Home

Hi and thanks for visiting my website! 

I'm an applied microeconomist mainly interested in how to have an effective, high-performing public sector within a polarized democracy. Much of my work studies the criminal justice related arms of the US government, and focuses on the challenges that arise through polarization and politicization of these key government responsibilities. More broadly, I'm interested in labor economics, political economy, inequality, and methods of causal inference. My most controversial opinion is that St. Louis is a cool city, I know more about the history of Swedish death metal than about most other topics, and my kids are cuter and more fun than any economics paper I've met yet. 

I am an Assistant Professor at Stockholm IIES (which you can follow on Twitter or whatever its called: @IIES_Sthlm). I received my PhD in economics from UC San Diego in 2017. If you're interested in my work, I'd love to hear from you! I can be reached at mitch.downey [at] iies.su.se.