Research
Working Papers and Work in Progress
Patent Text and Long-Run Innovation Dynamics: The Critical Role of Model Selection
NBER Working Paper 32934.
Previously circulated with the title "Mapping Inventions in the Space of Ideas, 1836–2022: Representation and Measurement."
September 2024
The Bronx is Burning: Urban Disinvestment Effects of the Fair Access to Insurance Requirements
May 2025
Expecting an Expressway
Racial Factors in the Allocation of Interstate Highways, 1950–1980
Automated Digitization of the Historical Censuses of Housing Block Statistics, 1940–1970
Slides from August 2024
December 2012
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Lockdowns and Innovation: Evidence from the 1918 Flu Pandemic
Review of Economics and Statistics 107:3 (May 2025), 853-863. .
Working paper from February 2023
November 2020
Freeway Revolts! The Quality of Life Effects of Highways
Review of Economics and Statistics 106:5 (September 2024), 1268-1284.
Working paper from July 2022
Previous working paper from July 2019
Slides from November 2019
Co-winner of IPUMS Spatial Research Award 2024 for Best Published Article Using IPUMS Spatial Data.
Media coverage by
Citylab and
WHYY.
The Well-Being of Nations: Estimating Welfare from International Migration
International Economic Review 62:3 (August 2021), 1111-1130.
Working paper from January 2021
Slides from October 2019
Population Density and Local Food Market Channels
Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy 42:3 (September 2020), 477-496.
The Paper Trail of Knowledge Spillovers: Evidence from Patent Interferences
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 12:2 (April 2020), 278-302.
Working paper from September 2019
Slides from June 2019
Natural Amenities, Neighborhood Dynamics, and Persistence in the Spatial Distribution of Income
Review of Economic Studies 85:1 (January 2018), 663-694.
Reprinted in Recent Developments in the Economics of Housing, Y. Ioannides, ed., Edward Elgar Publishing (2019).
Working paper from January 2017
Slides from 2015
Appendix and replication data
Data and advice for normalizing historical census data
Media coverage by Chicago magazine
Thick-Market Effects and Churning in the Labor Market: Evidence from U.S. Cities
Journal of Urban Economics 72:2-3 (September-November 2012), 87-103.
Reprinted in The Economics of Agglomeration, W. Strange, ed., Edward Elgar Publishing (2019).
Working paper from October 2007
Quarterly Journal of Economics 127:2 (2012), 587-644.
Working paper from September 2011
Co-winner of IPUMS Research Award 2012 for Best Published Article Using IPUMS-USA Data.
Media coverage by Business Insider.
Technological Adaptation, Cities, and New Work
Review of Economics and Statistics 93:2 (May 2011), 554-574.
Reprinted in The Economics of Agglomeration, W. Strange, ed., Edward Elgar Publishing (2019).
Working paper from July 2009
Replication data and data on new occupational classifications
Population Research and Policy Review 26:3 (June 2007), 347-369.
Gentrification and Transit in Northwest Chicago
Journal of the Transportation Research Forum, in Transportation Quarterly 56:4 (Fall 2002), 175-191.
Summary Pieces, Invited Articles, and Conference Proceedings
Strong Spatial Spillovers Determine Neighborhood Shape and Neighborhood Change
A Research Agenda for Neighborhoods (2026).
The State of Urban Research: Views Across the Disciplines
Journal of Urban Affairs (2022).
What Future For History Dependence in Spatial Economics?
Regional Science and Urban Economics 94 (2022), 103628.
History and the Sizes of Cities
American Economic Review, Papers & Proceedings 105:5 (May 2015), 558-563.
Working paper from January 2015