Tilman Graff

Econ PhD student at Harvard. Interested in macro, development, and avocados.

[VoxDev @vox_dev]

🆕 How low demand constrains productivity & economic development

Michael Walker @CEGA_UC, Nachiket Shah @UCBerkeley, @tedmiguel @berkeleyecon, @EggerDennis @OxfordEconDept, @soliman_felix @econ_uzh & @TilmanGraff @HarvardEcon explore the role of 'slack': https://t.co/0vGIxS2iL5

[VoxDev @vox_dev]

🆕 Do cash transfers cause inflation?

🇰🇪 Michael Walker @CEGA_UC, Nachiket Shah @UCBerkeley, @tedmiguel @berkeleyecon, @EggerDennis @OxfordEconDept, @soliman_felix @econ_uzh & @TilmanGraff @HarvardEcon explore the macroeconomic effects of cash transfers: https://t.co/KABuoshzDO

[Harvard CID @HarvardCID]

@TilmanGraff presenting the now famous and enormously interesting work on Slack and economic development! 📈

[Yale Economic Growth Center @YaleEGC]

Why do firms in LMICs under-use their productive resources (labor, machines, etc.) relative to rich countries?

@TilmanGraff presents evidence from Kenyan markets showing how small firms invest in production capacity despite inconsistent demand for their products/services. (1/2)

[NBER @nberpubs]

The utilization of labor and capital in Kenya is increasing in firm size, market access, and economic activity, from @mwwalkerecon, Nachiket Shah, @tedmiguel, @EggerDennis, @solimanfelix, and @TilmanGraff https://t.co/1b4F1EBYGJ

[Tilman Graff @TilmanGraff]

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!

[Dennis Egger @EggerDennis]

** New WP alert **

Slack and Economic Development, with @mwwalkerecon, @nachi_365, @tedmiguel, @soliman_felix, @TilmanGraff

We study the causes and macroeconomic consequences of slack in small firms.

https://t.co/UE4pkh7bg2

[Tilman Graff @TilmanGraff]

@emilybreza Thank you Emily!

[Tilman Graff @TilmanGraff]

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! 🙂
https://t.co/6ptjLtrE5y

[Tilman Graff @TilmanGraff]

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

[Tilman Graff @TilmanGraff]

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

[NBER @nberpubs]

How should urban public transport networks be designed? Evidence from Jakarta's public bus system expansion, and a quantitative framework for characterizing optimal networks, from @thetahat, @abgaduh, @TilmanGraff, @rema_nadeem, and @ben_olken https://t.co/BCZN8p6yN4

[Tilman Graff @TilmanGraff]

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

[Tilman Graff @TilmanGraff]

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??

[Tilman Graff @TilmanGraff]

@stadio Also let me know if you find a mistake in my computed equilibrium! My email has NOT BEEN PEER REVIEWED! 😃

[Tilman Graff @TilmanGraff]

I somehow made it onto my favourite football podcast with some questionable penalty shootout game theory! Come for the mixed strategy Panenka equilibrium (starting around the 3min mark), stay for @stadio's brilliant coverage of the beautiful game!

[Tilman Graff @TilmanGraff]

Could not agree more 👇🏼

[Dina D. Pomeranz 🟣 @DinaPomeranz]

My two cents FWIW: Having a field called "development economics" makes no sense. It is essentially all fields of economics related to the 84% of people in the world who don't live in high-income countries. It is good to see it gradually absorbed into the other fields of econ.

[Tilman Graff @TilmanGraff]

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

[Tilman Graff @TilmanGraff]

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)

[Innovations for Poverty Action @poverty_action]

🚨 Important new paper just out in Science Advances: What were the effects of 2020 COVID lockdowns and disruptions on households in lower income countries?
(From 26 co-authors on 3 continents!)
Summary/brief: https://t.co/pJlWUDHm9g
Full Paper: https://t.co/UyrfMaPaje

[Tilman Graff @TilmanGraff]

@TatjanaSchulze_ Yaay, waving across the Obersee :) 👋

[Tilman Graff @TilmanGraff]

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