Research

My research interest are in applied microeconomics economics and causal inference.

I am interested in collaboration on different topics related to poverty; health and well-being; crime and violence; behavioral and experimental economics; applied econometrics; urban and labor economics. Feel free to contact me!

Google Scholar Page.

Peer-reviewed articles:

  • The Health Effects of In Utero Exposure to Cash Transfers. Forthcoming at Journal of Human Resources
    (with Syeda Warda Riaz)—access here. Final draft available here.
  • Social Protection Amid a Crisis: New Evidence from South Africa’s Older Person’s Grant (2024). The World Bank Economic Review 38(2) 371-393
    (with Jeffrey Bloem & Jonathan Malacarne)—access here. Latest draft available here.
  • Income, Psychological Well-being, and the Dynamics of Poverty (2024). Economic Development and Cultural Change 72(4)
    —access here. Final draft available here.
  • Income Improves Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from South Africa (2023). Economic Development and Cultural Change 71(2)
    (with Stephen Wu)—access here. Final draft available here.
  • Neighborhood Violence, Poverty, and Psychological Well-being (2022). Journal of Development Economics (154) 102756
    (with Jeffrey Bloem)––access here.
  • The Psychological Toll of Food Insecurity (2022). Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization (204) 618-630
    (with Jeffrey Bloem)—access here.
  • Do Shocks and Environmental Factors Shape Personality Traits? Evidence from the Ultra-Poor in Uganda (2022). Journal of Development Studies 59(1) 94-113
    (with Sikhar Mehra and Yaniv Stopnitzky)—access here.
  • Economic Life in Refugee Camps (2017). World Development (95) 334-347
    (with J. Ed Taylor, Anubhab Gupta, Irvin Rojas, & Ernesto Gonzalez)—access here.
  • Economic Impact of Refugees (2016). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113(27) 7449–7453
    (with J. Ed Taylor, Mateusz Filipski, Anubhab Gupta, Irvin Rojas, & Ernesto Gonzalez)—open access here.
  • Informality and Exclusion: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee data for Lebanon and Syria (2013). IZA Journal of Labor Policy 2(18)
    (with Roberta Gatti, Joana Silva, & Carole Chartouni)—open access here.

Working Papers

  • On the Definition and Estimation of Economic Resilience using Counterfactuals (with Michael Carter).
  • Social Protection and Perinatal Depression: Evidence from South Africa (with Syeda Warda Riaz and Jeffrey Bloem)
    • Under review. Draft available here (Updated January 2026).
  • Empirical Detection of Poverty Traps and Unnecessary Deprivation (with Michael Carter).
    • Draft available here (updated October 2024).
  • Poverty and Engagement with Children
    • Draft available here (updated July 2024)

Ongoing projects:

Years in Single Parent households and Long-term outcomes (with Abigail Mangiafico, Evelyn Skoy, & Alex Hegg)

Intergenerational Households and Child Outcomes in Developing Countries (with Diah Utami)

Survey Imperfections and Empirical Detection of Poverty Traps (with Jeffrey Bloem & Michael Carter)

Medicaid Expansion and Evictions (with Ao Cheng)