I’m a PhD candidate in economics at American University. I visited the University of Pennsylvania during Spring 2024.

I am on the 2024-2025 job market.

My research interests are in macroeconomics and inequality topics. I have worked on projects studying the distributional effects of fiscal and monetary policies while visiting the Federal Reserve Board, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and International Monetary Fund.

Email: ak3851a [at] american.edu

Working Papers

“Racial Differences in the Marginal Propensity to Consume: New Survey Evidence and Theory” Job Market Paper Link

Abstract

The racial wealth gap is large. An explanation for the persistence of this gap is that people spend their resources differently. Estimating the marginal propensity to consume (MPC) by race is crucial in understanding the wealth gap. I draw on survey data I collected to estimate MPCs by race. MPCs exhibit considerable differences across race, even after adjusting for respondent characteristics such as age, education, and income. In the Consumer Expenditure Survey, black households consume a higher share of visible goods out of overall consumption to signal status than white households. However, black consumers have more of a need to signal status to compensate for perceptions of them having lower incomes. To match these facts, I introduce status compensation motives into a standard life-cycle model and show that this mechanism can account for 30% of the racial difference in MPCs. Models that include racial heterogeneity in earnings volatility, unemployment shocks, and expenses, but exclude status motives, do not match the data showing that black people’s spending on visible goods increases with wealth. I use my model to show how understanding status spending motives can be used to address the racial wealth gap by estimating the size of a new policy to eliminate racial differences in wealth.

“Monetary Policy Transmission to Consumption: Inequalities by Gender and Race”

Abstract

This paper finds evidence that contractionary monetary policy shocks raise consumption inequality by gender and race, along with raising unemployment and income inequality. Following a 25 basis point contractionary shock, spending on durable goods falls by 15% for households headed by black men while only 5% for households headed by white men. Additionally, spending on nondurable goods and services is decreased by 1.3% for households headed by black women, but by less than 1% for households headed by white men or women. Household characteristics such as composition or income do not explain differences in consumption responses. I also show that contractionary, rather than expansionary, shocks generally drive transmission inequalities.

Policy Papers

“Monetary Policy and Labor Market Gender Gaps,” with Valentina Flamini, Diego B. P. Gomes, Bihong Huang, Lisa Kolovich, Aleksandra Zdzienicka (Link) IMF Working Paper No. 23/211, International Monetary Fund (2023).

“The Unequal Effect of Interest Rates by Race, Gender,” (Link) Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Economic Letter 2022-19 (2022).

Works in Progress

“Consumer Responses to Fed Communications: Prior Beliefs, Consumption, Demographics”

“Unpaid Elderly Care Work and Women’s Labor Force Participation: The Case of South Korea,” with Selin Secil Akin, Sung Ah Bahk, Lidia Brun Carrasco, Ignacio Gonzalez Garcia