economics

My work is all centered around the economics of education. While this makes me a labor economist at my core, I filter in and out of a lot of other fields (development, market design, IO, metrics, behavioral, theory) so that I can use their tools to answer the questions I’m working on.

research

works in progress (with drafts)

Identifying and Nurturing Math Talent: Evidence from Tamil Nadu (AEA pre-registry)

In some joint work with Esther Duflo, Glenn Ellison, Sara Ellison, and Harini Kannan, we’re running an RCT with 2,400 gifted 7th-grade students in Tamil Nadu and an online self-paced pre-algebra class from AoPS. We’re currently in the middle of Phase 2, and are excited to see the long-term effects. Presented at the NBER Economics of Talent Meeting (Fall 2025), NBER Economics of Education Meeting (Spring 2026).

Abstract. This paper presents evidence from a randomized controlled trial designed to test how to best identify and support gifted students from disadvantaged backgrounds. To do so, we offered access to an advanced online prealgebra course and an internet-enabled tablet to 7th-grade public-school students from Tamil Nadu, whom we identified as having high potential using several alternative strategies. Our primary finding is that we were able to successfully identify students who succeeded in challenging coursework originally designed as enrichment material for students with much stronger math preparation. We randomly assigned identification methods, which allowed us to investigate their relative effectiveness. We find that the combination of existing administrative scores and engagement with a extract of the textbook distributed as a physical booklet best predict engagement and success with the course material. We additionally cross-randomized treatments to evaluate program design (including group and individual tutoring, incentives for students, access to computer labs), and find that the simplest-to-scale version without tutoring led to the highest engagement.

School-House Shocks: The Effect of Neighborhood-based School Assignment Policies on Intracity Migration

My second-year paper! I’d love to improve on these estimates using individual-level housing data, though this seems difficult to acquire.

Abstract: Affirmative action policies based on geographic characteristics are potentially manipulable by families who move in response to the policy, undermining policy goals and hurting families who the policy is intended to help. I test whether these channel have significant impacts in Chicago, where admissions to selective high schools depend on the demographics of a students’ neighborhood. Using data from Chicago Public Schools and the Cook County Assessor’s office, I find no effects of marginal tier assignment on short-term migration of families or long-term housing prices.

works in progress (as in, actually in progress)

No Strings Attached: Unraveling in the UK College Admissions System

There are so many interesting institutional features about uni applications in the UK. In some joint work with Nagisa Tadjfar and Kartik Vira, we’re doing a deep dive into the market design of this system​. Draft coming this summer — stay tuned!

Abstract: Competition for talent can cause labor market unraveling, where institutions create inefficient matches by extending offers before candidate ability is fully revealed. We study the impacts of early offers in the UK college admissions system on college sorting and match quality. We build a theoretical model of student and university choices, generating predictions about the resulting match which we validate empirically in this setting. On the supply side, universities that give early offers are less selective and have more competitors giving early offers: at baseline, these universities admitted students who scored 28 percentiles lower on their high school standardized tests, and when a university’s applicants receive one additional early offer from competitors, the university is 13.7pp more likely to use unconditional offers. On the demand side, exposure to early offers increases students’ likelihood of attending university when they leave high school, but not in the long-run: students are 1.5pp more likely to start university at age 18, but 1.1pp less likely to start at 19, with no long-term effects on university matriculation. This shift into earlier enrollment is concentrated towards middle-tercile universities at age 18, and away from universities of all terciles at age 19. Students exposed to early offers additionally see no impacts on their long-term degree completion or earnings. On net, the welfare impacts of these early offers depend on the relative importance of match quality and students’ outside options.

Chicago’s charters + school assignment system

How well does it improve access? Are there alternative designs that could also work? These questions are a lot more pertinent given SFFA vs. Harvard, and even more relevant given CPS’s recent interest in neighborhood schools. As a Blueprint Labs research associate, I’m also leading some work on Chicago’s charter schools, with a particular focus on the Noble Network of Charter Schools.

works in “progress” (just thinking about ‘em for now)

iterations on MDRD1 and MDRD2

how to assign teachers to students

the role of gifted education in the system as a whole

where does motivation come from?

early decision/action as a form of market power

alternative pathways to college/besides college

education

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

PhD in Economics, 2021–

NSF Graduate Research Fellow, 2021–2026

The middle of year five. It’s very weird to be in the same calendar year that I’ll be on the job market. Certainly feels like there’s more of an impetus to get things done, but also, I feel like I have a way better sense of direction with it all. Will be abroad in the UK for a good chunk of the next year (including most of the summer) and I’m excited to see where it goes.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

SB in Mathematical Economics, 2017–2021

Minor in Public Policy, Phi Beta Kappa

MIT was a wonderful place to do my undergrad, filled with people who were all excited about something. Here’s a post with many, many reflections on this institution. Three quick reflections for those who don’t want to read the whole thing (and reflections I probably would have figured out anywhere else):

1. At MIT, you learn, mostly in unexpected ways. All of the ways that I changed the most had nothing to do with the content of a class; it was the things I chose to be involved in, the people I met, and the things I figured out about myself.
2. I spent a lot of time in structured non-academic pursuits: deliberate time around others, ESP, science bowl, and much more. During college, I found how necessary it is for me to have non-academic things filling my life; I am not a person that can just do work forever.
3. One of the most difficult parts of MIT is that it sometimes feels bad to do things just for your own sake. Not in the sense that MIT is competitive (it is not), but when you are surrounded by so many smart and high-achieving people who have done amazing things, it can feel like you need to be “productive” all the time. I am still learning how to let go of this feeling.

Davidson Academy of Nevada

HS Diploma in Mathematical Economics, 2013–2017

I was very lucky to go to Davidson. While I’m still piecing together my thoughts on the concept of gifted education, I will always be grateful to have had access to so many resources at DA (classes, teachers, activities…) and also to the friends who shaped much of my values and identity.

pre-history

undergraduate work

Evaluating Strategic Play: Manipulations with Symmetric Information in the Boston Mechanism (link)

Undergraduate Thesis advised by Parag Pathak. 2021. Inspired by my work with ESP, my feelings on finishing this thesis played a non-zero role in choosing to start grad school.

A Rising Tide for All or Wave for One?: The Effect of Charter School Competition on District Achievement (link)

Written for 14.33. MIT Undergraduate Journal of Economics, Vol. XX. 2021. My first independent research project; while I don’t think this paper is fantastic, I do think that it was a very worthwhile exercise to help me understand the process of research a bit more.

ra work

Optimal Public Transportation Networks: Evidence from the World’s Largest Bus Rapid Transit System in Jakarta. RA for Ben Olken, Gabriel Kreindler, Rema Hanna, and Arya Gaduh.

A summer RA project where I developed a pipeline to process 60 million riders’ data. My worked helped contribute to research on lockdown mobility and the optimal network design.

The Surprising Hybrid Pedigree of Measures of Diversity and Economic Concentration. (link) NBER WP #26512, with Ernst Berndt, Rena Conti.

A paper understanding the theory behind measuring market concentration, and applying said measures to the pharmaceutical industry.

work

Bridgewater Associates

Investment Engineer Intern, Summer 2020. A place I enjoyed being at for the ways it helped me grow as a person. Many more thoughts in this blog.

NERA

Anti-trust Intern, Winter 2020. A fun little dive in to economics in “industry”. Perhaps the most interesting thing I figured out here was that some recent grads were slowly shifting away from doing grad school, but that the reasons for this shift didn’t resonate with me at all — and helped push me to apply to grad school.

Government Accountability Office

Student Intern — Applied Research and Methods, Summer 2019. Worked here as part of the MIT Washington Summer Internship Program; deeply appreciated to hear from PhDs about their experiences and why they chose to work in the public sector.