Research
Working Papers
“Coase in the Coal Fields? Historical Property Institutions in Appalachia and Long-Run Development"
Draft Coming Soon!
Selected Works in Progress
“Low-Cost Access to Bankruptcy” (with Stephanie Ben-Ishai, Zachary Irving, Sheisha Kulkarni)
Pre-analysis Plan Coming Soon!
Abstract: By relieving individuals from crippling debt, bankruptcy has been shown to increase homeownership, annual earnings, employment, and promote the creation of new businesses. In addition to improving filers’ future financial outcomes, bankruptcy may also improve psychological wellbeing by relieving financial stress. However, despite the benefits that insolvency offers, many low-income debtors lack access to bankruptcy due to costs, technological barriers, and stigma. We conduct, to our knowledge, the first Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) to examine whether lowering the financial barriers to insolvency improves access to this important financial institution for low-income debtors. We will use our RCT to achieve three aims: 1) Estimate a demand curve for bankruptcy and use this curve to estimate the effects of bankruptcy reforms on economic welfare, 2) determine the effects of low-cost bankruptcy on long-term credit and financial outcomes, 3) test whether bankruptcy alleviates the psychological effects of poverty on mental health, life satisfaction, and moment-to-moment experience and happiness. In partnership with a licensed insolvency trustee (LIT) in Canada, we randomly subsidize potential filers with $1,000 toward bankruptcy or consumer proposal filing fees. A separate treatment arm will offer debtors a surprise subsidy after they have decided to file so that we can separately identify income effects from the economic effect of lowering the financial barrier to access bankruptcy. We also use moment-to-moment experience sampling and sub-clinical questionnaires to track participants’ stream of consciousness and mental health throughout the filing process, to determine whether debt relief improves wellbeing by relieving financial stress.
“The Economic Impact of Private Property Rights: Evidence from a Property Titling Program in South Africa”
Abstract: Much of the world’s population lives with insecure property rights. Despite the centrality of property rights in economics, establishing the causal effects of property rights is difficult because of selection into titling programs. I aim to study the impact of access to formal property rights on residential and human capital investment, financial and labor market outcomes, and political engagement by conducting a randomized controlled trial of a property titling program in South Africa.
“Loss Aversion and The Demand for Collateral-backed Loans in Post-Apartheid South Africa”
Abstract: One of the most promising mechanisms through which formalization of property rights has been thought to improve household economic conditions is as a means to access capital through collateral-backed loans. However, most empirical studies have been unable to show that formal titling efforts have increased the usage of collateral-backed loans and suggest that supply-side constraints may help explain this behavior. Demand-side constraints, on the other hand, have been relatively unexplored. I propose a randomized controlled trial among participants of a property titling program in South Africa to test whether loss aversion might be an important, yet previously unexplored, explanation for why new title holders are hesitant to leverage their new titles to access collateral-backed loans.
“The Environmental and Economic Effects of Mountaintop Removal Mining in Central Appalachia” (with W. Ben Chenault)
Abstract: Natural resource extraction can dramatically alter landscapes, affecting local hydrology and flood risk. Mountaintop Removal Mining (MTR) is an invasive form of coal mining, having altered 1.2 million acres of land and buried more than 2,000 miles of streams. MTR mining uses explosives to loosen topsoil and bedrock lying above the coal seams. This removed material, "overburden", is displaced to fill adjacent valleys which dramatically alters local topography. We explore how changes in landscapes created by MTR influence flooding in nearby watersheds. We use remotely-sensed data on MTR operations and flooding events in Central Appalachia between 2000 and 2018, exploiting variation in mining activity across space and time. We consider welfare implications using data on property values.
“Steering in Bargaining Models: Evidence from Bankruptcy Filings” (with Jenna Blochowicz)