My research interests lie at the intersection of macroeconomics, development and political economics, and urban and regional economics. I explore questions such as: Why is economic activity more concentrated in some places than others? How do politics and international linkages influence the growth of cities? In what ways do ethnic politics and the geography of ethnic groups interact with economic growth? Which political factors influence the dominance of certain ethnic groups, and how do these factors shape regional development? To address these questions, I combine manually collected data, remotely-sensed data, state-of-the-art methods, geospatial analysis, and formal theory.

My work has been published or is forthcoming in journals such as the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Journal of Development Economics, and Journal of Urban Economics. It has been featured in media outlets, including Voxeu.org, VoxChina, the Washington Post, the New York Times, National Public Radio (NPR), Brookings, and the Center for Global Development.

Head over to my faculty page if you want to get in touch or click here to see my  CV(PDF).