Migrant Networks and Climate Change · Job Market Paper

with Shifrah Aron-Dine

Migration as an adaptation strategy to climate change depends on whether people move in response to climate change and where they choose to relocate. A widespread finding in specific migration episodes is that people migrate to places with large diasporas — if this is an important force in international migration, it could also be key for climate adaptation. Using global migration and temperature data, we show that migrant networks mirror origin-country climate risk, and that adaptation through migration has been limited to date. We formalize the insurance value of networks in a model with climate-induced productivity shocks, showing that this value depends on the correlation between existing migrant networks and the spatial covariance of climate shocks. Theoretically, the net effect of network-driven migration on adaptation is ambiguous: history dependence slows reallocation to safer places, while network feedback can amplify moves to better ones.

Misallocation versus Inequality

with Chang-Tai Hsieh, Peter Klenow, and Emma Rockall

A stream of research contends that input misallocation takes a toll on aggregate productivity. If this is true, then why does it persist? One answer could be that policies to mitigate misallocation exacerbate inequality. We explore this possibility using data on Indian manufacturing firms and households in a model with both heterogeneous firms and workers. We focus on size-dependent misallocation given the ample evidence for size-dependent policies in India. We find that abandoning such policies would boost aggregate manufacturing productivity by 1–4%, but would also raise the skill premium and overall inequality, since larger firms employ more skilled workers and earn more profits for their owners. We estimate that size-based reforms could lower consumption-equivalent welfare on the order of 9%. This suggests removing misallocation may be unpopular because it worsens consumption inequality.

The Growth Implications of Heterogeneous Firm-to-Firm Knowledge Spillovers

with Reiko Laski

Locality, Volatility, and Firm Dynamics in Developing Countries

Stanford University

Teaching assistant for Econ 1: Principles of Economics

Teaching evaluations: Fall 2024, Summer 2025

Princeton University

• Economics tutor for McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning
• Undergraduate course assistant for International Monetary Economics