Dongkyu Yang

Welcome! I am a PhD candidate in economics working on issues in international trade, development, and macroeconomics from a long-term historical perspective. In Fall 2025, I will join the KDI School of Public Policy and Management as an Assistant Professor (tenure-track).

My Job Market Paper examines how the Second Great Migration (1940-1970) spurred economic development in the American South. My other research analyzes the spillover effects of the 1930s American Dust Bowl using a dynamic spatial equilibrium model (Revise & Resubmit at JPE Micro) and the inequality implications of trade openness in the Melitz-type framework (with Sergey Nigai, Published in JPE Macro), along with other published papers and ongoing projects. 

I expect to receive a PhD in Economics from the University of Colorado—Boulder in May 2025. I was a recipient of the Cambridge University Press Dissertation Fellowship (Economic History Association) in 2023.