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, absence rates, and reduce GPA, with effects concentrated within 0.5 miles and nearly doubling after California’s 2017 recreational legalization. Nearby blocks also see foot traffic redirected toward alcohol- and tobacco-related businesses and a rise in low-level crime, pointing to a neighborhood disamenity channel beyond any individual student's own use. 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); 2nd Zurich–Oxford Doctoral Symposium on Real Estate Markets (scheduled); Southern Economic Association (SEA, scheduled)

Abstract:  U.S. immigration enforcement has surged since 2025, raising renewed concerns about its consequences for local communities. Combining geocoded ICE records with high-frequency foot-traffic and card-spending data, we provide event-level causal estimates of its effects on local economic activity and mobility. ICE operations reduce nearby foot traffic by 1.61 percent, with significant declines after both contact and non-contact operations and no offsetting spillover within the county. Losses are largest at education facilities and worker-intensive establishments, and the withdrawal carries into spending: offline card transactions fall 5.87 percent with no detectable online offset. Total outside mobility from first-exposed block groups falls 7.42 percent across Hispanic, Black, and White neighborhoods, persisting longest in Hispanic ones and amplified in high-attention White neighborhoods and in sanctuary counties. Community losses reach $162,888 per enforcement event over the following month, roughly nine and a half times the DHS administrative cost per removal. A calibrated spatial logit model shows that restoring sensitive-location protections alone would recover nearly half of destination-channel community costs.

Conference: Economics of Race, Racism, and Structural Inequality (Duke); Urban Economic Association (UEA, scheduled); Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM, scheduled); American Economic Association (ASSA, scheduled)

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