About Me

I am a political and development economist and currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics, Justice, and Policy Studies at Mount Royal University. My research focuses on economic growth, functional income distribution, and inequality dynamics. Specifically, I investigate how innovation, market competition, and industrial policy shape these outcomes, utilizing a pluralistic mix of theoretical frameworks and rigorous empirical methods.

A first-generation university graduate, I received my Ph.D. in Economics from Dalhousie University in 2023 under the supervision of Lars Osberg, following an M.A. from the University of Denver—where I received the Satish Raichur Award for outstanding work in political economy. Before joining MRU, I gained valuable research and teaching experience as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary’s University and as a McKenna Fellow at Mount Allison University.

Papers

• Pro-competitive Reform Bundling and the Labour Share: Evidence from Korea's Chaebol Restructuring — Under Review [paper] ·
  [abstract▾]

  Structural reform episodes typically bundle multiple institutional changes, yet the distributional consequences remain poorly understood. This paper exploits South Korea's 1998 reform package—combining competition enforcement, labour market liberalization, and state-directed corporate restructuring—targeting its top 30 chaebol conglomerates. Using firm-level panel data (1991–2011) and generalized synthetic control, I find the reform bundle reduced treated firms' labour share by 7–8 percentage points, offset by rising profit shares. The decline is overwhelmingly within-firm, with near-unitary elasticities of substitution ruling out capital deepening. Competition reform's distributional effects depend critically on the institutional environment in which it is embedded.

• The Impact of Clean Technology Innovation Support on Firm-level Energy-related R&D Investment: Evidence from Canada, with Claudia De Fuentes, Hao Lu, and Joniada Milla — Revise & Resubmit, Energy Economics [paper] ·
  [abstract▾]

  This study contributes to identifying the impact of mission-oriented innovation policies on green energy innovation. We analyze the input additionality, behavioural additionality, and network additionality effects from mission-oriented policies under the clean technology innovation support from the government of Canada. We conduct the analysis using generalized synthetic control methods on a unique customized dataset that includes micro-level data at the enterprise level for firms located in Canada.

• When Does Collateralized Borrowing Become Contractionary? -- An Endogenous Debt Threshold — Under Review [paper] ·
  [abstract▾]

  Housing collateral enables households to borrow, whereas accumulated debt discourages demand due to subsequent debt service absorbed by borrowers' consumption rather than their saving. Existing models capture this duality but do not identify a critical debt level at which the marginal effect of borrowing changes sign. This paper shows that, given the non-monotonic marginal expenditure effect, strict concavity of net expenditure in the debt stock delivers a unique expansionary–contractionary threshold D̄(θ), which is endogenously generated by a risk-premium specification. In addition, this paper finds that a larger creditor income share θ or more unequal economy lowers the threshold, and a binding collateral constraint maps it into a critical collateral price q̄(θ). Under a collateral-price closure, D̄(θ) is where a credit boom ceases to accelerate.

• Selective Industrial Policy and Persistent Inequality: An Agent-Based Model of Chaebol Emergence and Hierarchical Capitalism in Korea — Under Review [paper] ·
  [abstract▾]

  How does selective industrial policy generate persistent income inequality? We develop an evolutionary agent-based model motivated by Korea's Heavy and Chemical Industry drive (1973–1979) in which preferential credit, strategic demand support, and capability-based firm selection endogenously produce dominant business groups (chaebols). Inequality emerges through three reinforcing channels: asymmetric credit creates financial hierarchy, Kaleckian markup concentration redistributes income from wages to profits, and segmented labour markets generate persistent wage dualism. Simulations show that industrial promotion raises output by approximately 40% but increases the income Gini from 0.28 to 0.43 and reduces the wage share from 0.75 to 0.65. These effects intensify after policy withdrawal as cumulative advantages become self-reinforcing. Counterfactual experiments demonstrate that SME linkage programs and labour safeguards substantially mitigate inequality while preserving growth gains, highlighting the importance of complementary institutions in developmental-state industrialization.

• Long-term Treatment Effects of Government Support to Spur Innovation in the Atlantic Regions in Canada, with Claudia De Fuentes, Joniada Milla, and Hao Lu — Working Paper [paper] ·
  [abstract▾]

  The impact of innovation efforts has been recognized as an important economic and social process due to the outcomes that it generates, both in terms of the production and accumulation of knowledge throughout the innovation process and the innovative products that are generated to address specific problems. Governments throughout the world implement policies to support firms innovation decisions to innovate and to spur their innovation intensity, with the main objective to contribute to the social element of knowledge creation and innovation. Some of these forms of government support have a federal reach, while others have a regional focus and recognize the context specificities in the design of support programs. This paper aims to contribute to the analysis of the impact of a government support program that has a regional focus in Canada. We contribute to the understanding of three main elements: i) input additionality specific for the Atlantic Provinces in Canada; ii) output additionality, considering the main outcomes expected in the design of the program; and iii) the long-term effects of government support on specific outcomes differentiating by size and sector. Our results suggest that for input additionality, government support for R&D, contributes to firms increasing their R&D investment, and the effects are higher for small high tech firms. Relevant to output additionality, our results suggest that government support has a positive effect on some of the outcomes highlighted in the policy design, for example productivity and exports; while also contributing to longer-term effects that have wider impacts at the regional level, and are relevant in terms of higher salaries and retention of talent. This has important implications in terms of policy making, since government support contributes to alleviate the financial burden to engage in R&D and innovation activities, while at the same time contributing to improve firm and social performance.

• Sectoral Dynamics of Industrial Policy in a Two-sector Economy: the Case of Korea's HCI Promotion, 1973–1979 — Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, 2023 [journal doi] · [paper] ·
  [abstract▾]

  This study explores the impact of state's industrial policy on sectoral capacity utilization and growth in total output in the context of Korea's Heavy and Chemical Industry (HCI) promotion (1973–1979). Using a Kalecki-Steindl framework within a two-sector open economy, the study first finds that primary industrial policy instruments—preferential interest rates and export promotion regime—have a positive effect on capacity utilization (aggregate demand) and economic growth, but unbalanced sectoral dependence undermines the effect of industrial policy. Second, the increased market power of firms in the targeted sector has a dual impact on sectoral capacity, depending on productivity growth characteristics. Third, the industrial policy regime is highly susceptible to adverse external price shocks.

• Science and Technology Innovation Policy in Innovation Systems to Address Clean Transitions, with Claudia De Fuentes and Jo Chataway — Book Chapter, Under Review [paper]

Works in Progress

• Bridging the Innovation Divide: Enhancing SME Support for the Green Transition in Korea's STI Ecosystem
• Uneven Gains: How Clean Tech Support Differentially Impacts Innovation for Underrepresented vs. Represented Business Owners — with Claudia De Fuentes
• Who Bears the Burden of Financial Crisis? Labour Market Responses in Six East Asian Economies: A Generalized Synthetic Control Approach
• The Impact of Mainstreaming on Learning and Well-Being of Canadian Children Living with a Disability — with Marie-Claire Robitaille and Joniada Milla
• Do Firms That Invest in R&D and Innovation Activities in Clean Technologies Receive Support from Government Agencies? — with Claudia De Fuentes
• Beyond Choice: Exploring the Ripple Effects of Abortion Legalization on Parental Attitudes and Aspirations in the United States
• Nonlinear Effects of Government Innovation Subsidies on Private R&D Investment — with Hao Lu, Claudia De Fuentes, and Joniada Milla
• Military Service Reform and the Gender Pay Gap in Korea
• Housing Investment, Financial Frictions, and Business Cycles