Research

Violence and Economic Activity: Evidence from African American Patents, 1870 to 1940

Recent studies have examined the effect of political conflict and domestic terrorism on economic and political outcomes. This paper uses the rise in mass violence between 1870 and 1940 as a historical experiment for determining the impact of ethnic and political violence on economic
activity, namely patenting.

Patents and Economic Activity

Ongoing exploration of patent data as an indicator of economic activity and as an incentive for innovation using historical and current data from the U.S., the Soviet Union/Russia, and Israel; 2002 to present

Economic and Financial Crisis, Expectations, and the New Poor

New research to aid in measuring effects of the Great Recession on American households using survey evidence from Michigan households and to better predict future financial and economic crises; 2009 to present

The African American and Women Inventors and Patents Data Set.

Stanford University, August 2003; last revised, November 2008; extended to women inventors, August 2009

Finance and Innovation (with Raoul Minetti)

Research focused on explaining patent booms and the effect of the adoption of new products and processes on bank finance using firm-level data in emerging markets and developing countries; 2007 to present

Financial Reform in Emerging Markets

An examination of the structure of and changes in financial institutions and markets in Russia and other emerging markets; 1995 to present

Nigerian Bank Reform and Poverty Alleviation, National Bureau of Economic Research, African Successes Program

A study of comprehensive bank reform from 2000 to 2005 and its effect on access to finance for the poor; 2009 to present

Chinese and Global Competitiveness

New and ongoing research on competitiveness and manufactured exports, including the relation between China’s growth miracle and its investments (direct, portfolio, and aid) abroad, especially in Africa; 1998 to present