Conflict and Economic Mobility: Evidence from Iraq

My research agenda centers on understanding how conflict reshapes markets. I am looking at related questions in two conflict countries, Iraq and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In Iraq, I am interested in whether violence redistributed wealth and opportunities. Did violence reduce barriers to entry for entrepreneurs from across the wealth distribution, or were the poor disproportionately affected by the negative shock? In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, I am working with previous GDP recipients Anatoly Rinberg and Andrew Bergman in a follow-up on their project to develop a machine-learning algorithm that improves the efficiency of databases for displaced people. We plan to also address economic questions, including whether larger camps of displaced people, and hence larger market size, allows for greater specialization and new businesses to emerge.