Research

Abstract: How should zoning policy protect children from local disamenities? I answer this question using minimum-distance buffers between cannabis retailers and schools in Los Angeles, combining hyperlocal reduced-form evidence with a spatial entry model. Linking administrative data on 600,000 LAUSD students to geocoded retailer openings, I estimate event-study designs with student and zipcode-by-semester fixed effects. Retailer openings near schools increase drug-related suspensions and reduce GPA, with effects concentrated within 0.5 miles; these effects nearly double after California’s 2017 recreational legalization and are amplified in high-suspension peer environments. To capture displacement toward students’ homes under tighter school buffers, I further estimate neighborhood exposure effects, which are concentrated within 0.3 miles and roughly half as large. Long-run estimates show school exposure reduces high school graduation by 1.2 pp and college enrollment by 1.0 pp; neighborhood exposure reduces these by 0.4 and 0.5 pp. Embedding these estimates in a spatial location-choice model, I evaluate policies by net human-capital gains minus foregone tax revenue. The welfare-maximizing buffer is 0.5 miles, yielding $251.0M in human-capital gains and $112.7M in net welfare over the current 600-feet rule. A Pigouvian tax calibrated to the estimated externality generates $210.5M in net welfare while preserving greater fiscal revenue.

Conference: 1st Human Capital Conference (TSE, scheduled); Southern Economic Association (SEA, scheduled)

Abstract:  U.S. immigration enforcement has surged in salience since 2025, raising renewed concerns about its broader consequences for local communities. We combine geocoded ICE records with high-frequency foot-traffic and card-spending data from 2025--2026 to provide the first event-level causal estimates of these community-wide costs. Our results show that ICE operations reduce nearby foot traffic by 1.61 percent. Declines occur after both contact and non-contact operations, are largest near education facilities and worker-intensive establishments, and are not offset by geographic substitution. These disruptions extend to economic and residential margins: offline card spending falls by 5.87 percent, with no detectable online offset, while residential mobility falls by 7.42 percent. Mobility declines are significant across Hispanic, Black, and White neighborhoods, but are especially persistent in Hispanic areas. Per-establishment community-side losses total $196,527 per month, about eleven times the DHS fiscal-cost benchmark. A spatial logit model finds that restoring sensitive-location protections recovers 41.2 percent of destination-level welfare losses, compared with 22.2 percent from replacing contact enforcement with non-contact operations.

Conference: Economics of Race, Racism, and Structural Inequality (Duke University)

Abstract: We investigate how targeted groups react politically to racially motivated hate crimes within their communities. Combining incident-level administrative data on hate crimes in Los Angeles County from 2014 to 2022 with individual voter files, we exploit the hyperlocal variation in the geography and timing of these crimes. We find that serious anti-Hispanic hate crimes increase voter turnout among nearby Hispanics by 1.6 percentage points compared to nearby Whites. Communities with dense Hispanic populations and Hispanic advocacy and community service organizations are primarily responsible for this mobilization effect. Moreover, we demonstrate that hate crimes are associated with shifts in voters' policy preferences, particularly in the areas of crime prevention and affirmative action. Despite this, we do not find any significant differences in political participation among Black and Asian American communities following anti-Black and anti-Asian hate crimes, respectively. Los Angeles County's large Hispanic population and extensive network of community organizations may play an important role in fostering mobilization.

Conference: 2025 European Society for Population Economics (ESPE), 2025 APSA Annual Meeting