Research

Working Papers

1. Redistribution and Reallocation: Monetary Policy with Heterogeneous Returns

   PDF Slides

   Job Market Paper

   Conference Presentations: Spring 2026 Midwest Macroeconomics Meetings • 2024 Washington University in St. Louis Graduate Student Conference • Fall 2024 Midwest Macroeconomics Meetings

   Seminar Presentations: 2024 Carnegie Mellon Marvin Goodfriend Lunch Seminars in Economics • 2024 University of Pittsburgh Macro Brownbag

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   I study how heterogeneity in rates of return across households determines the economy’s response to monetary policy. In an economy with return heterogeneity, increases in prices and demand following a monetary expansion redistribute assets towards high-return households. This redistribution rationalizes two empirical facts: monetary expansions increase both aggregate productivity and wealth inequality. Because productivity is endogenous to monetary policy, the overall effect of a rate change is determined by the amount of redistribution that it induces. I show that, as a result of two countervailing forces, the potency of monetary policy is hump-shaped in the degree of wealth inequality: when inequality is very low or very high, monetary policy affects output and investment by less than when inequality takes a moderate value. Calibrating my model to the data, I find that the increase in wealth inequality over the past fifty years can help explain the empirically observed decrease in the effect of monetary policy on output.

2. Estimating the Present Value of R&D Tax Benefits in the United States

   with Brandon Pecoraro, Martin Lopez-Daneri, Elena Derby, Rachel Moore, Shannon Sledz

   PDF NBER

   Forthcoming in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press for NBER, 2026

   Conference Presentations: NBER 2026 Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy and the Economy Conference • NBER 2026 Innovation Policy Research Bootcamp

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   Using a panel of confidential corporate tax returns, we provide the first direct estimates of the realized present value of corporate tax benefits from R&D credits and deductions in the United States. Realized tax benefits can deviate from statutory tax benefits because firms in loss status are typically unable to fully utilize credits and deductions to offset current-year taxes and instead must carry these attributes forward. We develop a novel procedure to track the intertemporal firm-level utilization of tax attributes generated by corporate R&D spending, and find that the present value of R&D tax benefits varies substantially with firms’ loss status, age, and size. Old and large firms typically use R&D tax benefits quickly, while young firms – especially those that are small – frequently operate in loss status and use tax attributes more slowly. From 2012–2016, the average firm generated \0.41 in statutory tax benefits per dollar of R&D investment, with a realized present value of \0.36. Young and small firms in a loss position realized only $0.23 per dollar, a 44% decrease relative to the statutory benchmark.

3. Mobility

   with Daniel Carroll, Eric R. Young

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   This paper studies wealth mobility: the rate at which households change their relative position in the wealth distribution. Using a panel of US households, we document substantial wealth mobility even over short horizons, driven primarily by families who hold risky assets such as stocks or businesses. A model with idiosyncratic risk to income and rates of return can jointly reproduce the level of wealth inequality and wealth mobility in the data. By contrast, a standard incomplete-markets model with labor income risk alone cannot replicate both moments, even when augmented with high earnings or patience states. Across models that produce equal wealth inequality, the agents’ preferred tax rate on capital income rises with the level of wealth mobility.

Works in Progress

1. Optimal Taxation of Wealthy Individuals

   with Ali Shourideh

   Conference Presentations: 2023 Washington University in St. Louis Graduate Student Conference

Other Articles

1. New Data on Wealth Mobility and Their Impact on Models of Inequality

   with Daniel Carroll,

   PDF Published Version

   Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Economic Commentary