Research

Published Papers

"The Municipal Government Channel of Monetary Policy" (Macroeconomic Dynamics, 2024)

Monetary policy influences state and local borrowing costs; municipal bond yields respond less than Treasury yields and these responses vary across locations and bond characteristics. Using a model of localities as small open economies, the paper shows how those responses influence the transmission of monetary policy shocks to the economy. 

"State Government Saving over the Business Cycle" (Regional Science and Urban Economics, 2023)

In the U.S., transfers from federal to state governments respond more strongly to aggregate cycles than state-level cycles. Therefore, more independent U.S. states engage in more precautionary savings. 

"Optimal Minimum Wage Setting in a Federal System," with Andrew Simon (Journal of Urban Economics, 2021)

This paper provides a theoretical model and conditions for governments in a federation to optimally implement a binding minimum wage. We highlight the trade-offs of decentralized verse centralized minimum wage setting with interregional spillovers. In a simple example, a U.S.-style tiered system is weakly preferred to either decentralized or centralized minimum wage policy setting. 

"Government Market Power and Public Goods Provision in a Federation" (International Tax and Public Finance, 2021)

In standard models of fiscal federalism, tax competition among subnational jurisdictions depresses government expenditures. If, however, the central government has greater market power than constituent jurisdictions, then centralization may be associated with reduced government spending. Whether centralization or decentralization provides more public goods depends on the relative strengths of tax competition and market power. 

"Characteristics of Bitcoin users: an analysis of Google search data" (Applied Economics Letters, 2015)

The anonymity of Bitcoin prevents analysis of its users. We collect Google Trends data to examine determinants of interest in Bitcoin. Computer programming and illegal activity search terms are positively correlated with Bitcoin interest, while Libertarian and investment terms are not.

Working Papers

"Effects of Fiscal Policy on Inflation: Implications of Supply Disruptions and Economic Slack," with U. Devrim Demirel (CBO Working Paper Series, 2023; Revise and Resubmit, Economic Inquiry)

"Understanding the Relationship between Changes to Federal Fiscal Policy and Near-Term Real GDP Growth," with Jaeger Nelson (Revise and Resubmit, Public Budgeting and Finance) 

"Municipal Bonds during the COVID-19 Crisis: A Factor Model Approach" (with Andrea Foschi, Dmitriy Stolyarov, and Linda Tesar)

"Government Transfer Programs: Stabilization vs Risk Sharing