Stack of papers / notebook
Research
Econometrics on tax policy and the political economy of peacekeeping.
I led a Northeastern study of the socioeconomic legacy of the 1981 Economic Recovery Tax Act (ERTA) on U.S. income disparity, under Prof. Omar Robles — applying five econometric specifications across 65 years of U.S. data and an 812-observation OECD panel. In a separate CU Boulder study under Prof. Shannon, I analyzed why autocracies contribute to UN peacekeeping, finding that deployments track strategic self-interest over humanitarian need.
- 65 yrs
- of U.S. tax & income data
- 812
- OECD panel observations
- ~12%
- of the income-gap rise tied to ERTA
Northeastern University · Team lead · Prof. Omar Robles
ERTA and the U.S. income gap
As team lead, I directed a study of the socioeconomic legacy of the 1981 Economic Recovery Tax Act on U.S. income disparity, running five econometric specifications over 65 years of U.S. tax and income data and an 812-observation panel of 17 OECD economies.
- Specifications: Welch t-tests, Chow and Quandt-Andrews structural-break tests, a six-country OECD placebo test, and a first-differences regression with Newey-West errors.
- The placebo test showed the 1981 structural break was global, not U.S.-specific.
- The first-difference estimate attributes ~12% of the rise in income disparity directly to ERTA's rate cuts.
- Presented to Prof. Robles; currently under faculty review.
CU Boulder · Research intern · Prof. Shannon
Why autocracies join UN peacekeeping
I studied the economic incentives behind autocracies' contributions to UN peacekeeping, synthesizing ten years of scholarship with mission-level evidence. The pattern is consistent: China's and Russia's deployments track strategic self-interest, not humanitarian need.