Chaewon Kim

• Abstract

We explore the role of demographic changes as a determinant of real exchange rates (RER). Demographic shifts alter saving and investment behaviors and demand for tradables and non-tradables, thus influencing RER trends in ways standard macroeconomic factors do not fully capture. Estimating a panel cointegration model of 84 countries from 1970 to 2022 embedded with four demographic variables—old-age dependency ratio, fertility rate, life expectancy, and immigration—we assess how each dimension of demographic change has been associated with RERs. Based on the United Nations World Population Prospects and the in-sample estimated coefficients, we make projections for the RER of each economy up to 2050. The RER of a faster-aging economy is expected to appreciate in the long run, mainly through an increasing old-age dependency ratio.

• Presentations 

BSE Summer Forum (2025), 12th IAAE (2025), 18th Joint Economics Symposium of Six Leading East Asian Universities (2025)

• Abstract

Innovation depends not only on the creation of new ideas but also on their effective dissemination. While trade, migration, and digital communication have been extensively studied as conduits for knowledge diffusion, the role of air travel—particularly in enabling face-to-face interactions that facilitate the transfer of complex and tacit knowledge—remains comparatively understudied. A central challenge in evaluating the causal effect of physical connectivity on knowledge flows lies in identifying plausibly exogenous variation in global mobility networks. This paper addresses this gap by leveraging geopolitical airspace closures as natural experiments that induce exogenous shocks to international flight routes and associated travel costs. I use these disruptions to examine how reductions in air connectivity influence cross-border knowledge diffusion, as proxied by international patent citations. My empirical analysis reveals that increased travel distances due to airspace closures significantly reduce patent citations between affected country pairs, with the effect being particularly pronounced in knowledge-intensive and complex technological domains. These findings offer novel causal evidence that physical infrastructure shapes the geography of innovation and reveal the vulnerability of global knowledge flows to geopolitical shocks.

• Presentations 

Korea-Japan Joint Economics Seminar (2025)

• Abstract

While ride-hailing platforms like Uber have transformed urban mobility, their broader labor-market effects outside professional driving remain poorly understood. We provide new evidence on how Uber’s expansion of passenger mobility affects workers’ earnings. Using 2007–2017 Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) data aggregated to the MSA level, we implement a staggered difference-in-differences design to estimate the impact of Uber’s entry on earnings and wages among workers in non-driving occupations. To identify the role of enhanced passenger mobility, we compare carless workers with those who have household vehicle access and examine gender-based heterogeneity. Uber’s entry is associated with shifts in commuting mode shares among carless workers. Earnings and wages rise more for carless men than for comparable car-owning men, largely due to increases in hours worked. Carless women, however, gain access to higher-paying jobs located farther from home but show no significant change in overall earnings, possibly because they reduce working hours. Together, these findings reveal asymmetric labor market consequences of platform-driven mobility and highlight how transportation access and gender jointly shape economic outcomes.

• Presentations 

11th JSC Economics Student Workshop (2024), Yonsei Applied Microeconomics Reading Group (2025), Yonsei-Keio Economics Graduate Workshop (2025)

• Abstract

We revisit the distributional consequences of U.S. monetary policy with newly available high-frequency data containing information on both the wealth and income of the so-called super-rich. Using newly available high-frequency U.S. wealth share data containing information about the far-right tail of the distribution and considering different aspects of monetary policy, we revisit the relationship between monetary policy and wealth inequality. We argue that the lack of consensus on this relationship is largely driven by missing out on different factors embedded in the monetary policy. Once we differentiate these factors, we find that unconventional monetary easing (driven by large-scale asset purchases or forward guidance) raises wealth inequality in the United States by mainly boosting stock prices. In contrast, accommodative interest rate-based monetary policy counteracts this force by reducing wealth concentration at the top by increasing the price of housing, which has much broader ownership than stocks.

• Presentations 

11th ECINEQ Conference (2025), ICEE PSU Altoona (2025)

• Abstract

We study who stabilizes foreign exchange (FX) markets when global financial conditions tighten. Extending Gardberg (2022), we (i) analyze both exchange rate levels and volatility; (ii) decompose net external positions into gross assets and liabilities; (iii) split positions across public, banks, and non-bank private (NBFI + nonfinancial corporate) sectors; and (iv) explicitly model international reserves as policy buffers. Using monthly local projections on a panel of up to 50 currencies (1996-2022), we show that gross assets dampen, liabilities amplify, the dynamic response of FX levels and volatility to global financial shocks. Sectorally, private actors---especially non-bank private---repatriate external assets and stabilize, whereas public sector flows often move in the opposite direction. Reserve buffers reduce both depreciation and volatility after global financial shocks, with more muted level effects for US monetary policy shocks. Our results highlight the importance of gross balance sheet structure and sectoral composition for FX market resilience.