Professor
School of Public and International Affairs
University of Pittsburgh
Email: [email protected]

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​Much of my current research is broadly focused on inequality in the United States; some work in this area studies barriers to representation in various settings (often in politics) and also the impacts of representation on mitigating inequality across groups. 

Research

Selected Working Papers

• “The Economic Legacy of Racial Violence in the American South” with Luke Condra and Randall Walsh
• “Race and Redistricting in Local Government” with Carlos F. Avenancio-León and Ying Shi
• "A Quiet Revolution in the South: Elections, Representation, and Distributional Outcomes” with Ying Shi
• “How Who is Exposed to Import Competition Shapes Politics” with Erica Owen and Rena Sung
• “Differential Influence in Diverse Teams” with María Recalde and Pun Winichakul

Publications / Accepted Papers

• "Racial Representation in Local Government and Racial Disparities in Policing" with Xiaohong Wang and Jiangnan Zeng (accepted at Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization)
• "Partisan Versus Nonpartisan School Board Elections" with Andrew Hill and Breyon Williams, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis (2026)
• “Relative exposure to negative economic shocks and racial resentment” with Erica Owen and Rena Sung, International Organization (2026)
• "District-based Elections and Multiple Dimensions of Representation: Evidence from the California Voting Rights Act" with Michaela Cushing-Daniels and Brooke Shannon, Political Science Research & Methods (2026)
• "Disenfranchisement" with Randall Walsh and Werner Troesken, Journal of Historical Political Economy (2025)
• ​“Reconstruction-Era Education and Long-Run Black-White Inequality” with Ethan Schmick, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy (2025)
• "The partisanship of mayors has no detectable effect on police spending, police employment, crime, or arrests" with Justin de Benedictis-Kessner, Matt Harvey, and Chris Warshaw​​, Science Advances (2025) 
• "The Elected Official Next Door" with Randall Walsh and Jiangnan Zeng, Regional Science and Urban Economics (2025)
• "How Partisanship in Cities Influences Housing Policy" with Justin de Benedictis-Kessner and Chris Warshaw​​, American Journal of Political Science (2024)
• "Disparate Racial Impacts of Shelby County v. Holder on Voter Turnout" with Steve Billings, Noah Braun, and Ying Shi, Journal of Public Economics (2024)
• ​"Racial and Ethnic Representation in Local Government" with Brian Beach, Tate Twinam, and Randall Walsh [NBER Working Paper No. 25192], American Economic Journal: Economic Policy (2024)
• "Physician-Patient Race-Match Reduces Patient Mortality" with Andrew Hill and Lindsey Woodworth, Journal of Health Economics (2023)
• "Paying for what kind of performance? Incentive pay and multitasking in mission-oriented jobs" with Mirco Tonin, Michael Vlassopoulos, and Pun Winichakul, Games & Economic Behavior (2023)
• "Partisan Gerrymandering and Turnout" with Neil Silveus and Carly Urban, Journal of Law & Economics (2023)
• "Effects of an electronic health record-based mobility assessment and automated referral for inpatient physical therapy on patient outcomes: A quasi-experimental study" with Chou, Johnson, Euloth, Matcho, Bilderback, and Freburger, Health Services Research (2022)
• "Paying for whose performance? Teacher incentives and the black-white test score gap" with Andrew Hill, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis (2021)
• "Self-Fulfilling Prophecies in the Classroom" with Andrew Hill, Journal of Human Capital (2021)
• "The effect of school closings on teacher labor market outcomes and teacher effectiveness" with Andrew Hill, Education Finance and Policy (2021)
• "Ethnic diversity and citizens' support for local public good provision: Evidence from California parcel tax elections" with Crystal Zhan, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization (2020)
• "The impacts of performance pay on teacher effectiveness and retention: Does teacher gender matter?" with Andrew Hill, Journal of Human Resources (2020)
• "A teacher who knows me: The academic benefits of repeat student-teacher matches" with Andrew Hill, Economics of Education Review (2018)
• ​"How do voters matter? Evidence from US Congressional redistricting" with Randall Walsh [NBER Working Paper No. 22526], Journal of Public Economics (2018)
• "Does partisan affiliation impact the distribution of spending? Evidence from state governments' expenditures on education" with Andrew Hill, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization (2017)
• "Political Participation in a Violent Society:  Lynching and Turnout in the Post-Reconstruction South" with Werner Troesken and Randall Walsh, Journal of Development Economics (2017)
• "Wolves in sheep's clothing: Is nonprofit status used as a signal of quality?" with Carol Propper and Sarah Smith, Journal of Health Economics (2017)
• "Gridlock: Ethnic diversity in government and public good provision" with Brian Beach, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy (2017)
• "Too much information? An experiment on communication and cooperation", Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (2017) [Special issue on "Experiments in charitable giving", edited by List, Price, & Samek] ​
• "Business as usual: Politicians with business experience, government finances, and policy outcomes" with Brian Beach, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization (2016)
• "​Education’s gambling problem: Earmarked lottery revenues and charitable donations to education", Economic Inquiry (2015) 
• "The supply & demand of motivated labor: When should we expect to see nonprofit wage gaps?" Labour Economics (2015)
• "Wallflowers: Experimental evidence of reputation avoidance" with Sera Linardi, Management Science (2014)