Welcome to my Webpage!
Fourth Year PhD Student at Ohio State University
Greetings from Alexander J. Ryan!
I am a fourth year PhD student at Ohio State in the Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics department. I graduated from John Carroll University in January 2019 with dual majors in economics and finance. Before joining OSU, I interned at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and spent 3 years as a senior associate on KPMG Chicago's Economic & Valuation Services team.
I am currently funded by the Farm Income Enhancement Chair at Ohio State researching access to mortgage capital in rural America and broadly assessing various measures of "rurality" in the US. Through the project, I am collaborating with the Farm Credit Mid America policy team. I also work as a consultant to the American Bankers Association studying residential mortgage markets in the US. When I am away from the office, I enjoy visiting the Columbus Park of Roses, listening to records, playing disc golf or volleyball on the weekends, and binging Bolatro.
Education
Ohio State University (Columbus, OH)
M.S.: Applied Economics
August 2022 - May 2024
John Carroll University (Cleveland, OH)
Majors: Economics and Finance
August 2015 - Decemver 2018
August 2015 - Decemver 2018
Overall GPA: 3.85 | Major GPAs (Economics & Finance): 3.85
Member of JCU Honors Program
Dean's list all 7 semesters
Recipient of the Economic Department’s Omicron Delta Epsilon Award, which is awarded to the top student in the junior class
Invited to join the Jesuit Honor Society (Alpha Sigma Nu) and the Business Honor Society (Beta Gamma Sigma)
Certifications
Certified Business Economist®
National Association for Business Economists
January 2020
Volunteer Activity
Late Night Scholarships Inc.
Founder and Trustee
February 2020 - present
Founded the 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation to offer scholarships for high achieving students in Northeast Ohio and coordinate an alumni network/mentoring program for student applicants.
Designed the unique online scholarship web-based application and manages fundraising campaigns that collect over $1,500 in annual donations for the organization's scholarship award.
Organizes the selection of three annual scholarship recipients by coordinating with 35+ donors to select the top applicants.
Massillon Girls Flag Football Booster Club
Treasurer
February 2025 - present
Treasurer for the inaugural season of the Massillon High School girl's flag football team.
Fayetteville Mafia Press
Financial Analyst
February 2020 - present
Assists Fayetteville Mafia Press, a small publishing company, with preparing monthly financial reports. I have automated most of this process by designing a program that performs financial analysis on monthly reports generated by FMP's distributor.
Discusses pricing strategies and marketing campaigns with the FMP founders/executives.
Publications/Books
Working Papers
Financial Risks in Flooding: Bank Response to Climate-Induced Natural Disasters
Spring 2023
To assist regulators and policymakers in monitoring climate-related risks in the financial system, I study whether banks are tailoring their mortgage lending strategy to manage the risk of rising occurrences of flood natural disaster events. Using a novel quasi-experimental research design, this study seeks to determine whether financial institutions reduce financial exposure to communities with high flood disaster risk by either reducing residential mortgage originations or increasing mortgage sales. My empirical strategy expands the existing literature which has not explicitly incorporated information on ex ante flood risk within a county into the bank decision-making process. Results suggest that the average mortgage lender reduces access to credit after natural disasters with no evidence that lenders increases mortgage originations and sales in response to disasters. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that smaller and larger federally regulated banks have weaker responses to disasters compared to intermediate banks, where federally regulated intermediate banks have the highest propensity to reduce lending in nondisaster years. Intermediate banks also decrease sale rates in communities with higher disaster risk. These results provide evidence that while some banks include climate-related financial risks in their risk management frameworks, others may rely on geographical diversification or stronger monitoring mechanisms to mitigate risks. I support ongoing efforts by financial regulators to monitor climaterelated financial risks which will become more poignant as the trend in climate-induced natural disasters increases over time. I expect to finalize a draft and begin the review/publication process in January 2025.
The Small Bank Advantage: The Impact of Community Banks and Place-Based Policies on Small Business Development
Fall 2026
The Small Bank Advantage: A Spatial Equilibrium Model
Winter 2026
Agricultural Management Practices and Water Pollution: An Application to the Maumee River Watershed (with Dr. Yongyang Cai)
Winter 2026
Agricultural Management Practices and Water Pollution: An Application to the Maumee River Watershed (with Dr. Yongyang Cai)
Winter 2026
Technical Skills
Econometrics
Python, R, STATA
Structural Modeling
MATLAB, GAMS
Data Analysis
Python, R, MS Office Suite,Alteryx