My research examines how economic shocks, institutions, and technological change affect workers, households, firms, and financial markets. Many of these projects rely on datasets I have built [see Data & Projects].
My research examines how economic shocks, institutions, and technological change affect workers, households, firms, and financial markets. Many of these projects rely on datasets I have built [see Data & Projects].
Research Portfolio
Banking access and crypto participation: Evidence from India’s crypto ban
With Matt Flynn and Anish Shankar Menon
Uses India’s crypto banking ban and reversal to study how banking access shapes retail participation in cryptocurrency markets.
Status: Published in Finance Research Letters, 2026 [Journal Link]
Evolution of Financial Advisory Markets with the Advent of Robo-Advisors
Examines how the entry of robo-advisors reshapes financial advisory markets. Shows how technological innovation transforms intermediation and influences the behavior of traditional advisors.
Status: Published in Managerial Finance, 2025 [Journal Link]
Automation and High-Skill Labor Markets: Evidence from Robo-Advisors
With Matt Flynn
Studies the labor market effects of robo-advisors on financial advisors. Finds that automation is complementary, driven by an expansion in demand for advisory services.
Status: Submitted to Journal
Two Faces of Political Violence: State Conflict, Civilian Insecurity, and Cryptocurrency Demand
With Matt Flynn & Yifan Liu
Analyzes how political violence shapes cryptocurrency participation across countries. Shows that activity falls during state conflict but rises with civilian insecurity, highlighting crypto’s dual role as speculation and a store of value.
Status: Submitted to Journal
Where Gender Gaps Arise: Firm Complaint Handling, Arbitration, and Customer Recovery
With Ivilina Popova
Examines gender differences in financial misconduct cases across complaint and arbitration stages. Shows that disparities emerge primarily during formal dispute resolution rather than at the incidence stage.
Status: Draft
Creditor Rights and Relationship Dependence: Evidence from India's Bankruptcy Reform
With Matt Flynn & Anish Shankar Menon
Analyzes how India’s Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) affects credit access for distressed firms. Finds that lending increases through existing bank relationships without expanding access to new lenders, highlighting persistent informational frictions.
Status: Draft
Workplace Visibility and a Hidden Gendered Time Burden: Evidence from Personal Time Use
With Matt Flynn & Leyuan You
Studies whether gender differences in appearance-related effort reflect preferences or context. Using COVID-19 as a natural experiment, shows that these efforts are context-dependent, with women reallocating time toward work and sleep.
Status: Draft
Political Turnover and the Regulatory Enforcement Pipeline: Evidence from Corporate Misconduct
With Yifan Liu
Studies how political turnover affects corporate misconduct by changing firms’ expectations about enforcement and regulatory priorities.
Status: Draft
Do Financial Advisers Respond to Local Disasters? Evidence on Demand and Supply
Examines how natural disasters reshape local financial-advice markets by affecting both advisor supply and household demand, with implications for complaints and misconduct risk.
Status: Draft
The Motherhood Time Budget: Employment, Home Production, and Time Reallocation
Examines how motherhood affects women’s time use, with a focus on market work and household production.
Status: Draft
Hurricanes and Household Bankruptcy
With Quazi Fidia Farah
Examines how hurricanes affect household bankruptcy filings across local areas. The project studies how disaster exposure interacts with local economic conditions, housing markets, and recovery capacity.
Status: Draft
Business Subsidies and Local Employment
Examines whether business subsidies generate local employment using newly constructed data on subsidy awards.
Status: Draft
From Shadow Banks to Banks: Recurring Credit Transitions in India
Examines borrower movement between non-bank financial companies and banks using Indian secured-charge records. Finds that these transitions reflect recurring credit relationships rather than crisis-driven substitution, with no exceptional migration to banks after the September 2018 IL&FS collapse.
Status: Draft
Work in Progress
Natural Disasters and Labor Market Dynamics
How county hiring and separations respond to weather events, 2005–2025. The underlying county-quarter panel is publicly released through Texas State Dataverse. [Data Link]
Workforce Recovery after the 2025 Central Texas Floods
With Hays-Caldwell Economic Development Partnership
Tracks how employer hiring demand in Central Texas changed after the July 2025 floods using job-postings data, giving local partners timely evidence on which industries and occupations are recovering.
Credit Unions and Local Lending after Natural Disasters
Studies how credit unions adjust funding and lending after natural disasters, and how regulatory limits on capital and borrowing shape their response.
Risk Disclosure and Firm Labor Demand
Studies how disaster shocks change the way firms describe risk in their 10-K filings, and whether those changes show up in their hiring.
Robo-Advisors and Investor Welfare
Studies whether robo-advisor entry changes the portfolios held by advisory firms and the misconduct of human advisors, using these as two measures of what automation means for investors.