Research
I am broadly interested in the economic history of Eastern Europe in the late 19th and 20th centuries. My current research agenda is to explore growth, innovation and development patterns to build a picture of how this understudied region fared in recent history as a result of different political shocks, and possibly to evaluate paths forward.
Peer-Reviewed Publications
“Modernization in Progress: Part-Year Operation, Capital Accumulation, and Labor Force Composition in Late Imperial Russia” (with Amanda Gregg) [2022, Journal of Economic History] [Link]
Runner-up for Arthur H. Cole Prize in Journal of Economic History for the best article in the previous year's volume (2023).
Abstract: This paper investigates part-year factory operation, a common but understudied dimension ofindustrializing economies, in a prototypical late-industrializing setting that offers rich factory-level data: Imperial Russia.Newly compiled data provides detailed descriptions of all Russian manufacturing firms operating in 1894 and shows that factories operating a greater number of annual working days were more mechanized, more urban, more likely to employ women and children, more productive, and more likely to survive. Rather than arguing that part-year operation demonstrated Russia’s uniquely inexorable backwardness, we stress operating time’s relationship to fundamental drivers of growth including urbanization, geography, and institutions.
Working Papers
"Culture, Economic Stress, and Missing Girls" (with Viktor Malein and Francisco Beltrán Tapia) [CEPR Discussion Paper DP18761] [Link]
Works In Progress
“Fertility and Child Mortality in Late Imperial Russia”
“Cultural Links and Technology Diffusion: Evidence from Industry in Late Imperial Russia” with Timur Natkhov
"Improvements in Urban Sanitation and Child Mortality Decline: the case of the Russian Empire" with Viktor Malein