JMP: Oolman, Julian "Endogenous Consumption Amenities of the Country Mouse and City Mouse" [draft coming soon]
Abstract: I identify neighborhoods within cities that have consumption bundles identical to remote rural neighborhoods via unsupervised machine learning on 127 "in-person" varieties using cellphone flow data and establishment-matched credit/debit card transaction data. To explain the phenomena, I construct a novel quantitative spatial model with commuting, in-person travel for the 127 varieties, non-homothetic preferences, and firm entry conditions. Utilization of the model requires new estimates of several sets of parameters, including variety travel sensitivities and income elasticities. I then test four separate counterfactuals with the same taxation procedure: a general reduction to income inequality; a place-based reduction to income inequality; a subsidy to business operating costs; and a subsidy to business entry costs. I find operating cost subsidies to be both the least disruptive to "wealthy" workers' consumption bundles and most beneficial to poor urban or rural workers.
Oolman, Julian "Uncovering the Rural-Urban: An Unsupervised Machine Learning Application" [draft coming soon]
Oolman, Julian "How Secular Trends in College Educated Worker Demand Affect Income Inequality" [updated draft coming soon]
Abstract: I examine the relationship between the United States' labor market shift towards high-skilled workers and the increase in city-level income inequality that started in the 1980s. I use the Dotcom bubble as a natural experiment, which is a shock to a subset of high-skilled workers. Using a differential exposure difference-in-differences model, I show that a one percent increase in exposure to the bubble led to a 6% increase in wage inequality and a 9% increase in total personal income inequality at the metropolitan-level and a within metropolitan 5% increase in household inequality at the census tract-level. 50% of the estimate disparity can be explained by capital income. A decomposition suggests that the increase in income inequality was driven more by computer-related employment than wages and that there were spillovers to other industries. Tightly estimated null migration results suggest occupational switching occurred. The null migration result likely explains the tightly estimated null housing market results. The last two findings contradict the literature, which instead uses general shocks to high-skilled labor demand, providing a useful avenue for future research.
(Previous name: John Julian Patrick Wade)
Wade, John J. P. (2016). "The Effect of Health Insurance Expansion on Mortgage Performance," (Resting Paper).
Gilbert, Ben and Wade, John J. P. (2016) "Health Care and the Housing Crisis," Social Science Research Network. available at ssrn.com