fields
International Trade, Macroeconomics, Spatial Economics, and Urban Economics
employment
University of California, San Diego
2020-Assistant Professor
other appointments
Journal of International Economics
2023-Associate Editor
Prosperity and Globalization Lab, University of California, San Diego
2023-Partner
Center for Commerce and Diplomacy, University of California, San Diego
2020-Faculty Affiliate
past positions
Princeton University
2019-2020IES Postdoctoral Associate
visits
Kiel Institute for the World Economy
Summer 2024Visiting Scholar
Becker Friedman Institute, University of Chicago
December 2022Visiting Scholar
NYU Economics Department
Fall 2022Visiting Scholar
Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
July, August 2019Visiting Scholar
education
Yale University
2019Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Economics (with Distinction)
2016Master of Philosophy, Department of Economics (with Distinction)
2015Master of Arts, Department of Economics
Advisors: Costas Arkolakis, Giuseppe Moscarini, Samuel Kortum, Michael PetersUniversity College London
2013Bachelor of Science in Economics (with First Class Honours and Dean's List)
publications
2023Sprouting Cities: How Rural America Industrialized
AEA Papers and Proceedings, Volume 113, May 2023, pp.87-92
AEA Papers and Proceedings, Volume 113, May 2023, pp.87-92
2022The Return to Big City Experience: Evidence from Refugees in Denmark
Journal of Urban Economics, Volume 130, July 2022, 103454
Journal of Urban Economics, Volume 130, July 2022, 103454
under revision
working papers
work in progress
Housing as a Growth Bottleneck
Superstar ZIP Codes
shorter papers
awards & fellowships
- 2024UCSD Economics Teaching Award for Graduate Teaching
- 2024The Society of Hellman Fellows
- 2019Yale University George Trimis Dissertation Prize
- 2018UAE Student Best Paper Runner Up ("Return to Big City Experience")
- 2018University Dissertation Fellowship, Yale University
- 2017Raymond Powell Prize for Outstanding Graduate Teaching
- 2017Samuel K. Bushnell Fellow, Yale University
- 2015-2016Cowles Foundation Carl Arvid Anderson Prize Fellowship
- 2014-2016Yale University, 2015 John Y. Campbell Fellowship
- 2013-2018Yale University Doctoral Fellowship
- 2013University College London, Dean's List Award
- 2011-2016German National Scholarship Foundation
- 2010Bavarian Government Max Weber Scholarship (declined)
- 2010German Physical Society (Outstanding Baccalaureate in Physics)
teaching
- Spring 2021-2026Instructor, Cities, Innovation, and Inequality (Undergrad), UCSD
- Spring 2021-2026Instructor, Spatial Economics (PhD), UCSD
- 2024-2026Instructor, Third-Year Paper (PhD), UCSD
- 2019Teaching Assistant, Introductory Macroeconomics, Prof. Aleh Tsyvinski, Yale University
- 2017Teaching Assistant, Graduate Macroeconomics, Prof. Giuseppe Moscarini, Yale University
- 2016Teaching Assistant, Intermediate Macroeconomics, Prof. Tony Smith, Yale University
- 2016Herbert Scarf Undergraduate Research Program Instructor, Yale University
- 2015Teaching Assistant, Intermediate Macroeconomics, Prof. Michael Peters, Yale University
- 2014Economics PhD Math Camp, Prof. Truman Bewley, Yale University
seminars & presentations
2026: CREI Barcelona, SED Athens, HEC Paris, SF Fed, Claremont McKenna, West Coast Spatial Workshop at Stanford, Pizzanomics Einaudi Institute
2025: UEA Berlin, Arizona State University, LMU Munich, *Atlanta FED, *SED Meeting Copenhagen, TU Dortmund
2024: Philadelphia FED, SED Meeting Barcelona, Princeton-Chicago Spatial Conference, BSE Summer Forum Barcelona, NBER SI EFG, EEA Rotterdam, NYU Trade Day, AEA Annual Meeting, University of Warwick, Rotman School of Management, UBC, UEA Copenhagen, UEA Washington DC, Sciences Po Urban Workshop
2023: AEA Annual Meeting New Orleans, HKU Business School, The University of Hong Kong, Princeton Spatial Workshop, NBER SI Urban, Census Bureau, UC Davis, NBER ITI Fall Meeting
2022: AEA Annual Meeting, SED 2022, West Coast Spatial Workshop, Stanford Cities, Housing, and Society Student Research Group, NY FED, UC Irvine, UCLA Trade Day, University of Washington, Hitotsubashi University, Notre Dame
2021: AEA, Berkeley, Warwick, UEA Europe 2021, BU Trade Day, SAET Korea 2021, SED 2021, CREI, Virtual ITM
2020: CEPR Swiss Macro Workshop (Sils Maria), NYU Abu Dhabi, Berkeley O-Lab Urban Workshop, UCSD, University of Virginia, UEA 2020 Virtual, INSPER Brazil, USC Macro Days
2019: IZA/CREA Workshop: Exploring the Future of Work, Fudan University, HIT Shenzhen, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Princeton, NBER Cities, Labor Markets, and the Global Economy 2019, UEA Philadelphia, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, SED (St. Louis), Penn State New Faces in Trade Conference, Zoom Online Urban Seminar by Don Davis, University of Chicago, Chicago Booth, Tuck School of Business at Darmouth, University of Pennsylvania, University of California San Diego, University of Notre Dame, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, IIES Stockholm, CREI Barcelona, Penn State
2018: Yale Macro Lunch, Yale International Trade Prospectus Workshop
2013-2017: SED (Edinburgh), SAET (Faro), Yale Macro Lunch, Yale International Trade Prospectus Workshop
discussions
- 2025"Fighting for Resources: A Unified Growth Model of the Great Divergence" by LeFur and Wasmer · Urban Economics Association Conference Berlin
- 2024"Is ZIP Code Destiny?" by Eshaghnia · Urban Economics Association Conference Copenhagen
- 2022"The Life and Death of Great British Cities" by Heblich, Nagy, Trew, Zylberberg · FREIT North America Meeting at UCSD, San Diego
- 2022"Global Warming and Labor Market Reallocation" by Cruz · Penn State New Faces 2022
- 2021"Spatial Implications of Telecommuting" by Delventhal, Parkhomenko · Urban Economics Association Conference 2021, Zoom-based
- 2021"Cities, Productivity, and Trade" by Garcia-Marin, Potlogea, Voigtlaender, Yang · AEA Meetings, Zoom-based
- 2019"The Geography of Unemployment" by Bilal · Urban Economics Association Annual Conference 2019, Philadelphia
- 2019"Global Sourcing and Assembly with Scale Economies" by Antràs, Fadeev, Fort, Tintelnot · Queen's Organizational Economics (QOE) Conference, Kingston, Ontario
organizer
- Spring 2026West Coast Spatial Workshop at Stanford (w/ G. Schubert, A. Parkhomenko, JC Serrato)
- Spring 2025West Coast Spatial Workshop at USC (w/ G. Schubert, C. Tricaud, A. Parkhomenko)
- Spring 2024West Coast Spatial Workshop at UC San Diego (w/ G. Schubert, M. Reher)
- Spring 2023West Coast Spatial Workshop at UC Berkeley (w/ Cecile Gaubert, T. McQuade, N. Tsivanidis)
- Spring 2022West Coast Spatial Workshop at UCLA (w/ G. Schubert, C. Tricaud, A. Parkhomenko)
- Summer 2020PhD Student Workshop of the Urban Economics Association 2020 (w/ C.Balboni, D.Davis, K.Schmidheiny, D.Sturm, M.Turner)
- Summer 2020Urban Economics Association Lectures in Urban Economics 2020 (w/ C.Balboni, D.Davis, K.Schmidheiny, D.Sturm, M.Turner)
- Summer 2020Online Spatial and Urban Seminar (w/ C.Balboni, C.Gorback, C.Severen)
- May, 2020Quantitative Spatial Economics Junior Workshop (w/ C.Balboni)
- Weekly, 2015-2017Yale Macroeconomics Breakfast (Initiator)
advising
Undergraduates at UCSD
Gregory Boscaiu (UCSD Rady Business School), Evan Moore (Kyoto University), Jake DiCicco (Georgia Tech), Sehong Park (UCLA School of Law), Jack Rosetti (Columbia Pre-Doc), Henri Runge (Harvard Pre-Doc)
PhD Students at UCSD
Carlos Goes (World Bank Group), Sabareesh Ramachandran (Indian School of Business, Hyderabad; postdoc at University of Chicago), Steven Brownstone (GiveWell), Ishani Chatterjee (IMF), Aakash Bhalothia (ongoing), Ida Grigoryeva (ongoing), Jordan Mosqueda (ongoing), John Juneau (ongoing), Renata Abbott Navarrete (ongoing), Vafa Behnam (ongoing), Harrison Mitchell (ongoing)
referee for
American Economic Review · AEJ: Economic Policy · AEJ: Macroeconomics · Canadian Journal of Economics · Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft · Econometrica · Economic Theory · Economic Journal · Economica · International Economic Review · Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization · Journal of Economic Geography · Journal of Economic Growth · Journal of Economic History · Journal of Political Economy · Journal of Political Economy: Macroeconomics · Journal of the European Economic Association · Journal of Urban Economics · Journal of International Economics · Labor Economics · Nature Cities · Quantitative Economics · Quarterly Journal of Economics · Regional Science and Urban Economics · Review of Economics and Statistics · Review of Economic Dynamics · Review of Economic Studies · Scandinavian Journal of Economics
committees
- Program Committee for Society of Economic Dynamics Conference Copenhagen 2025
- Program Committee for the 2024 Annual Congress of the European Economic Association
- Program Committee Member for the 2023 Meetings of the Urban Economics Association
- Program Committee Member for the 2022 FREIT Meetings North America
- Program Committee Member for the 2021 Meetings of the Urban Economics Association
- Scientific Committee Member for the 2020 PhD Student Workshop of the Urban Economics Association
- Program Committee Member for the 2020 Meetings of the Urban Economics Association
- Program Committee Member for the 2019 Meetings of the Urban Economics Association
languages
German (native), English (fluent), French (fluent), Spanish (Basic) Updated: \today
Updated: April 6, 2026