My new book with Dean Spears, After the Spike: Population, Progress, and the Case for People, is now out and a national bestseller. Commentaries, reviews, and information on some of the research behind the book can be found at afterthespike.com.
I’m an Associate Professor in the Economics Department of the University of Texas at Austin and a Faculty Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, in the Healthcare and Public Economics groups. I work on issues in demography, health, and various other topics in applied microeconomics, including the Electoral College. [Bio]
In 2023 and 2024, I took leave from UT-Austin to serve in the Biden/Harris White House as a Senior Economist at the Council of Economic Advisers, where I advised on issues of healthcare and population.
Some of my recent and ongoing activities
Some interviews and media (visit afterthespike.com for a full listing):
- Discussing After the Spike on NPR/Planet Money [Apple] [Spotify]
- My New York Times op-ed with Dean Spears “Depopulation Is Coming. Don’t Expect It to Solve Our Problems” [gift link]
- “The Economic Case for Higher Birth Rates Is Bigger than You Think” a guest post by Dean and me at Briefing Book
- A fun conversation about After the Spike with Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe [Apple] [Spotify]
- Book launch event at Aspen Institute [YouTube]
- Dean Spears and I on The Good Fight podcast [Apple]
- Plain English with Derek Thompson podcast, discussing Medicare waste and the Trump Administration. [Ringer] [Apple] [Spotify]
The Private Provision of Public Services: Evidence from Random Assignment in Medicaid” with Danil Agafiev Macambira, Anthony Lollo, Chima Ndumele, and Jacob Wallace. Conditionally accepted at The American Economic Review
“The Risk of Narrow, Disputable Results in the U.S. Electoral College: 1836-2020” with Dean Spears. Accepted at The Review of Economics and Statistics.
“Is Less Really More? Comparing the Climate and Productivity Impacts of a Shrinking Population” with Kevin Kuruc, Sangita Vyas, Mark Budolfson, and Dean Spears.
“The Likelihood of Persistently Low Global Fertility” with Dean Spears. Accepeted at the Journal of Economic Perspectives.
“Heritable Fertility is Not Sufficient for Long-Term Population Growth.” Samuel Arenberg, Kevin Kuruc, Nathan Franz, Sangita Vyas, Nicholas Lawson, Melissa LoPalo, Mark Budolfson, Michael Geruso, and Dean Spears. Demography.