Biography

I am an applied economist specializing in economic history, public economics, and development. My main strand of research focuses on the impacts of trade shocks and state capacity on fiscal modernization, a key aspect of long-run development. Specifically, I study the transition from in-kind taxation to monetary taxation and ask how and why money-based and centralized fiscal institutions emerged. Beyond this strand of research, I also study migration, the economic consequences of coercion, and the role of monetary policy risk in financial markets.

Research

• “Dissertation Summary: Essays on Fiscal Modernization, Labor Coercion, State Capacity and Trade”“Dissertation Summary: Essays on Fiscal Modernization, Labor Coercion, State Capacity and Trade”(2023). Journal of Economic History, 83(2), 608-611.
• “Public Functions, Private Markets: Credit Registration by Aldermen and Notaries in the Low Countries,1500–1800” (with Oscar Gelderblom and Joost Jonker). (2018). In: Lorenzini M., LorandiniC., Coffman D. (eds.) Financing in Europe. Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance. PalgraveMacmillan, Cham.
• “Labor Coercion and Trade: Evidence from Colonial Indonesia.” [Award: Charles A. Lave Paper Prize Award (UC Irvine).]
• “Labor Coercion, Fiscal Modernization, and State Capacity: Evidence from Colonial Indonesia.” ConditionallyAccepted at Explorations in Economic History. [Awards: Vincent and Elinor Ostrom Prize (Public Choice Society), Jan Lucassen Award (European Social ScienceHistory Association), A. Kimball Romney Award for Outstanding Graduate Paper (UC Irvine).]
• “Policy Risk and Financial Markets: Evidence from 1930s China” (with Liuyan Zhao). Under Review.
• “Brain Gain in Late Colonial Indonesia? New Evidence on Chinese Migration and Wages” (with Pimde Zwart). CEPR Discussion Paper DP18748. Revise and Resubmit at the Journal of EconomicHistory.
• “Tax Farming and State Capacity: Evidence from Colonial Indonesia.”

Awards and Honours

• Finalist, Alexander Gerschenkron Dissertation Prize, Economic History Association 2022
• Finalist, Ronald H. Coase Best Dissertation Award,Society for Institutional & Organizational Economics 2022
• Charles A. Lave Paper Prize Award, UC Irvine 2021
• A. Kimball Romney Award for Outstanding Graduate Paper, UC Irvine 2020
• Jan Lucassen Award, European Social Science History Association 2020
• Vincent and Elinor Ostrom Prize, Public Choice Society 2020
• Department of Economics Best Thesis Award, Chinese University of Hong Kong 2014
• Netspar Bachelor Thesis Award, Netspar 2011