Journal Publications
Urban Regeneration Projects and Crime: Evidence from Glasgow (with Gennaro Rossi), Journal of Economic Geography, December 2023 [Final Version][Online Appendix]
Early-Years Multi-Grade Classes and Pupil Attainment (with Markus Gehrsitz, Stuart McIntyre, Gennaro Rossi and Graeme Roy), Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, May 2023 [Final Version] [Code] [Summary] Media Coverage: TES, SCADR Data Insights, BBC Scotland, The Times
The Impact of Housing Subsidy Cuts on the Labour Market Outcomes of Claimants: Evidence from England, Journal of Housing Economics, August 2022 [Final Version]
Limiting the Distortionary Effects of Transaction Taxes: Scottish Stamp Duty after the Mirrlees Review, Fiscal Studies, May 2021 [Final Version] [Online Appendix] [Blog]
A Case Study on Germany's Aviation Tax Using the Synthetic Control Approach, Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 126, August 2019 [Final Version] [Online Appendix]
Working Papers
Demining, Development, and Dispossession (with Mathias Buhler, Joris Mueller, and Jonathan Norris)
Landmine clearance restores the productive value of contaminated land, promising economic development. However, clearance also sparks competition over the land where war has left ownership claims unclear. What happens to the land once it is demined, and who captures the benefits? We address this question in Cambodia, historically one of the most mine-contaminated countries in the world, using a staggered difference- in-differences design on a commune panel from 1992 to 2014. Clearance raises the probability that a commune contains a large-scale land concession to more than five times its pre-clearance level, assigning the land to private companies. At the same time, local development gains as measured by nightlights are small. These averages hide two divergent outcomes, separated by how well local claims to the land were recorded by the time of clearance. Where records are widespread, cleared communes light up by 4.7 percentage points and household consumption rises by roughly a third. Where they are rare, land concessions and disputes rise, while development and household consumption gains are close to zero. Post-conflict reconstruction that recovers land but not the records of who holds it risks dispossessing the communities who depend on it.
R&R at the Journal of Health Economics
Recreational marijuana legalization (RML) eases adult access, but users at different ages face different consequences. Using difference-in-differences imputation on state-year-age-group panels from 2003 to 2024, we estimate RML effects on mental health, behavior, and labor markets. Young adults increase marijuana use more than older adults following RMLs. The average mental health effect is null, masking a sharp age asymmetry. Adults under 25 report more poor mental health days, exercise less, and experience more long-term unemployment. Adults over 50 report less joint pain, exercise more, and show income gains. Two age-specific channels explain the pattern: neurodevelopment and pain management.
Media coverage: VoxEU
R&R at the Journal of Economic Geography
School closures occur regularly, driven by declining performance, depopulation, and building safety concerns, yet little is known about their effect on local crime. We study the impact of permanent school closures on neighbourhood crime in Scotland between 2006/07 and 2018/19, using a staggered difference-in-differences design. Our results show that affected neighbourhoods experience a crime reduction of about 10% of a standard deviation relative to areas where schools remained open, driven mainly by falls in vandalism and property crimes. We provide evidence on several mechanisms, including changes in neighbourhood composition and displacement of crime-prone youth.
Work in Progress
From Emergency Rooms to Safer Streets: Evaluating the Impact of the Navigator Programme on Crime (with Otto Lenhart, Agnese Romiti, and Gennaro Rossi)
The Heterogeneous Effects of Delayed School Start: Evidence from Multiple School Entry Margins (with Markus Gehrsitz, Sam Grant, Stuart McIntyre, and Graeme Roy)