My research interest are in applied microeconomics economics and rigorous evaluation based on econometric theory. My current research studies the bi-directional relationship between poverty and mental health. In addition, I am interested in the dynamics of poverty and the interaction of psychology, decision-making, and poverty traps.

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:

• Income, Psychological Well-being, and the Dynamics of Poverty. Accepted at Economic Development and Cultural Change
  —Final draft available here.

• Income Improves Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from South Africa (2023). Economic Development and Cultural Change
  (with Steve 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.
  (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

• Social Protection Amid a Crisis: New Evidence from South Africa’s Older Person’s Grant (with Jeffrey Bloem & Jonathan Malacarne)
  • R&R. Draft available here (updated December 2022)

• Cash Transfers and Corporal Punishment (with Susan Godlonton and Emily Conover).
  • R&R. Draft available here (updated December 2022)

• Empirical Detection of Poverty Traps and Unnecessary Deprivation (with Michael Carter). Draft available soon!

• On the Definition and Estimation of Economic Resilience using Counterfactuals (with Michael Carter). Draft available soon!

• The Effect of Cash Transfers In Utero: Evidence from South Africa (with Syeda Warda Riaz). Draft available soon!

Ongoing projects:

Psychological Resilience and Poverty Dynamics