This is what I've been RA-ing on the last 15 months! The paper studies aggregate, macro-level effects of a major cash transfer program in Western Kenya and offers insights into the nature of fiscal multipliers. Trust me, there's a *lot* of data involved. Excited to see this out!

Very excited to share: after two great years in Kenya, I'll be joining the economics department at Harvard University to start my PhD this fall. Thanks to everybody who supported me along the way, especially Johannes Haushofer and @tedmiguel. Now bring it on, PhD, this will be fun!

Watching my algorithm trying to come up with designs for an optimal transport network.

My #AEA5k on a frosty morning overlooking pretty Lake Constance.

My* first publication! 🙃 (*as a small 1/26th of a global team of truly inspiring scientists who went to work as the world was changing)

After a year of zoom school, excited to have finally made it to campus to properly start this PhD!

Could not agree more 👇🏼

While my research on optimal networks has not yet made it into a journal, it has now made it onto a CAKE?! Does this count as peer review??

Just out here scraping some roads data. Office mate looks at my screen, mumbles "oh no, Tilman's doing neuroscience again"

New paper! We study how people move through Jakarta’s massive bus system and what this means for optimal network design 🚌 🚎

Harvard Econ celebrating Professor Goldin‘s incredibly well deserved Nobel Prize! “Keep asking the difficult questions” she tells us students!

My paper on the causes and consequences of spatial inefficiencies in African trade networks is now published at the JDE! This was the first paper I ever wrote -- really happy to see it in print! 🙂 authors.elsevier.com/a/1jIR%7E15DRG…

Super excited to release our new working paper on slack and economic development! We measure, characterise, and think through macroeconomic implications of capacity underutilisation in Kenyan firms. Feedback and suggestions welcome!

The utilization of labor and capital in Kenya is increasing in firm size, market access, and economic activity, from Michael Walker, Nachiket Shah, @tedmiguel, Dennis Egger, @solimanfelix, and Tilman Graff nber.org/papers/w33055

Why do firms in LMICs under-use their productive resources (labor, machines, etc.) relative to rich countries? Tilman Graff presents evidence from Kenyan markets showing how small firms invest in production capacity despite inconsistent demand for their products/services. (1/2)

Tilman Graff presenting the now famous and enormously interesting work on Slack and economic development! 📈

🆕 Do cash transfers cause inflation? 🇰🇪 Michael Walker Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA), Nachiket Shah UC Berkeley, @tedmiguel Berkeley Economics, Dennis Egger Department of Economics, Oxford, Felix Samy Soliman Economics at Zurich & Tilman Graff Harvard Department of Economics explore the macroeconomic effects of cash transfers: voxdev.org/topic/macroeco…

🆕 How low demand constrains productivity & economic development Michael Walker Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA), Nachiket Shah UC Berkeley, @tedmiguel Berkeley Economics, Dennis Egger Department of Economics, Oxford, Felix Samy Soliman Economics at Zurich & Tilman Graff Harvard Department of Economics explore the role of 'slack': voxdev.org/topic/macroeco…