Research
Working Papers:
Equipment, Structures, and the Limits of Investment-Specific Technological Change (with Dongkeun Choi)
From Tenancy to Ownership: Land Reform, Productivity, and Human Capital (with Minki Kim)
The Enduring Legacy of Educational Institutions: Evidence from Hyanggyo in Pre-Modern Korea (with Yeonha Jung and Minki Kim)
Minority Inflation, Unemployment, and Monetary Policy (with Claudia Macaluso and Felipe Schwartzman), revise and resubmit at American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics
Government Purchases and Firm Growth, revise and resubmit at American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
The Plant-Level View of an Industrial Policy: The Korean Heavy Industry Drive of 1973 (with Minho Kim and Yongseok Shin), conditionally accepted at Review of Economics and Statistics
Inferring Prices from Quantities (with David Argente and Chang-Tai Hsieh), forthcoming at Journal of Political Economy Macroeconomics
Press: Chicago Booth Review, Chicago Booth Review (short)
Publications:
[13] Studying Economic Black Holes: Lessons from North Korea, World Development, Volume 201, May 2026, Article 107315, with Stephan Haggard and Kyoochul Kim.
Press: UC San Diego Today, Helsingin Sanomat, JEP Recommendations for Further Reading, Conversable Economist, VoxDev
[12] Does Turnover Inhibit Specialization? Evidence from a Skill Survey in Peru, American Economic Review: Insights, Vol. 7, No. 1, March 2025, pp.56-70, with Andrea Atencio-De-Leon and Claudia Macaluso.
[11] Allocation of Female Talent and Cross-Country Productivity Differences, Economic Journal, Volume 134, Issue 664, November 2024, pp. 3333–3359.
[10] The US Structural Transformation and Regional Convergence: Racial Heterogeneity, Journal of Applied Econometrics, Volume 39, Issue 6, September/October 2024, pp.1172-1179, with Minki Kim.
[9] The Plant-Level View of Korea's Growth Miracle and Slowdown, Canadian Journal of Economics, Volume 57, Issue 3, August 2024, pp.704-725, with Yongseok Shin.
[8] The Life Cycle of Products: Evidence and Implications, Journal of Political Economy, Volume 132, Number 2, February 2024, pp.337-390 (lead article), with David Argente and Sara Moreira.
Press: LSE Business Review, UC San Diego Today
[7] Measuring the Cost of Living in Mexico and the United States, American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, Vol. 15, No. 3, July 2023, pp.43-63, with David Argente and Chang-Tai Hsieh.
[6] Regional Redistribution through SBA Guaranteed Loan Programs, Journal of Corporate Finance, Volume 78, February 2023, Article 102344, with Churn Ken Lee.
[5] Do Resource Windfalls Improve Standard of Living in sub-Saharan African Countries?, Applied Economics, Volume 55, Issue 9, 2023, pp.944-962, with Cheikh Anta Gueye.
[4] The Cost of Privacy: Welfare Effects of the Disclosure of COVID-19 Cases, Review of Economics and Statistics, Volume 104, Issue 1, January 2022, pp.176-186, with David Argente and Chang-Tai Hsieh.
Press: KPBS (audio), New York Times, Washington Post, Fast Company, UC Newsroom, Chicago Booth Review
[3] COVID-19, Commuting Flows, and Air Quality, Journal of Asian Economics, Volume 77, December 2021, Article 101374, with Rachel Finerman.
[2] Cost of Living Inequality during the Great Recession, Journal of the European Economic Association, Volume 19, Issue 2, April 2021, pp.913-952, with David Argente.
Press: Philadelphia Inquirer, Speech by Governor Lael Brainard, Biden-Harris Economic Blueprint
[1] Innovation and Product Reallocation in the Great Recession, Journal of Monetary Economics, Volume 93, January 2018, pp.1-20 (lead article), with David Argente and Sara Moreira.
Book Chapters and Other Publications:
[4] South Korea’s future fund needs a finish line, East Asia Forum, October 2026.
[3] The K-Beauty Trinity: Manufacturing, Logistics, and the Rise of the Indie Brand, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, April 2026.
Press: Dallas News, Spiegel
[2] Introduction to the Special Issue on Population, Aging, and the Economy, KDI Journal of Economic Policy, February 2026, Vol. 48, No. 1, pp.1-4.
[1] High-Skill Immigration, Innovation, and Creative Destruction, In: The Roles of Immigrants and Foreign Students in US Science, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship. University of Chicago Press, February 2020, pp.73-98, with Gaurav Khanna
Press: CBS 8, Fox 5, San Diego Union Tribune, Dice Insights, Bloomberg, UC Newsroom
Federal Reserve Bank Policy Notes:
[4] Understanding the Lack of Skill Specialization in Peru, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Economic Brief, No. 24-29, August 2024, with Andrea Atencio De Leon and Claudia Macaluso.
[3] Do Black Households Face Higher and More Volatile Inflation?, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Economic Brief, No. 22-25, July 2022.
Press: ABC 10 (video), WPFW (audio), NBC 7, Fox 5, KPBS, Bloomberg, MarketWatch, Newsweek, UC Newsroom
[2] Cost of Living Inequality beyond the Great Recession, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Presentation Brief, April 2022, with David Argente.
Press: CNN Business
[1] Price Volatility Faced by Black and White Households, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Presentation Brief, April 2022, with Claudia Macaluso and Felipe Schwartzman.
Press: Wall Street Journal, CNN, NBC News, Defender
Book Reviews:
[1] Shrimp to Whale: South Korea from the Forgotten War to K-Pop, Journal of Asian Studies, Volume 83, Issue 2, May 2024, pp.482-483.