Andre Gray
PhD Candidate // Department of Economics
University of California, San Diego
I am an economist interested in migration and urban development. My work spans US and African contexts. I've also managed household surveys and randomized controlled trials related to health and education in the US, Nigeria and Mozambique. I am on the 2025-2026 Job Market. You can contact me at andre.danielgray@gmail.com or @walcottgray
Research Interests
Urban//Migration//Development//Housing
Publications
- Adolescent Time and Risk Preferences: Measurement, Determinants and Field Consequences with Anya Samek, Ashlesha Datar, Nancy Nicosia, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization (2021)
- Using Vignettes to Improve Understanding of Social Security and Annuities with Anya Samek, Arie Kapteyn, Journal of Pension Economics and Finance (2021)
Working Papers
- The Impact of Migration on African Cities: Untangling Levels and Composition
[Abstract]
[Slides]
To measure the economic impact of migration, it matters not only how many people migrate, but who. In African cities this is particularly stark. High ethnic, linguistic and religous diversity is correlated with low growth and increased conflict among African countries. Migrants from different agro-climatic regions also carry different skills. What is the effect of this diversity on economic performance when migrants from disaparate places move into dense cities? In this paper, I disentangle the effects of migrant flows and migrant ethnic composition on productivity in destinations. I build a subnational panel that proxies origin-destination migration across African cities, and use a Bartik-style instrument that identifies shocks to both levels and composition of migrants. I then leverage climate, commodity and conflict data to estimate the role of push shocks on the levels and composition of rural-urban migrants.
- Diversity, Conflict and Agglomeration in African Cities [Slides]
- Historical Immigration and the Market for Schooling in American Cities [Slides]
- Traditional Medicine and the Demand for Modern Healthcare
Conference Presentations
- Institute for Humane Studies Winter Graduate Conference GMU, Jan 2025
- 2024 Historical Political Economy Conference USC, Oct 2024
- 2024 Development and Political Economics Conference (DevPEC) Stanford, April 2024
- Pacific Conference for Development Economics Stanford, March 2024.
- 8th Urbanization and Poverty Reduction Research Conference World Bank, Washington DC, March 2024.
- Graduate Student Workshop on Field Research, Institute of African Studies and University of Chicago University of Nigeria, Nsukka Aug 2022.
- North American Economic Science Association (ESA) Meeting, Los Angeles, CA, Oct 2019.
- Roybal Center for Health Decision Making and Financial Independence in Old Age Meeting, Washington DC, Feb 2019