Professional and Biographical Information

Degrees

Ph.D., University of Michigan (2014)
M.A., University of Michigan (2011)
B.A., Colby College (2006)

Research Interests

My research focuses on labor markets in developing countries. My work centers on labor migration from developing countries to richer countries and the role of human capital investment, specifically investment in education, on labor market outcomes. In my work on migration, I am particularly interested in questions that examine how migration can be used as an effective tool for economic development. Using large administrative datasets primarily from the Philippines, I employ microeconometric techniques to analyze the causal effects of labor migration on education, health, and labor market decisions of individuals remaining in the Philippines. In particular, my work documents brain gain, rather than brain drain, of nurses in the Philippines following migration. I also recently partnered with the Philippine Department of Labor and Employment to evaluate their principal anti-child labor program using a large-scale randomized control trial. 

Teaching Interests

My teaching complements my research. I teach a course called “The Economics of Migration” that examines the effects of migration on host countries, sending countries, and the migrants themselves. The course pays particular attention to the links between migration and development. I also teach introductory economics, and I enjoy providing students with their first economic toolbox. I also teach econometrics at Amherst, and I find it particularly rewarding to teach students to engage with economic research. Finally, in my upper level seminar, "Human Capital in Developing Countries," students engage deeply with the economics literature on this topic, culminiating in producing their own piece of empirical research.