Employment
- 2017–present Associate Professor (with tenure), Department of Economics, Case Western Reserve University
- 2014–2017 Associate Professor (without tenure), Department of Economics, Case Western Reserve University
- 2007–2014 Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Case Western Reserve University
Education
- 2007 Ph.D., Harvard University, Economics. Fields: Development Economics, Economic History, and Labor Economics
- 1998 M.A., University of Chicago, Anthropology and Linguistics
- 1993 B.A., University of Toronto, With High Distinction
Curriculum Vitae
Interests
Applied Microeconomics; Economic History; Social and Cultural Economics; Entrepreneurship
Papers and Publications
- Computerized Machine Tools and the Transformation of US Manufacturing, with Jiwon Choi and Leah Boustan. Review of Economics and Statistics (revise & resubmit).
- The Political Fallout of Machine Tool Automation in the Mid-20th Century United States, with Jiwon Choi and Leah Boustan. In The Economic History of American Inequality, eds. Martha Bailey, Leah Boustan, William Collins. University of Chicago Press, 2025.
- Examining The Outcomes of Entrepreneur Pitch Training: an Exploratory Field Study, with Will Drover and Scott Shane. Small Business Economics, 2022.
- How Pitch Order Affects Investor Interest, with Mark Conley and Scott Shane. Journal of Innovation Economics and Management, 2022.
- Founder Passion, Neural Engagement, and Investor Interest in Startup Pitches: An fMRI Study, with Moran Cerf, Will Drover, Scott Shane. Journal of Business Venturing 35(4):105949, July 2020.
Winner, 2020 Academy of Management Prize for Most Influential Paper in Organizational Neuroscience. - Mental Accounts and Marginal Propensity to Give. Journal of the Economic Science Association 5:170–181, December 2019.
- Status and the Demand for Visible Goods: An Experiment on Conspicuous Consumption, with Roman Sheremeta. Experimental Economics 21(4):877–904, December 2018.
- Training Aspiring Entrepreneurs to Pitch Experienced Investors: Evidence from a Field Experiment in the United States, with Scott Shane. Management Science 64(11):5164–5179, November 2018.
- Are the World’s Languages Consolidating? On the Dynamics and Distribution of Language Population. The Economic Journal, February 2017.
- Negative Emotions, Income, and Welfare: Causal Estimates from the PSID. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 130:1–19, October 2016.
- How Individual Income Tax Policy Affects Entrepreneurship, with Scott Shane. Fordham Law Review 84(6):2495–2516, May 2016.
- Industrialization and Bilingualism in India. Journal of Human Resources 49(1):73–109, Winter 2014.
- Estimating the Impact of the Hajj: Religion and Tolerance in Islam’s Global Gathering, with Asim Khwaja and Michael Kremer. Quarterly Journal of Economics 1133–1170, August 2009.
- Deindustrialization in 18th and 19th Century India: Mughal Decline, Climate Shocks and British Industrial Ascent, with Jeffrey Williamson. Explorations in Economic History 45(3):209–234, September 2008.
Winner, 2008 Explorations Prize for Best Article in Explorations in Economic History.
Work in Progress
- Automation and Occupations in Metal Manufacturing, with Asha Banerjee and Leah Boustan
- Craft Entrepreneurship and the Future of Work (book project)
- AI Methods for Qualitative Analysis of a Large Interview Corpus (methods paper related to book project)
- The Intergenerational Transmission of Culture: Welsh in the Early 20th Century, with Juan Moreno-Cruz
Other Publications
- In Pitch Contests, Going First Is a Disadvantage, with Scott Shane and Mark Conley. Harvard Business Review, September 1, 2020.
- Even with the Internet, We’re Not Any Closer to Everyone Speaking the Same Language. London School of Economics Business Review, March 21, 2017.
- Othering and the Economics of Inequality. Journal of Othering and Belonging, Issue 2, February 2017.
- Can Income Redistribution Help Fight Depression? Corporate Knights, April 2015.
- Mecca and Moderation, with Asim Ijaz Khwaja and Michael Kremer. International Herald Tribune, May 20, 2008.
- Delivering Health Care, with Michael Kremer. Boston Review 32 (2007).
- The Impact of the Hajj, with Asim Ijaz Khwaja and Michael Kremer. Dubai School of Government Policy Brief, October 2008.