrants and Revolutionists’: How Family Immigration History Shapes Representation in Congress. Joint with Maxwell Palmer and Benjamin Schneer. Reject and Resubmit at Quarterly Journal of Economics.

Intergenerational Mobility during the Great Depression

Automated Census Record Linking: A Machine Learning Approach

From the Bargaining Table to the Ballot Box: Political Effects of Right to Work Laws. Joint with Alexander Hertel-Fernandez and Vanessa Williamson.

Who Becomes a Member of Congress? Evidence From De-Anonymized Census Data. Joint with Daniel M. Thompson, Andrew B. Hall, and Jesse Yoder.

When Coercive Economies Fail: The Political Economy of the US South After the Boll Weevil. Joint with Soumyajit Mazumder and Cory Smith.

After the Burning: The Economic Effects of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Joint with Alex Albright, Jeremy A. Cook, Laura Kincaide, Jason Long, and Nathan Nunn.

Why Does Education Increase Voting? Evidence from Boston’s Charter Schools. Joint with Sarah Cohodes.

Germ Theory at Home: The Role of Private Action in Reducing Child Mortality during the Epidemiological Transition. Joint with Lauren Hoehn-Velasco and Sophie Li.

Resting Papers

Women’s Suffrage and Intergenerational Mobility

Information and Investment: Impacts of the Introduction of Rural Free Delivery. Joint with Martin Rotemberg.

How High-Income Neighborhoods Receive More Service from Municipal Government: Evidence from City Administrative Data. Joint with Andrew B. Hall.

Chapters

Inequality and the Safety Net in American Cities Throughout the Income Distribution, 1929-1940. Joint with Price Fishback and Keoka Grayson. 2022. In R. Chetty, J. Friedman, J. Gornick, B. Johnson, and A. Kennickell, eds. Measuring Distribution and Mobility of Income and Wealth. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Health in Historical Political Economy. 2022. In J. Jenkins and J. Rubin, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Historical Political Economy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.