Research

Working Papers

Talent Hoarding and Upstream Innovation: Labor Market Distortions by Large Incumbents, with Shaolong (Lorry) Wu. Available at SSRN 5127023.

Abstract: We study how large incumbents allocate scarce frontier talent before innovation is realized. We develop a model in which incumbents facing external displacement risk trade off the gains from frontier innovation against the risk of cannibalizing legacy rents. The model predicts that when complementary inputs are costly, incumbents may retain more frontier researchers than they can efficiently deploy in innovation activity, leading some retained workers to remain on the “bench” without proportional investment in capital equipments. We test the model using Alice v. CLS Bank (2014), which weakened software patent protection. Exposed firms increase net hiring of skilled workers primarily through reduced separations, with little capital expansion. Using worker career histories, we show that occupations more plausibly tied to incumbent-specific knowledge (e.g., Science and Research) experience slower upward occupational progression following Alice, whereas more administrative occupations exhibit little evidence of comparable effects.

The Nature of Noise Complainers and Housing Price
Effects around Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport: An IV Approach, with Felix L. Friedt and Jeffery P. Cohen. [Link]

Abstract: Aircraft noise pollution adversely affects physical and mental health and is often disproportionately borne by disadvantaged residents. Using over 700,000 noise complaints around Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport from 2010-2017, we study both the determinants of complaints and their relationship to housing values. We find that complainers are generally more affluent and educated, though complaints are also more common in denser neighborhoods with fewer white residents conditional on income and education. Using an instrumental variables approach, we estimate smaller housing price elasticities with respect to aircraft noise complaints (-0.007 to -0.011) than ordinary least squares estimates (-0.015), suggesting that ignoring complaint endogeneity overstates housing-market damages.

Works in Progress

When Renters Become Creditors: Risk, Liquidity, and Housing Contract Choice in Korea (with Yuseok Lee).

The Effect of Aviation Noise on Student Learning Outcome: Evidence from MSP Airport.