Research
PhD Candidate at Ohio State University
PhD Candidate at Ohio State University
To assist policymakers and economic developers in measuring the effectiveness of using firm-specific incentives to attract large manufacturing investments and catalyze broader economic development, I study the role of access to community bank capital in catalyzing spillovers from large manufacturing plants to small business development. I construct a novel dataset of large manufacturing plant openings between 2010 and 2018 and estimate the impact of these openings on small business lending, creation, and expansion in the local economy, using difference-in-differences designs with multiple control groups. The results suggest that community banks drive post-opening increases in small business lending, which translates to higher growth rates in small business creation and expansion. Small businesses in comple mentary industries experience the largest growth, while small businesses that may compete for labor and other resources do not. The setting is then introduced into a spatial equilibrium model that combines commuting flows, consumption, production, and small business lending to perform counterfactual analysis and validate the findings from the empirical analysis. These findings will inform policymakers evaluating which places will benefit from place-based policies and financial regulators monitoring the consolidation of the banking industry.
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 non-disaster 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 climate-related financial risks which will become more poignant as the trend in climate-induced natural disasters increases over time. I expect submit the paper to a journal in July 2026.
As the detrimental effects of consuming nonrenewable energy gain the attention of the United States populace, policymakers have shifted their attention to implementing policies that support the development of solar photovoltaic markets. We use the OLS estimator to determine which policy incentives are more effective at increasing the electricity generated from solar photovoltaic at the state level. Policy incentives analyzed in this paper include subsidies, tax incentives, renewable portfolio standards, solar carveouts, interconnection standards, and power purchase agreements. Additionally, we utilize interaction terms to determine if a state’s policy portfolio is more effective when the portfolio contains policies targeted toward both creating and expanding the market, as opposed to only creating or expanding the market. The results suggest that renewable portfolio standards are the most effective policy incentives, and policy portfolios including both market creation and expansion policies can be more effective at developing solar photovoltaic markets.
Hall and Schiefelbein (Atlantic Economic Journal, 2011) (hereafter H&S) were the first to estimate a model explaining passage of state laws that legalize medical marijuana. Their estimates accounted for the 14 states which had legalized medical marijuana as of January 11, 2010. This paper updates their estimates and expands their analysis by using panel data, allowing for additional explanatory factors and accounting for spatial considerations.
This paper seeks to identify key factors that drive public or legislative support for the legalization of recreational marijuana across U.S. states by using a panel of annual state-level data from 2013-2018. Existing research has only focused on a few states and it is unclear whether such results are generalizable. This study incorporates a unique set of median voter and special interest variables suggested by earlier economic analysis, as well as relevant research from other disciplines. The opportunity to legalize with a ballot initiative is particularly noteworthy since most states that legalized early did so via a ballot initiative process, rather than through the state legislature. Moreover, because some studies have found evidence of spatial relationships in other public policy decisions, we estimate models explaining the decision to legalize recreational marijuana with a spatial probit procedure, though we find little evidence of spatial dependence in the decision. Our results suggest that the decision is influenced by religiosity, urbanization, the proportion of young people, state and local government expenditures, tobacco company lobbying, and state propensity to use the ballot initiative process.
This study uses panel data for the 50 states of the U.S. plus the District of Columbia from 1998 to 2018 to examine pricing effects of climate change on housing and insurance markets. We apply the mean group estimator and separate short-run from long-run impacts. The results indicate long-run relationships between the housing/insurance market and climate change, although no significant impacts of climate change on these markets appear in the long-run. In the short-run, we find significant negative impacts of fire occurrences on housing prices and mortgage rates, and significant positive impacts of flooding on insurance markets. Further analysis of states exposed to severe climate risks indicates no short- or long-run impacts of climate change. Thus, while realtors and insurance providers may price some climate-risks into mortgage and insurance in the short-run, they do not in the long-run.