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Specialization:
Fields: Development Economics; Labor Economics; Political Economy.
Topics: Structural transformation; Globalization; Employment; Education; Public Services.
Bio:
I am a development economist. I trained in economics and energy policy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I completed a PhD in Agricultural and Applied Economics. Before joining UCSB, I worked at the Asian Development Bank, supporting electricity sector reforms and studying the implications of structural transformation for employment and education policy across the region. My research examines the economics of development and change (including globalization and industrialization), employment, education and inequality. I also work closely with collaborators in economics, political science and other disciplines on institutional aspects of economic development, including public services provision, corruption, gender-based violence, colorism and commodity price management.
I received UCSB’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2017.
Research Associate, Broom Center for Demography
Publications:
Journal Articles
Titles link to final journal articles and to non-paywalled working papers.
Economics / Political-Economy
- Education and the evolution of comparative advantage (with Hongyuan Jin and Jesus Felipe), Structural Change and Economic Dynamics (2024).
- Will studying economics make you rich? A regression discontinuity analysis of the returns to college major (with Zachary Bleemer), American Economic Journal: Applied Economics (February 2022, lead article). Working Paper.
- Is employment globalizing? (with Liming Chen, Jesus Felipe and Andrew Kam), Structural Change and Economic Dynamics (2021). Working Paper.
- The effects of labor regulation on firms and exports: Evidence from Indian apparel manufacturing (with Asha Sundaram and Rana Hasan), Journal of Comparative Economics (2021). Working Paper.
- Manufacturing matters... but it's the jobs that count (with Jesus Felipe and Changyong Rhee), Cambridge Journal of Economics, (2019). Working Paper, DOWNLOAD THE DATASET
- Labor Regulations, Employment and Wages: Evidence from India's Apparel Sector, (with Rana Hasan, Nidhi Kapoor and Asha Sundaram). Asian Economic Policy Review (2017).
- Deindustrialization? A Global Perspective (with Jesus Felipe), Economics Letters (2016). Working Paper.
- Pilferage from Opaque Food Subsidy Programs: Theory and Evidence (with Shikha Jha), Food Policy, (2014). Working paper.
- Does industry affiliation influence wages? Evidence from Indonesia and the Asian Financial Crisis (with Wei Sun), World Development (2013). Working paper.
- Self-targeted food subsidies and voice: Evidence from the Philippines (with Shikha Jha and Pilipinas Quising), Food Policy (2013). Working paper.
- Where have all the educated workers gone? Services and wage inequality in three Asian economies (with Jesus Felipe, Pilipinas Quising and Sheila Camingue), Metroeconomica (2013). Working paper.
- Corruption, Food Subsidies and Opacity: Evidence from the Philippines (with Shikha Jha), Economics Letters (2012). Working paper.
- Economic Liberalization and Rising College Premiums in Mexico: A Reinterpretation (with Belinda Acuna Mohr), World Development (2012). Working paper.
- The effects of trade and services liberalization on wage inequality in India (with Rana Hasan), International Review of Economics and Finance (2012). Working paper.
- Overeducation in Developing Economies: How can we test for it and what does it mean? (with Jesus Felipe, Pilipinas Quising and Sheila Camingue), Economics of Education Review (2011). Working paper.
- Incomplete Property Rights, Exposure to Markets, and the Provision of Ecosystem Services in China (with Michael T. Bennett and Jintao Xu), China Economic Review (2011). Working paper.
- Understanding the Coffee Crisis: What Can We Learn from Price Dynamics? (with Jean-Paul Chavas), Journal of Development Economics (2008). Working paper
- Why Do Diplomas Pay? An Expanded Mincerian Framework Applied to Mexico (with Hector J. Villarreal), Applied Economics. (2008). Working paper.
- Price Dynamics in a Vertical Sector: The Case of Butter (with Jean-Paul Chavas), American Journal of Agricultural Economics (2004). Working paper.
- Power Sector Reform in Central Asia: Observations on the Diverse Experiences of Five Central Asian Republics and Mongolia (with Anil Terway & Satish Rao), Journal of Cleaner Production (2007). Working paper.
- Under-Representation of Disadvantaged Classes in College: What do the Data Tell Us? (With Rana Hasan), Economic and Political Weekly (of India) (2006). Working paper.
Cognate Disciplines
- When Development is Not Enough: Structural Change, Conflict and Gendered Insecurity (with Alison Brysk), Global Society, (2017). Working Paper.
- Is Only Fair Lovely? Consequences of Skin Color in a Survey Experiment in Delhi (with Amit Ahuja and Susan Ostermann), Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics (2016). Working paper.
- Research Diversification and Impact: The Case of National Nanoscience Development (with Patrick Herron, Timothy Lenoir and Cong Cao), Scientometrics (2016). Working paper.
- Do rights at home boost rights abroad? Sexual equality and humanitarian foreign policy (with Alison Brysk), Journal of Peace Research (2014). Working paper.
- Globalization and De-Globalization in Nanotechnology Research: The role of China (with Patrick Herron, Yasuyuki Motoyama, Richard Appelbaum and Tim Lenoir), Scientometrics (2012). Working paper.
Books
- Metrics that Matter: Measuring what's really important to college students (with Zachary Bleemer, Christopher Muellerleile, Mukul Kumar and Christopher Newfield). Johns Hopkins University Press (2023).
Working Papers (excluding those already published in journals)
- Major restrictions and student stratification (with Zachary Bleemer, R&R, Nature). UC Center for Studies in Higher Education Working Paper Series 14.21.
- How Does Growth Affect Everyday Corruption? Exit, Empowerment and Voice in Indian Public Services (with Amit Ahuja, 2023), U. of Heidelberg, Papers in South Asian and Comparative Politics # 81.
- The Estimation of Production functions with Monetary Values (with Jesus Felipe & John McCombie, 2024), Levy Economics Institute, Working Paper No. 1036.
Book Chapters and Reports for Public Agencies
- Major restrictions, socioeconomic stratification and student success (with Zachary Bleemer). University of California Office of the President Policy Brief (2020).
- What humanities scholars and economists think higher education is for – and how quantification sidelines both views (with Christopher Newfield). In Anna Alexandrova, Stephen John and Christopher Newfield (eds.) The Limits of the Numerical: The Abuses and Uses of Quantification. University of Chicago Press (2022).
- Asia's Structural Transformation: Where to, how, and how fast? (with Jesus Felipe, Roehl Briohnes, Douglas Brooks and Bart Verspagen, 2013).
- Inclusiveness through Food Security: The Case of the Philippines National Food Authority (with Shikha Jha), in Juzhong Zhuang (ed.) Inequality and Inclusive Growth in Asia: Measurement, Policy Issues and Country Studies. Anthem Press (2010).
- Education and Structural Change in Four Asian Countries (with Jesus Felipe, 2007)
- International Payments Imbalances (with Frank Harrigan and Jesus Felipe, 2006)
- A Diagnostic Review of Regulatory Approaches and Challenges: Power Sector Reforms in Seven CAREC Member Countries(with David Butcher, 2005)
- The Economics and Feasibility of Electricity Generation using Manure Digesters on Small and Medium Size Dairy Farms. (2002).
Invited Online Articles
- Are Labor Markets Increasingly Global? Some Empirical and Policy Concerns, Global-e, the E-journal of 21st Century Global Dynamics Initiative (2018)
- How Serious are India’s Manufacturing Skill Gaps? , Ideas for India (2015)
- The Manufacturing Conundrum, (with Jesus Felipe and Changyong Rhee), World Bank Jobs and Development Website (2015)
- Five ways to lessen inequality as demand for labor softens worldwide, Huffington Post (2014).
- Strawberries, Chocolate and Skill Gaps, World Bank Jobs and Development Website (2014).
- Why Global students should study economics. Global-e, the E-journal of 21st Century Global Dynamics Initiative (2013)
In the works..
- What does economic growth do to public services corruption? (with Amit Ahuja).
- Does studying economics change your political perspective? (with Zachary Bleemer)
- Trade liberalization and inequality as if businessmen existed (with Andrew Dawson, Miguel Flores Segovia and Asha Sundaram)
- On the pitfalls of estimating production functions with value data (with Jesus Felipe and John McCombie)