Research

Working Papers

"Cancel Culture" with Lorenzo Palladini (Stockholm School of Economics)
Please don't share on social media etc. -- new draft coming very soon!

Steven Klepper Award for Best Young Scholar Paper DRUID 2024

I won the IHS 2024 Research Award Fellowship for my work on the Politics of Innovation and Science

--> Researchers targeted for their speech suffer citation penalties (an informal tax on speech) and produce fewer publications -- a direct loss to science!

Abstract: Freedom of speech plays a crucial role in science and the pursuit of knowledge. However, recent evidence indicates a decline in such freedom in the academy with rising calls for sanctions against scholars who make statements deemed controversial, unpopular, or challenge prevailing norms. We examine the effect of these incidents using a series of difference-in-differences designs. Using a novel dataset, we find that the affected scholar’s body of work, published prior to the incident, receives 4 percent fewer citations after the incident. The decline in citations comes disproportionately from 'close' scholars suggesting distancing as a mechanism. Affected scholars also become less productive after incidents, publishing 20 percent fewer new papers than the counterfactual, suggesting a direct loss to the production of new knowledge in the academy.

"Political Instability Freezes Science: Evidence from a Government Shutdown" with Christian Helmers (Santa Clara) submitted

-> Political instability can disrupt scientific progress but quantifying these impacts is hard. We use the 2013 U.S. government shutdown and its impact on science conducted in the Antarctica as a setting to study this and find that political instability can have tangible impacts on scientists' research output!

We examine the impact of political instability on scientific output. To do so, we analyze the 2013 U.S. federal government shutdown’s impact on on federally funded research in Antarctica. Leveraging a novel dataset with a difference-in-differences design and exploiting the timing of the decision, we document an 11% decline in the number of publications among affected researchers, as well as altered collaboration patterns, which we corroborate with qualitative survey evidence. Together, the results suggest that even brief episodes of short-lived political instability can have enduring deleterious effects on science.

"Does Politics Permeate Science? Evidence from a Field Experiment on Political Bias in Academic Opportunity" with Jessica Khan (Northwest Florida State College). Working paper available on request.

Abstract removed for now because we're eliciting people's priors on the study!

"From Ancient Centers to Modern Capitals: The Influence of Historic Civilizational Hubs on the Spatial Distribution of Population and Political Power" with Justin Cook (Tulane) and Raymond Kim (UC Merced).

--> Historic civilization hubs from a thousand years ago still shape where people live and power thrives today.

Abstract: This paper examines the long-term impact of historic civilizational hubs on the modern spatial distribution of population and political power. Using a novel geolocalized dataset of approximately 500 historical civilizations from 1000 CE to 1500 CE, we explore how proximity to ancient civilizational centers influences both historical and contemporary outcomes. We find that regions closer to the centers of historical civilizations consistently had higher populations, and this centrality persists in shaping modern population distributions and the location of political capitals. However, when examining economic activity, as measured by night-time lights data, we find no significant evidence that historical centrality influences present-day economic performance. These results contribute to the literature on economic persistence by highlighting the enduring demographic and political relevance of historical state centers, while demonstrating the limits of their influence on contemporary economic geography.

Case Studies

"Harvard Business School Case 625-048, August 2024 "Managing Science: Perspectives from Postdocs"

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse