Current Working Papers
"It’s Not Easy Being A Green Party: Green Politics as a Normal Good" (with Melanie Khamis)
An extensive body of literature shows that voters often credit or blame ruling political parties for economic successes and failures, respectively. This paper presents a related, but new possibility: whether local economic conditions impact Green party electoral outcomes. According to the environmental Kuznets curve, high-income countries will see decreased environmental degradation as they become wealthier, but it is yet to be seen whether this relationship is carried over to environmentally friendly political parties. Using a panel data set that includes over 250 elections from 26 European countries, we find that elections held during times of economic growth benefit the vote share that Green parties win. This effect is especially robust for national elections, as opposed to elections for the European Parliament. The magnitudes are large enough to potentially alter the number of seats Green parties have in national legislatures. This gives evidence that Green parties are most likely to gain seats when the economy is growing, and provides support for the existence of an environmental Kuznets curve.
"Easy A: Grade Inflation Across Majors" (with Greg Madonia)
Grade inflation is a major concern in higher education. Over the past several decades, the average grade given at most universities has steadily risen. Using data from the University of Colorado Boulder, we chart the average grade given in every department, and how those grades have changed over time.
"Wildfires and Migration" (with Kevin Suprono)
This paper seeks to quantify the relationship between wildfires in California and migration. As the climate warms and California becomes more arid, it is expected that the number and intensity of wildfires in California will increase. It is important to find if there is a connection between these fires and migration. Using a fixed effects model to isolate time invariant county characteristics, we find that fires increase the total flow of migration in and out of an affected county. This provides evidence that even in the presence of wildfires, the property market ultimately clears, and the population changes in composition but not size.