Alexander Rothenberg

Alexander D. Rothenberg is an assistant professor of economics and senior research associate in the Center for Policy Research. He is an applied microeconomist whose research interests lie at the intersection of development and urban economics.

Prior to joining the Maxwell School, Rothenberg was an economist at the RAND Corporation, and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. His research studies the effects of different urban, regional and private-sector policy interventions. Using a combination of reduced form and structural techniques, his work examines the causal impacts of these policies on growth and development outcomes, whether they have adverse, unintended consequences, and how they might be improved.

His ongoing research evaluating the effects of different urban transport policies on commuting outcomes in Jakarta, the long-term growth and development outcomes of a place-based policy in Indonesia's outer Islands, the impacts of a rural migration program on diversity and identity, and how transport improvements affect firm entry and employment.

Rothenberg received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 2012.

Transportation, place-based policies, spatial equilibrium models, local labor markets, trade and development

Principal Investigator. "Policy Options for Increasing Mobility in Developing Country Cities: Evidence from Jakarta,"
funded by RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy (CAPP). 2016.

Principal Investigator. "Agglomeration Externalities, Spatial Policies and Welfare: Evidence from Indonesia," Funded by Private Enterprise Development in Low-Income Countries (PEDL). 2014-2016.

Co-Principal Investigator. "The Effects of Transport Infrastructure Improvements on Poverty, Regional Growth, and Welfare: Evidence from Indonesia," with Paul J. Gertler. Funded by USAID Economic Research Partnership Grant. 2013-2014.

"Skill Transferability, Migration, and Development: Evidence from Population Resettlement in Indonesia," with Samuel Bazzi, Arya Gaduh, and Maisy Wong. American Economic Review, September 2016, 106(9): 2658-98.

"Rethinking Indonesia's Informal Sector," with Arya Gaduh, Nicholas Burger, Charina Chazali, Indrasari Tjandraningsih, Rini Radikun, Cole Sutera, and Sarah Weilant. World Development, April 2016, 80: 96-113.

"Financial Crisis and Productivity Evolution: Evidence from Indonesia," with Sharon L. Poczter and Paul J. Gertler. The World Economy, May 2014, 37(5): 705-731.

"Collective Action in Diverse Sierra Leone Communities," with Rachel Glennerster and Edward Miguel. The Economic Journal, May 2013, 123(568): 285-316.

"Sudden Flight and True Sudden Stops," with Francis E. Warnock. Review of International Economics, August 2011, 19(3): 509-524.