Ryan Brown

Ph.D., Economics, Duke University, 2014
M.A., Economics, Duke University, 2009
B.A., Economics and Psychology, Vassar College, 2004

Ryan Brown's research interests span multiple fields of applied microeconomics including development economics, labor economics, health economics, economic demography, and political economy.

Ryan's work has primarily focused on applying econometric techniques to population representative data in both developed and developing country settings, to examine how changes in the social, physical, and/or economic environment can have a persistent impact on health, preferences, and human capital accumulation.

Gender Differences in Political Career Progression
(with Hani Mansour, Stephen D. O’Connell, and James Reeves)
Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization​, 2025 

Re-evaluating the Long-Term Impact of In Utero Exposure to the 1918 Influenza Pandemic
(with Brian Beach, Joseph Ferrie, Martin Saavedra, and Duncan Thomas)
Journal of Political Economy, 2022

Does Local Female Political Representation Empower Women to Run for Higher Office? Evidence from State and National Legislatures in India
(with Hani Mansour and Stephen D. O'Connell) 
The World Bank Economic Review, 2022

Occupational Licensing and Maternal Health: Evidence from Early Midwifery Laws
(with D. Mark Anderson, Kerwin Kofi Charles and Daniel I. Rees)
Journal of Political Economy, 2020

The Intergenerational Impact of Terror: Does the 9/11 Tragedy Impact the Initial Human Capital of the Next Generation?
Demography, 2020

Impact of Violent Crime on Risk Aversion: Evidence from the Mexican Drug War 
(with Veronica Montalva, Duncan Thomas, and Andrea Velasquez) 
Review of Economics and Statistics, 2019

The Mexican Drug War and Early-Life Health: The Impact of Violent Crime on Birth Outcomes 
Demography, 2018

The Effect of Violent Crime on the Human Capital Accumulation of Young Adults 
(with Andrea Velasquez) 
Journal of Development Economics, 2017

Copycat gaming: A Spatial Analysis of State Lottery Structure 
(with Jon Rork) 
Regional Science and Urban Economics, 2005

Consequences of Elevated Fluoride Exposure for Cognitive Development
(with Sheetal Sekhri, Amzad Hossain, Emily Gonzalez, Rajiv Gupta, and Eric Robertson)

The Impact of Access to Clean Water on Cognitive and Physical Development: Evidence from Mexico’s Programa de Agua Limpia
(with Sonia Bhalotra and Atheendar Venkataramani) 

On the Long-Term Effects of the 1918 U.S. Influenza Pandemic
(with Duncan Thomas)

Causal Effects of Universal Health Insurance: Evidence on Child Health in Mexico
(with Gabriela Farfan, Maria Genoni, Duncan Thomas, Gina Turrini, and Andrea Velasquez)

GRADUATE:
ECON 5823: Econometrics II

UNDERGRADUATE:
ECON 4811: Intro to Econometrics
ECON 4812: Econometric Methods for Empirical Research