Research

This paper provides a comprehensive review of the academic literature on refugee economic integration, examining labor market outcomes, policy interventions, and the factors that facilitate or hinder successful integration of refugees into host economies.

We study how granting legal status to undocumented migrants affects their propensity to report crimes, using Colombia's amnesty program for Venezuelan migrants as a natural experiment.

This paper presents a framework for understanding refugee integration outcomes, proposing policy mechanisms that can improve economic and social integration of displaced populations.

This paper investigates the link between Southwest US border crossings and labor market tightness, arguing that the immigration challenge is fundamentally a labor market issue rather than a border security problem.

We study the global mobility patterns of inventors using patent data, examining how inventor migration affects innovation outcomes in both origin and destination countries.

Using the Yugoslav Wars as a natural experiment, we study how returning refugees affect the export structure of their home countries through the knowledge and skills they acquired abroad.

We examine how the introduction of nonstop flights between cities affects firm-level innovation, finding that improved connectivity leads to increased patent filings and knowledge flows.

We document entrepreneurship patterns among refugees in the United States, examining how legal status and arrival circumstances affect business formation and outcomes.

We examine how refugee populations affect bilateral trade flows and foreign direct investment, finding that refugees serve as bridges that facilitate economic ties between host and origin countries.

We study how the diversity of birthplaces in a country's population affects its economic complexity, finding that immigration-driven diversity is associated with more sophisticated export baskets.

We study the effects of Colombia's large-scale amnesty program for Venezuelan refugees on labor market outcomes, finding significant improvements in formal employment and wages for beneficiaries.

We document how migrant inventors contribute to the technological advantage of their destination countries, showing that countries gain comparative advantage in technologies where their immigrant inventors have expertise.

I study how time zone differences affect where multinational corporations locate their knowledge-intensive activities, finding that real-time collaboration needs lead firms to concentrate R&D in time-zone-proximate locations.

This paper reviews the academic literature on the economic effects of diasporas on their home countries, examining channels such as remittances, trade, investment, and knowledge transfer.

We study how countries develop new export industries, finding that cross-sector linkages and knowledge spillovers play a key role in the evolution of comparative advantage.

This paper proposes a new methodology for measuring knowledge intensity across manufacturing industries using patent and trade data.

We document that countries are more likely to become exporters of products in which their immigrant populations have expertise, providing evidence that migration is a key channel for international knowledge diffusion.

We study how Venezuelan currency devaluations affected the stock prices of multinational companies with operations in Venezuela, documenting significant negative effects on firm value.

This paper documents the existence of a 'middle productivity trap' where firms at intermediate productivity levels face particular challenges in upgrading their capabilities.

We study how resource abundance leads to export concentration through Dutch Disease mechanisms, documenting that resource-rich countries tend to have less diversified export baskets.

We document that countries are more likely to develop comparative advantage in products that are exported by their geographic neighbors, suggesting that proximity facilitates knowledge diffusion.