I am an economic historian at the University of Oxford. My research explores how labor markets adjust to economic crises and structural change, and how those adjustments shape inequality, unemployment, and living standards over time. My work relies on archival data, econometrics, and machine learning at the intersection of economic history and labor economics.
I am an Associate Professor of Economic History, a Fellow of All Souls College, and an Associate Member of the Department of Economics.
One strand of my work focuses on mass unemployment and labor market inequality, exploring how recessions shape economic disparities, how structural and technological change interact with cyclical downturns through labor reallocation across industries, and how policy responses mediate these effects. Much of this work is centered on the Great Depression and interwar period in Britain.
Another strand of my work concerns labor market structures and wages, analyzing how labor market organization and worker power have changed over time, how factors beyond day wages such as job quality and career trajectories shape workers’ experiences, and how we can better measure wages to understand historical living standards.
I received my PhD and Master's in economic history from the University of Oxford (Nuffield College) as a Marshall Scholar.
Previously, I was an Assistant Professor of Economics at Grinnell College. Before joining Grinnell, I worked as an economist in the U.S. federal government's Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), where I contributed to policy and research on the regulation of the US housing market. I also bring experience from the Bank of England and RAND Corporation. My undergraduate degree is from the University of Georgia.