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Contact Information
Senior Research Economist
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
E-mail: todd.schoellman@gmail.com
Employment
2018 - Senior Research Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
2023 Visiting Professor, Ohio State University (Spring)
2017-2018 Senior Scholar, Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
2010-2017 Assistant Professor, Arizona State University
2007-2010 Assistant Professor, Clemson University
Professional Affiliations
Associate Editor, Quarterly Journal of Economics, January 2026 -
Associate Editor, Journal of Political Economy, September 2025 -
Treasurer, Society for Economic Dynamics, August 2022 -
Editor, Review of Economic Dynamics, August 2022 -
Associate Editor, Review of Economic Dynamics, February 2020 – August 2022
Associate Editor, Journal of Human Capital, March 2023 -
Editorial Board, American Economics Journal: Macroeconomics, January 2020–
Education
2007 PhD in Economics, Stanford University
2002 B.S. in Economics, Ohio State University
Working Papers
Accounting for Cross-Country Income Differences Revisited
with D. Lagakos. January 2026.
Labor Market Anatomy of a Macroeconomic Crisis
with K. Donovan, J. Pedtke and W. Lu. October 2024. Revise and resubmit, Journal of Monetary Economics.
Economic Development According to Chandler
with N. Engbom, H. Malmberg, T. Porzio, and F. Rossi. November 2025.
Household Insurance Around the World
with A. Bacher, K. Donovan, P. Grübener, and L. Nord
Structural Transformation by Cohort
with B. Hobijn and A. Vindas, November 2018.
Published and Forthcoming Papers
The Missing Middle Managers: Labor Costs, Firm Structure, and Development
with J. Hjort and H. Malmberg, Conditionally accepted at American Economic Review: Insights. Online appendix.
The Global Distribution of College Graduate Quality
with P. Martellini and J. Sockin, Journal of Political Economy, 2024, 132(2), 434-483. Estimates of College Graduate Quality, Global Colleges
The Role of Labor Market Frictions in Structural Transformation
with K. Donovan, Oxford Development Studies, 2023, 51(4), 362-374.
Labor Market Dynamics and Development
with K. Donovan and W. Lu, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2023, 138(4), 2287-2325. Online appendix, LFS Project website, Slides, VoxDev Talks podcast
Skilled Labor Productivity and Cross-country Income Differences
with L. Hendricks, American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 2023, 15(1), 240-268.
College Quality and Attendance Patterns: A Long-Run View
with C. Herrington and L. Hendricks, American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 2021, 13(1), 184-215. Slides, Online appendix and replication materials
Life-Cycle Human Capital Accumulation Across Countries: Lessons from U.S. Immigrants
with D. Lagakos, B. Moll, T. Porzio, and N. Qian, Journal of Human Capital, 2018, 12(2), 305-342. Data for experience profiles in figure 2.
Human Capital and Development Accounting: New Evidence from Wage Gains at Migration
with L. Hendricks, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2018, 133(2), 665-700. Slides and online appendix.
Life-Cycle Wage Growth Across Countries
with D. Lagakos, B. Moll, T. Porzio, and N. Qian, Journal of Political Economy, 2018, 126(2), 797-849. Slides, Data for experience profiles, Stata program that computes experience profiles.
Wages, Human Capital, and Barriers to Structural Transformation
with B. Herrendorf, American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 2018, 10(2), 1-23. Replication materials .
Early Childhood Human Capital and Development
American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 2016, 8(3), 145-174. Replication materials , online appendix, corrigendum.
Why is Measured Productivity so Low in Agriculture?
with B. Herrendorf, Review of Economic Dynamics, 2015, 18(4), 1003-1022.
with N. Kuminoff and C. Timmins, Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 2015, 9(2), 198-218. Longer working paper version
Student Abilities During the Expansion of U.S. Education
with L. Hendricks, Journal of Monetary Economics, 2014, 63(2), 19-36. Slides, Online appendix.
Families as Roommates: Changes in U.S. Household Size from 1850 to 2000
with A. Salcedo and M. Tertilt, Quantitative Economics, 2012, 3(1), 133-175.
Education Quality and Development Accounting
Review of Economic Studies, 2012, 79(1), 388-417. Slides, data and online appendix , and a brief note explaining how to obtain development accounting results with only assumptions on the aggregate production function; thanks to Antonio Ciccone for suggesting this.
The Occupations and Human Capital of U.S. Immigrants
Journal of Human Capital, 2010, 4(1), 1-34.
Marriage Laws and Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa
with M. Tertilt, American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings, 2006, 96(2), 295-298.
Research in Progress
The Global Job Ladder
with P. Martellini and J. Sockin
Recent Seminars
2026: St. Louis Fed, Carlos III, CEMFI (all planned)
2025: Carnegie Mellon, Atlanta Fed, Penn State, Seoul National University
2024: Columbia, Wisconsin, Richmond Fed, Mannheim, EIEF, Hong Kong University
2023: Georgia, UC - Irvine, Johns Hopkins - SAIS, Yale, NYU, Monash, Melbourne, University of New South Wales, Ohio State
2022: Connecticut, VAMS, Duke, Edinburgh, EUI, Autonoma de Barcelona, Toronto Metropolitan
2021: Tsinghua, Central Bank of Chile, Williams, Colby, ESADE, Carnegie Mellon
2020: Clemson, Bank of Canada, Brown, Princeton, Iowa State, York University, McGill
2019: World Bank, UC - San Diego
Recent Conference Presentations
2026: STEG Annual Conference, UCSD Micro-to-Macro Development Workshop (planned)
2025: Philadelphia Macro Workshop, SED, IDB Macro-Development Workshop
2024: STEG Annual Conference, Exeter Workshop on Structural Transformation, Migration & Organizations Conference, Chicago Fed Growth and Development Conference, SED, Planned: Dynare Conference Singapore (Keynote Speaker)
2023: Washington University Growth & Development Conference, LAEF 2nd Annual Labor Market and Macroeconomic Outcomes, SED
2022: Conference on the Impact of Immigrants on Productivity, Firms, and Human Capital, Richmond Fed, SED, NBER Growth meeting, Herrendorf Memorial Conference
2021: SED, Human Capital Conference at St. Louis Fed
2019: SED, Cowles Conference on Macroeconomics, Vienna Macro Cafe, Temple Macro-Growth Workshop
PhD Advising
Alberto Rivera-Padilla (2019, CSU-Fullerton)
Alex Rivadeneira (2019, Banco de Mexico)
Minjuan Sun (2018, Future-Moves Group)
Rishabh Sinha (2015, World Bank Research Division)
PhD Committee
Bipul Verma (planned 2026)
Jacob Wright (planned 2026)
Katerina Gribbin (2025, Reserve Bank of Australia)
Joseph Pedtke (2024, Clemson)
Sean Bassler (2024, Amazon)
Joao Fonseca Rodrigues (2022, Amazon)
Vladimir Smirnyagin (2020, Yale SOM Postdoc)
David Bradley (2019, Analysis Group)
Ryan Wessel (2017, LDS Institute of Religion)
Adam Blandin (2016, Virginia Commonwealth University)
Xican Xi (2016, Fudan University)
Andy Ge (2015, Chinese Security Regulatory Committee)
Jaehan Cho (2014, Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade)
Chris Herrington (2013, University of South Alabama)
Kevin Donovan (2013, Notre Dame)
Paul Schreck (2011, analyst position at Minneapolis Fed)
Teaching Experience
PhD: Growth and Development Topics Course
MBA: Macro/International
Undergraduate: Principles of Macro, Intermediate Macro, Growth and Development, International, Trade
Recent Discussions
“Unequal Global Convergence" by Chatterjee, Giannone, Kleineberg, Kuno, and Looser (NBER EFEG, Summer 2025)
"The Long-Term Distributional and Welfare Consequences of Covid-19 School Closures" by Fuchs-Schundeln, Krueger, Ludwig, and Popova (CHCS Employment Conference, Fall 2020)
"Accounting for Cross-Country Income Differences: New Evidence from Multinational Firms" by Alviarez, Cravino, and Ramondo (NBER EFEG, Summer 2020)
"Labor Market Search, Informality and Schooling Investments" by Bobba, Flabbi, and Levy (Y-Rise 2019)
"Migration Costs and Observational Returns to Rural-Urban Migration" by Lagakos, Marshall, Mobarak, Waugh, and Vernot (Carnegie-Rochester 2019)
"Selection and Absolute Advantage in Farming and Entrepreneurship: Microeconomic Evidence and Macroeconomic Implications" by Alvarez-Cuadrado, Amodio, and Poschke (CMSG 2019)
"Occupational Choice and the Dynamics of Human Capital, Inequality and Growth" by Dvorkin and Monge-Naranjo (System Committee Meeting on Macroeconomics, Spring 2019)
"Skilled Immigration, Firms, and Policy" by Mehra (NBER IFM Meeting, Winter 2019)